School Assignment

1. (An adaptation of J. R. Tolkien’s Novel The Lord of the Rings)
By P. W. Holcomb

2. • Meet the Main Characters
• Prologue
• Chapter 1: The Beginning
• Chapter 2: The Birth of a Monster
• Chapter 3: The Evolution of a Monster
• Chapter 4: The Fate of a Monster
• Epilogue
• Works Cited

4. To my readers… The story which you are about to read may seem to be
one that you have heard of before, the characters may even look similar
to ones you already know, but let me assure you that this is a unique story
with a lesson that you will not soon forget…For this is the story of a man
and a monster!

6. Chapter 1: The Beginning
Our story begins many years ago in a time
when myth and magic were not just words,
but were in fact a very real part of the
world. In this world there was a small yet
peaceful village inhabited by some very
peculiar creatures know as hobbits. Now
you might be asking yourself what is a
hobbit?
The Shire

7. Chapter 1: The Beginning (Continued)
Hobbits are very much like us, but they do
possess a few traits that make them
unique. They are shorter than most and
possess larger hands and feet than us, but
despite these differences hobbits, like us
are peaceful creatures… Well for the most
part. There was one hobbit that ended up
becoming something much darker… a real
life monster and his name is Gollum.
A Hobbit

8. Chapter 1: The Beginning (Continued)
Now Gollum was not always a monster, he used to be known as Smeagol
a respectable member of society who was beloved by his brother Deagol,
his closest living relative. If you were to ask anyone to describe Smeagol
the term monster would be the last thing that came to peoples minds, a
little greedy and hot headed maybe but certainly not a monster. Sadly
this would not always be true. For Smeagol had a desperate longing for
gold. A longing that his humble life could not fulfill. You see Smeagol
and his brother Deagol were fishermen and were often barely able to
make ends meet. This situation infuriated Smeagol to no end, but his
brother was always able to help to keep Smeagol’s temper under control.
At least he was able to until that fateful day, the day that Smeagol’s life
would forever change.

10. Chapter 2: The Birth of a Monster
That day started out like any other, Deagol
and Smeagol woke up early, had a light
breakfast, then went out to catch their dinner
for that night. If that is all that happened
then this would have been a day like any
other, but on this particular day Deagol
landed a particularly large fish. In fact this
fish was so large that it pulled Deagol in to the
river. Once he recovered from the shock of
being pulled in to the water Deagol started to
swim towards the surface when something
caught his eye. It was a golden ring the likes of
which he had never seen before.

11. Once Deagol had made it back to shore he
showed the ring to his brother Smeagol. This
would be the last mistake that Deagol would
ever make. Because upon seeing the golden ring
Smeagol’s desire for wealth took over and he
tried to take the ring from his brother. When
Deagol refuse to give it to him something in
Smeagol snapped and he attacked his brother.
When the fight was over Smeagol carefully held
the ring in his hand entranced by its beauty and
he did not even seem to realize that he had just
murdered his brother.
Chapter 2: The Birth of a Monster (Continued)

13. Chapter 3: The Evolution of a Monster
Now that he possessed the golden ring that had
briefly belonged to his brother Deagol, Smeagol
though that he would be happy, for he had
something that he thought others would value.
For a time he was happy, but that time did not
last. He felt that he needed more gold, more
wealth to be happy and there was no one or
nothing was going to stop him from achieving
happiness.

14. Chapter 3: The Evolution of a Monster (Continued)
In the years that followed his brothers death, Smeagol
committed crime after crime in is pursuit of wealth. It
was not long before he possessed more wealth than he
ever imagined, yet he was still miserable and he could
not understand why. After a while the people found
the body of Deagol and banded together to bring
Smeagol to justice for this murder that he had
committed and the gold that he had taken from the
villagers. In an act of what they believed to be mercy
the village sentenced him to exile instead of death.
Smeagol viewed this punishment as exceptionally
cruel because he had to leave behind the only thing
that he felt could bring him happiness, his gold.

15. Chapter 3: The Evolution of a Monster (Continued)
During his exile Smeagol had two things to keep him
going his anger towards the village that had banished
him and the golden ring that he had taken from his
murdered brother which the village allowed him to
keep as a reminder of his greed. With these and the
memories of what he had done and lost, Smeagol
began to change in to a creature that looked as
monstrous on the outside as he was on the inside.

17. Chapter 4: The Fate of a Monster
It was many years later when Smeagol was able to
truly realize what he had done. With this
realization came a feeling of guilt and a need for
forgiveness and acceptance. So Smeagol traveled
back to his former home in search of these.
Unfortunately when he arrived he was not greeted
with either of these, but he was in fact greeted with
fear and hatred, for he no longer looked as he once
did. It had been so long that he had forgotten that
his appearance was just as monstrous as he once
was. With that Smeagol left his village for the last
time and headed towards the mountains with no
intention of ever returning again.
Smeagol 5

18. Chapter 4: The Fate of a Monster (Continued)
When he had finally arrived at the base of the
mountains north of his village Smeagol found a
system of caves that would become his home
from now on. For years he regretted what he
had done and wished more than anything that
he could have changed the past and just be
happy for his brother when he found that
golden ring instead of killing him for it, but
even in a world where magic is real ones past
actions can never be changed. You can only live
with the consequences of those actions.

19. Hello again my readers. Now that you have heard the story of Smeagol
the man who became a monster I hope you can see the point of the
story… Your actions and intentions are what can truly make you a
monster not how you look. It is true that Once you become a monster on
the inside people will likely start to view you as one. Now in our modern
world you will not physically change like Smeagol did, but how people
perceive you will change. Before I let you go I will leave you with one final
thought… In regards to those individuals who you may fear or consider to
be monsters. Do you feel that they are this way because of their
appearance or their actions and intentions?

20. Works Cited to Follow