Medical Students Profile Middle-Earth's Gollum

An anonymous reader writes "Several medical students and a lecturer in 'old age psychiatry' have written up their analysis and final diagnosis of Gollum in the British Medical Journal. Other readers note the possibility of metal toxicity from the One Ring in their Rapid Responses." Hopefully everyone has had a few days off to 'Research' this by watching RotK's extended cut.

Re:Wow

[spikexyz]

Yes, cause students should spend every second on serious study. That's the way to stay sane.

Re:Erm..

[sailforsingapore]

Let the students have their fun. I'm sure this study was done with tongue firmly planted in cheek.

My personal conclusion...

[Faust7]

Gollum suffers from a severe case of being a book/movie character with behavior patterns that may have some similarities to real-world ailments, but which are ultimately artificial constructs of Tolkein's/Jackson's minds and therefore fruitless to "research." :D

Re:Erm..

[blike]

No need to get your panties in a wad, they're not "being silly".

No one is saying that the author intentionally characterized Gollum with a certain disorder in mind. It was an excercise in psychiatry. If a human presented with these signs, this is how they would approach it.

Re:HIPAA Violation!

[Yonder Way]

That's a very American-centric joke. Considering this was done in the UK, not nearly as funny.

Without reading the article, my immediate thought

[ylikone]

is that gollum is a obsessive compulsive, paranoid schizophrenic. Am I right?

Re:Gollums equipment

[Bloater]

The Gollum CG model is anatomically correct... There is a scene in one of the films where you see his wee willy winkle.

Re:Metal toxicity?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm glad to see people trying to figure out why a magical ring which turns its wearer invisible can fit any size finger.

Re:Wow

[yuri benjamin]

OTOH, studying Klingon or Quenyan as part of a linguistics degree could be a useful mental exercise.

My Diagnosis: One Ring Addiction Disorder.

[meldroc]

One thing that was mentioned in the movie commentaries, but not mentioned in the medical journal reports is that the One Ring, along with other mystical phenomena, provides sensations of euphoria to its bearer. Also, if a bearer is deprived of contact with the One Ring, he experiences symptoms akin to withdrawl. All bearers of the One Ring experienced these symptoms, but because Gollum had possession of the Ring for over five centuries, his symptoms are extreme. So, on top of Antisocial Personality Disorder, Dissociative Personality Disorder, as well as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, I would have to diagnose Gollum with addiction to the One Ring, and have him checked into a substance abuse treatment center as soon as possible.

Re:Wrong!

[HiThere]

But how old was he when the ring was found? Based on that assertion (i.e., appendix B) he might well be 580 or older. (Hobbits reach their majority at when? 30? 33?)

Dates are wrong

[StrawberryFrog]

This can't be right: "Sméagol (Gollum) is a single, 587 year old ... When Gollum was 25, the ring was stolen by Bilbo Baggins".

The events of "The Hobit" must be at most a decade or two earlier than those of LotR. By the time that Bilbo aquired the ring, Gollum was already far gone; thus he must have been over 500 years old when he lost the ring to Bilbo.

Gollum's main aliment is a powerful addiction to the strong magic that both sustained and ravaged him over the centuries. Hobbits, which Gollum basically is, do not normally live to be over 150.

Jackson's movies worked with that angle, having him look and act like a totally ravaged junkie.