Sméagol's grandmother
Sméagol's grandmother was a matriarch of the Stoors in the mid- Third Age.
Sméagol's grandmother was a matriarch of the Stoors in the mid-Third Age.
History
Sméagol's grandmother belonged to a reputable family of Stoors who lived in the Stoor-country on the banks of the Anduin in the Third Age. After her husband died, she became the matriarch of her clan due to being "a woman of dominant character". She was "stern and wise in old lore" and her family was larger "and wealthier than most". Some of the "old lore" her family knew included the War of the Last Alliance and various riddles. Her family all lived in a single "hole in a bank" of the Anduin. She was taught how to suck eggs by Sméagol beneath the Anduin's bank after he stole them from nests. Sméagol grudgingly gave a customary tribute to his grandmother on each of his birthdays, though it was probably fish.
Around the year 2463, Sméagol left on a fishing expedition on the Anduin with Déagol, possibly for Déagol to catch a fish for Sméagol to give to his grandmother. However, "Sméagol returned alone" and nobody, including his grandmother, "ever found out" Déagol's fate. Shortly afterwards, Sméagol began to learn secrets which he used for malicious purposes. Eventually, his ill behavior made him "very unpopular and...all his relations" rejected him. They often cursed and kicked him, "and he bit their feet". After becoming a thief, he muttered to himself and gurgled in his throat, earning the name "gollum". Eventually, before the year 2470, they "told him to go far away" and his grandmother, desiring peace, cast him out of the family hobbit-hole, banishing him.
During the Riddle-game, two of the riddles asked by Bilbo Baggins reminded Gollum of his time with his grandmother. In the year 3017, while being interrogated by Gandalf, Gollum claimed that the One Ring was a "birthday-present" from his grandmother, who had many "beautiful things" that were similar, such as Elven-rings. Gandalf caught him in his lie.
In other versions
In the first version of the "Riddles in the Dark" chapter in The Hobbit, Sméagol's grandmother was mentioned as she is in the published book. That is despite Gollum being "clearly not a hobbit in the original" but more mysterious. In the earliest draft of "The Shadow of the Past" in The Lord of the Rings, Sméagol's grandmother was never mentioned. Instead, his family itself was described as "wise" among other traits. While this also remained the case for the second version, Tolkien added that Sméagol's "grandmother who ruled all the family turned him out of her hole" to the third version.
In adaptations
The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
In the forthcoming feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, she's presumed to have been given the name Marigol, to be portrayed by well-known English actress Kate Winslet. Although Marigol specifically being Sméagol's grandmother is still mostly speculation and has not been confirmed by any official or media sources.