One Ring Found by 'Most Unlikely Creature Imaginable': The Same Exact Type of Creature As Last Time
What are the odds?
MIDDLE-EARTHāSensing the time was right, the One Ring to Rule them all slipped away from its most recent master, the former-Halfling-turned-freakish-little-nightmare-machine known as Gollum. But then something happened the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by, in the words of Galadriel, āthe most unlikely creature imaginable: a hobbit.ā Turns out the āunlikeliest creature imaginableā is the exact same type of creature that picked it up the last time, though.1
āIf I had a silver coin for every time Iād been picked up by the āunlikeliest creature imaginable,ā Iād have two coins,ā the Ring telepathically relayed when asked for comment. āWhich isnāt a lot, but itās weird itās happened twice in a row. THREE if you count that first one, DĆ©agol, who held me for a total of two minutes before SmĆ©agol took me.ā
Reports are circulating that at this very moment the Council of Elrond is debating what to do with the Ring. Surely the greatest and brightest minds from among the Free Peoples of Middle-earth can come up with a halfway decent plan for what to do with it now. Itās not like theyāll just give it to yet another Halfling, right?
Right??
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Now, does āthe most unlikely creature imaginableā refer specifically to Bilbo and not hobbits as a group? In the books, yes, as Gandalf says āit abandoned Gollum. Only to be picked up by the most unlikely person imaginable: Bilbo from the Shire!ā But Galadrielās narration in the film is a bit more open to interpretation and we get to have more fun with it if it means hobbits in general! In any event, itās interesting how from DĆ©agol to SmĆ©agol to Bilbo to Frodo to Sam, you have five hobbits in a row picking up the most powerful surviving artifact in all creation
I've never thought about it but yeah - it's always the Hobbitses.
Though I do wonder if maybe the slight inconsistency was a result of the rewriting of Gollum. To my knowledge, he was never envisioned as a Hobbit.
Rather, Tolkien figured this out way later for LOTR and retconned him as Smeagol.
Four if you count Sam.