Chapter Three
Disordered Lives: Seven (and Even More) Ways to Die
"Precious, precious, precious!" Gollum cried. "My Precious! O my Precious!"
Introduction
. . . What accounts for Gollum's transformation from a homey Hobbit into such a monstrosity? Why did he become so corrupt, misshapen, and flat-out ugly? The answer is this: his disordered love. Gollum's obsession for the One Ring, the Great Ring, the Ruling ring of power overtook him and disfigured his entire being. ... His addiction to his "precious" prevailed, and it thoroughly debauched him.
Mythical characters like Gollum — who "have their insides on the outside" and "are visible souls" — possess a remarkable power of illumination. Gollum's distorted life in body and soul is a poignant example for us of the consequences of disordered love. His inverted affections had mastered and maligned him. His "precious" did him in. What he was inwardly he became outwardly - a weird, ugly, unhappy, and ultimately tragic little figure, destroyed in his own desires. . . .
(from pages 60 and 61)
by David K. Naugle
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