Know Your LotRO Lore: Gollum in the game
In October of 2007's Book 11 update to Lord of the Rings Online, players were first introduced to Goblin Town and Gollum's Cave. This free content patch allows anyone to experience the exact area where Bilbo first encountered Gollum in The Hobbit, and where their infamous Riddle Game took place.
At the time in which you actually first encounter Gollum in game, he has just escaped the Elves of Mirkwood and is off to continue his voyage searching for his precious ring. If you'll remember from the books (and movies), Gollum first encountered the Fellowship secretly from within the mines. He followed them for a bit before finally being discovered by Frodo and becoming an integral part of the storyline once again. Without giving any specific storyline spoilers for the game, his first appearance will be as a "Sneaking Creature" in the quest instance entitled "A Trap for the Creature."
Speculation on the future of Gollum in the game
As in the books, Gollum's participation and involvement with the storyline will become crucial in the near future of the game. We anticipate many more encounters with the creature, especially before the Fellowship splits up out of the mines and Frodo and Sam cross Emyn Muil to eventually join Gollum on their way to Mordor.
Due to the methods that Turbine uses to create the game's storyline, and the liberties they're allowed with side-stories, we know there's a good chance that we will only indirectly be involved with the Fellowship's trek to Mount Doom. For this reason, we're predicting an appearance by Gollum in a few upcoming Book updates this year. Yet after that, not-so-much. Although it's obvious that we can't directly interact with the 3-man party of frodo, Sam and Gollum as they make their way through Mordor, we are still very excited to see how Turbine's writers can wow us with the way they will still let us participate, yet not directly involve ourselves with the story itself. Will we get to communicate with him at all before he confronts Frodo and Sam? Will we have a chance to thwart his plans at mischief that perhaps could have been worse than they actually were in the story? Let us know what types of interactions you'd like to see or can imagine with Gollum in the future of the game. Who knows, Turbine may be reading!
Conclusion
There's just no arguing that Gollum is one of Tolkien's greatest masterpieces. To have a character who is so mischievous and evil, yet at the same time we can't help but feel sorry for him. It's important to realize how influential Gollum was, not only in the books, but also in so many stories since then.
We hope you've enjoyed this installment of Know Your LotRO Lore, and are anxiously awaiting the next one. What will be the topic of that last lore article of the year, you might ask? It's a surprise, my precious! But you can bet it will be regarding the holiday season, somehow.