The Hobbit Originally Had a Different Origin for Lord of the Rings’ One Ring - CBR
Considered by many to be the father of modern fantasy literature, J. R. R. Tolkien published the first of his The Lord of the Rings books in 1954, and the rest was history. The Lord of the Rings was immediately popular and quickly became one of the most successful franchises in history, converting to both film and television. The storyline, of course, followed a hobbit named Frodo Baggins after he secretly came into possession of an evil Dark Lord's Ring of Power. To save Middle-earth from subjugation, Frodo and his many companions undertook a long and perilous journey to destroy the One Ring.
From Gandalf's "You shall not pass" to memes about Boromir not simply walking into Mordor, almost everyone is familiar with some part of The Lord of the Rings and the power of Sauron's Ring. However, what some people may not know is that the Ring that Frodo had wasn't originally supposed to be an evil ring. In fact, it was only supposed to be a magic ring that gave its wearer the power of invisibility.
The One Ring first appeared in Tolkien's 1937 prequel novel, The Hobbit, where Bilbo -- Frodo's uncle -- found the Ring while lost in a Goblin tunnel. However, the Ring wasn't the only thing that Bilbo found because a creature named Gollum lived deep in the tunnels. What happened next was one of the most iconic exchanges in the whole franchise as Bilbo and Gollum played a game of riddles. If Bilbo won, Gollum would lead him to an exit, but if Gollum won, Bilbo would become his latest meal.
Bilbo won the game, but their deal fell apart when Gollum discovered that he had lost his "precious," which was, of course, the Ring that Bilbo had found shortly beforehand. Gollum would have killed Bilbo had the hobbit not put the Ring on and discovered that it made him invisible. Thus, he escaped.
At least, that's the version that everyone knows. However, a deep dive shows that the first edition of The Hobbit contained a slightly different twist. Originally, Bilbo didn't find the One Ring; Gollum gave it to him as a prize for winning their game of riddles. The reason was that, at that time, the scene was of relative unimportance, and the Ring was simply a means for Bilbo to escape the tunnels and become invisible later in the book.
That all changed when fans of The Hobbit clamored for another tale about Hobbits. Tolkien developed the idea of having the One Ring be an evil piece of jewelry that drew the Hobbits into the larger affairs of Middle-earth, so Bilbo having the One Ring soon became the catalyst for the whole The Lord of the Rings franchise.
With that said, Tolkien knew that he had to change the original exchange between Bilbo and Gollum. If the One Ring was going to be an evil, manipulative ring, Gollum would not have simply gifted it to Bilbo. So, he rewrote the scene to match what fans know now -- an interaction that ended with Gollum screaming threats of revenge after the "Baggins."
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