Gollum's boat??

[Nazgûl-king]

In The Hobbit it mentions that the Great Goblin at times sent Goblins to catch fish from Gollum's lake and that they never returned. Perhaps the goblins came to the lake with a boat and Gollum snuck up on them and killed them and kept the boat.

[Maedhros_the_Tall]

Originally Posted by Nazgûl-king

In The Hobbit it mentions that the Great Goblin at times sent Goblins to catch fish from Gollum's lake and that they never returned. Perhaps the goblins came to the lake with a boat and Gollum snuck up on them and killed them and kept the boat.

I think this idea if far more likely than bits of wood etc appearing in the lake and being fashioned into a crude boat. Its probably more likely than him building a coracle, but thats also quite feasible!

[Bêthberry]

What I like about the coracle hypthesis is the idea of Gollem paddling around in circles. Seems a fitting metaphor for one so bound by the Ring. Not that the celtic seafarers so paddled on their way West, of course.

[Groin Redbeard]

Originally Posted by Nazgûl-king

In The Hobbit it mentions that the Great Goblin at times sent Goblins to catch fish from Gollum's lake and that they never returned. Perhaps the goblins came to the lake with a boat and Gollum snuck up on them and killed them and kept the boat.

This is more along the lines of what I was thinking. Good job, Nazgul.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Maybe the Goblins did build the boat, but I doubt it.

First of all it would make more sence for gollum to build it as he could actually need one, I don't see why the Goblins would need it and if they did I think they would build more than one.

Also boat building was never the Goblins strong side, but the riverfolk on the other hand had some skill in this area. So Gollum would probably be better at boat building than the, not that this proves anything at all.

I also think that if the goblins was to explore a lake they would go more than one, at least two goblins would be required and if I remember correctly then Gollum was quite careful when it came to Goblins. I don't think he would dare fighting more than one at the time, even if he did have the ring.

[skip spence]

To carry on alatar's addict-analogy, which is fitting, I think Gollum would have been very different when he had the ring. Without it, all he could think of was the ring he was robbed of; every waking hour he would obsess about it, and he wouldn't have built anything unless he thought it could be of immidiate help in his quest to retain it.

With the ring in his possession his addiction would be satisfied, but he was far from happy. The hours must have been endless for him deep in the dungeon, far away from anything remotely plesant. He would have fantasized about getting rid of the ring, leaving the mountain and picking up his life again. Yet, this he could never do. Is it not possible then that he would channel this frustration and boredom into something like building a boat, in order to explore his lake and for convenience? After all, he had a curious mind, entering the dungeon partly in a quest to unravel the secrets at the roots of the mountain.

Edit: A lot of addicts are also very creative artists.

Anyway, there are lots of anachronistic and odd details in the Hobbit. It is simply not written as tightly as Tolkien's other works. Gollum's boat, however, is only slightly odd to me.

[Eönwë]

Maybe he made it out of the goblins' fire-wood (which he stole using the ring).