When Does Lord of the Rings: Gollum Take Place? | Game Rant
Lord of the Rings: Gollum promises to tell players the story of Gollum, one of Middle-earth's most tragic characters, from a new perspective. Although most know this character from his dealings with Frodo, Sam, Gandalf, and the rest of the fellowship, his story extends far beyond these encounters. In fact, Gollum plays a truly pivotal role in the lore and story behind the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and his story is a truly depressing one.
For those unaware, midway through last year, Daedalic Entertainment announced that it was pairing with Middle-earth Enterprises for an upcoming video game called Lord of the Rings: Gollum. How the developer plans to tell this story in a compelling way remains to be seen, but it will certainly be an interesting endeavor to say the least. Not much information has been unveiled about this project, but developers have made it clear that the game will tell the story of Gollum, and is determined to stay true to Tolkien's source material. So what parts of Middle-earth's troubled history could players take part in throughout this upcoming action adventure title?
To understand when this story will take place, it is first important to understand who Gollum is. Originally, Gollum was a Hobbit known as Smeagol. In the Third Age, year 2430, Smeagol was born a Stoor, a type of early Hobbit. Smeagol's story begins with tragedy, as while fishing with his cousin Deagol, Deagol happens to find the One Ring which was lost by Isildur in the days following the War of the Last Alliance. Smeagol is quickly corrupted by its presence, and kills his cousin Deagol in order to take the ring from him.
Although it is possible the game will show scenes from Smeagol's birth and childhood, it is likely that the story will kick off here. This would place the beginning of Smeagol's adventure at approximately 2463, making the protagonist about 33 years old when he first acquired the One Ring. Although Lord of the Ring's Hobbits have slightly longer lifespans than humans, the power of the One Ring granted Smeagol an abnormally long life, meaning developers have a lot of room to work with when deciding what events players will take part in.
After taking the ring from his cousin, Smeagol began to be corrupted by it. In Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings which most are familiar with, this caused the Hobbit to shrivel up: his skin decayeyed and his propensity for living underground in dark spaces caused his eyes to grow in size. This is at the end of his transformation, though, and Daedalic Entertainment has made it clear that its interpretation of Gollum will be based solely off of Tolkien's descriptions of the creature in books. It is likely that players will get to see Gollum throughout many stages of his extended life, bearing witness to his slow and inevitable decay.
The ring ultimately allowed Gollum to live until the year 3019, and even then he did not die from natural causes. This means the outer bounds of the timeframe for Lord of the Rings: Gollum are likely 2430 to 3019, a 589 year period. This also places the story entirely within the Third Age, meaning it is unlikely that players will see more than perhaps flashback cutscenes of events prior to this like the War of the Last Alliance or anything following Gollum's demise at the end of the Third Age.
Much more transpires during these 589 years of Middle-earth's history, and it is likely that the player will bear witness to any major events in some way, although it is uncertain in what way Smeagol/Gollum will play a role. For starters, the Kingdom of Rohan is founded in the year 2510, not too long after Smeagol acquires the ring. While it is generally assumed that Gollum spent some 400 of his years living under the Misty Mountains, eating raw fish, and coddling the One Ring, Daedalic Entertainment claims that it will explore "new events and details related to Gollum's journey," all the while staying true to the source material. This means there could be more related to Rohan than players known.
Beyond these new events and details, players will most likely play Gollum during the events of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The former's events mostly take place in the year 2941, leading to the fateful day which Gollum lost the One Ring. Bilbo Baggins, during his quest with Gandalf and the dwarves, steals the ring from Gollum, prompting the creature to finally leave the Misty Mountains in search of this ring. It is possible that the bulk of the story will actually be Gollum's quest to find the ring again.
Most of this quest plays out during the events of The Lord of the Rings, during the year 3019. It is throughout this year which Gollum finally finds the ring and Frodo, and Smeagol proves he is still somewhat present within the creature known as Gollum. Ultimately, though, Gollum's story ends when he attempts to take the ring from Frodo in Mount Doom, preventing the Hobbit from being corrupted by it and failing to destroy the ring, but falling into the fires of Mount Doom with the ring in the process.
Smeagol's life is a long, troubled, and tragic one, and it will be very interesting to see how Daedalic Entertainment approaches this scarcely explored topic. Players may be given the chance to see Gollum's story from a new perspective, and by the end of it they may not view him as the monster everyone else in the world does, but rather one to be sympathized with. Hopefully, Daedalic Entertainment portrays Smeagol's fall from grace and transformation into Gollum with a level of tact, allowing players to see and experience the grueling process firsthand. Time will tell, as Lord of the Rings: Gollum is slated for release sometime in 2021.
Lord of the Rings: Gollum will be available in 2021 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X.
Post a Comment