Quote:
Originally Posted by Pitchwife
Nobody is mean, sneaking or anything of the like from their birth, and I would find such a statement atrocious if made IRL of a real person. Just saying.]
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All right. From birth, perhaps not, at least not so strongly. Nevertheless, it's clear Sméagol was already ripe for the Ring's influence before he first saw it.
Tolkien noted in
Letters # 181:
Quote:
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The domination of the Ring was too much for the mean soul of Sméagol. But he would have never had to endure it if he had not become a mean sort of thief before it crossed his path.
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He 'became' mean and mischievous. Why? Was it something to do with the environment, his personal life? I doubt it. Stoor society would seem to be very hobbit-like in general, and I cannot imagine any traumatic childhood or something similar that could have pushed him to being a ready tool for the Ring
against his nature.