Fans of the epic JRR Tolkien seriesThe Lord of the Ringsknow of the tragic tale of Smeagol, and the developers at Germany’s Daedalic Entertainment want to take that story a step further by creating the upcomingThe Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Although some fans believe this to be a strangeaspect of theLord of the RingsIPto explore and develop into a game, there are many others who are excited to see what the developers bring to the table.
Announced back in March 2019,The Lord of the Rings: Gollumis going to be a stealth-action, cinematic adventure game where the monstrous Gollum takes center stage. However, the developers ofThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumhave only announced a few bits and pieces about the game thus far, and there hasn’t been an update since December. The lack of updates has left a lot to the imagination of fans, and some have come up with a few great theories.
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It’s clear that the game will draw heavily upon the lore from the written works of Tolkien rather than the movies, thanks to Daedalic’s partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises. Still, since2021’s The Game Awards, some questions about the story and timeline have already been answered. So, fans have been attempting to fill the gaps, coming up with fun theories as to what the game’s story and the gameplay could entail.
The Legend of Gollum
This theory forThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumfloated around before Daedalic provided details of the game’s story, but it seems worth mentioning. Fans of Tolkien’s series – whether just the books or only the movies – know how Smeagol turns into the infamous cave-dwelling monster voiced byAndy Serkis. Alas, there hasn’t been much more expansion into the scraps of information.
Reddit users like u/Melpomene-Thaliafelt like this game could have been the one to do so. The game could have highlighted the character of Smeagol the Hobbit, the naughty one from the Stoor, before he goes on a birthday fishing trip with his cousin Deagol and encounters the One Ring. One thing leads to another – murder, abandonment, obsession – and Smeagol hides away in the Misty Mountains, not to be seen again for over 400 years as he slowly degrades physically and mentally.
A path thatThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumcould have taken was the downfall of Smeagol and the traumas he faced, which caused his mental decline – and the creation of Gollum. There was an opportunity for the game developers to take the path ofHellblade: Senua’s Sacrificeas a commentary on dissociative identity disorder (the condition that Smeagol has). Perhaps Daedalic might still do this, but rather in the form of his ongoing struggles with Gollum rather than how the Smeagol/Gollum split came to be.
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The Game Fills Gollum’s Story Gap Between The Hobbit and LOTR
Daedalic has confirmed that the game’s story occurs just before the events ofThe Fellowship of the Ring. With that nugget of information, some fans, like those atThe Nerd Habit, have speculated that the game will take place immediately after the events ofThe Hobbit, where Bilbo Baggins escaped the Misty Mountains in possession of the One Ring.
As fans may know, Bilbo comes across the One Ring in the Misty Mountains on his way to facing the dragon Smaug. He finds himself lost and stumbles upon Gollum and Smeagol, arguing amongst themselves about losing the Ring. They find Bilbo, threaten to “eats it”, and they end up playing a game of riddles which Bilbo wins. It seems highly likely thatThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumtakes placeright after this interaction.
One of the lines cried out byGollum during the teaser traileris, “No, don’t look at us! The Precious is gone!” – highly suggestive of the events of the game to be after that encounter with Bilbo. Thus, this theory might well hold water since most trailers show Gollum in attempts to escape the captivity of the Orcs in the bowels of Barad-dur. It’s highly probable since, according to Tolkien canon, Gollum was captured and imprisoned by Sauron afterward, believing the monster to still be in possession of the Ring.
Decisions Will Greatly Affect Gameplay
Another piece of information that the developers announced was thatThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumwill also be a game whereGollum’s actions have consequences. If this holds true, that means that the game will split most player decisions into what the innocent, self-serving Smeagol wants to do and what actions the violent, aggressive Gollum will take.
This fan theory from Reddit user u/Risenzealotsuggests that a truly “actions have consequences” gameplay forThe Lord of the Rings: Gollumcould mean that the game’s environments are dynamic and ever-changing according to the actions of Gollum and Smeagol – as some screenshots show at least two of each when circumstances arise. Maybe NPCs become noticeably more unnerved and alert if players are too violent, or sneaking becomes more effortless by taking the passive route more often. Gollum’s interactions with enemies or NPCs could reflect a player’s passive/aggressive choices, making things easier or harder to progress.
The developers have already teased the presence of well-knownThe Lord of the Ringscharacters like Legolas' father, Thranduli, as well asthe wizard Gandalf the Grey. Choices that players can make when meeting these characters could change depending on the player’s play style, providing a much more dynamic feel toThe Lord of the Rings: Gollum.
Although this would make for fascinating gameplay, it remains to be seen whether that is the direction the developers will take.The Lord of the Rings: Gollumhas already faced some significant setbacks to its production – with the original release date being pushed back from the end of 2021 to the end of 2022. Now with co-producerNacon acquiring Daedalic Entertainmentback in February, the entirety of the game’s production has been put into question.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollumis in development and is slated for release in late 2022 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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