The One Ring to rule them all is also the One Ring that can corrupt them all if they become entranced by its influence. The epitome of that power-seeking influence corrupting a man's mind and soul can be found in the story of Smeagol. On his birthday, he decided he would fish with his cousin Deagol to celebrate. When Deagol finds a ring that was washed ashore, Smeagol demands that his cousin give it to him as a birthday present, and when Deagol refuses, Smeagol kills his cousin for the ring. This traumatic event causes a split in his personality, one side is the morally conflicted Smeagol and the other is the dominant Gollum. Now players will get to explore this persona in the new Lord of the Rings Gollum game.

That's the beginning of Gollum's story, and only a chapter in his complicated saga. While not exactly a villain, Gollum has not proved himself to be the most reliable hero in the Lord of the Rings series. That being said, this new game will see a more sympathetic creature that will be closely based on the book series as opposed to the movies, like previous games. In Lord of the Rings Gollum, players will stealth around Orc encampments and have to make decisions as the conflicted Gollum's warring personalities battle for control.

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While not a lot of details have been released, it is known that the Lord of the Rings Gollum gameplay will see Gollum captured by the Orcs and his time spent under the care of the Elves. This actually gives a pretty solid idea of where the game will take place in the Lord of the Rings canon. Smeagol first found the ring around TA 2463, and had it for over 400 years while he hid in his cave in the Misty Mountains, thanks to the extended life of the Ring's power. When the events of The Hobbit take place, Gollum loses the ring and is forced to flee his cave in the hopes of retrieving it back from the Baggins in the Shire.

While Gollum searches for Bilbo, he gets captured by Sauron's Orc forces and is taken to Barad-dûr where he was held until Sauron had the time to torture him personally about the Ring's whereabouts. After initially hiding what he knows, eventually the dark lord is available to get Gollum to shout out that the Bagginses in the Shire had the One Ring. Due to Sauron's hope he would lead them to the Shire, Gollum was released back into Middle-earth.

He is found and captured by Aragorn and delivered to the Silvan Elves for care and interrogation by Gandalf. Here, Gollum will escape during an attack by Sauron's army and begin his search for the Shire. In relation to the books and movies, this would place Lord of the Rings Gollum some time after The Hobbit, and maybe even after The Fellowship of the Ring.

While developer Daedelic Entertainment has made it clear that this game will be centered around the already established lore in the books, this is an unexplored period in Gollum's life and gives this game a little more room to breathe than if it were a more detailed event. This will likely serve as new lore into Gollum's past before he had chance to catch up with Frodo and find out he has the Ring. The events surrounding this period are set in stone by the series' lore, but Lord of the Rings Gollum can explain why he was released by the Orcs and how he came to escape the Wood Elf civilization during the Orc attack.

The Lord of the Rings fanbase is one of the most lasting and powerful out there. The book series was released in the 1937 and the '50s, respectively, and has seen multiple movie and game adaptations since that time. Each new iteration into the IP is met with skepticism and criticism from the fans who consider Lord of the Rings sacred. While Gollum is admittedly a unique choice for a stand-alone game, this could bring a new light to a character many had written off as a creepy gremlin. While Lord of the Rings Gollum was delayed until 2022, it'll be worth it to sneak around Middle-earth as everyone's favorite Ring-hungry creature.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum releases on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2022.

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