{"id":60716,"date":"2012-08-11T03:43:01","date_gmt":"2012-08-11T08:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=60716"},"modified":"2012-08-12T03:08:49","modified_gmt":"2012-08-12T08:08:49","slug":"greenbooks-guest-post-how-old-is-pjs-gollum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2012\/08\/11\/60716-greenbooks-guest-post-how-old-is-pjs-gollum\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenbooks guest post: how old is PJ’s Gollum?"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the San Diego Comic-con Andy Serkis spoke extensively about his portrayal of the character Gollum. In doing so, he made some startlingly specific comments about the character’s age. <\/p>\n

Here, TORn guest writer Elpidha Lirgalad examines the implications, and reaches some very interesting conclusions about what it could mean for the Hobbit trilogy. These views are her own, and do not necessarily represent those of TheOneRing.net or its staff.<\/p>\n

WARNING: Spoilers and speculation!<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

How old is PJ’s Gollum? And what could that mean?<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

A guest post by Elpidha Lirgalad<\/h4>\n

Ever since the release of Peter Jackson\u2019s The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, some eagle-eyed fans have been asking why it appears that no time passes at all between Bilbo\u2019s 111th birthday party and Frodo\u2019s departure from the Shire. <\/p>\n

What does Tolkienlore say?<\/h3>\n

According to the dates that Tolkien gives in Appendix B of The Lord of the Rings, 17 years pass between Bilbo\u2019s party in TA (Third Age) 3001 to Frodo\u2019s departure in TA 3018. In between, Gandalf and Aragorn hunt Gollum, and Gandalf reads the scroll of Isildur in Minas Tirith in TA 3017 just before returning to the Shire to warn Frodo about the Ring. <\/p>\n

In the film, however, none of the hobbits have aged a day since Bilbo\u2019s party. Even Pippin, who, using Tolkien\u2019s dates, would have been 11 years old at the time of the long-expected party.<\/p>\n

Peter Jackson’s alternate timeline…<\/h3>\n

Now, new evidence appears to confirm that Jackson always intended to remove this seventeen-year gap. Instead, he seems to have shortened it to merely the time it would take Gandalf to race to Minas Tirith and back to the Shire. <\/p>\n

This places the events of The Hobbit 60 years, not 77, before Frodo\u2019s departure. <\/p>\n

In two interviews, Andy Serkis, who masterfully portrays Gollum through performance capture, referenced a 60-year gap between Gollum\u2019s appearances in The Hobbit and LOTR:<\/p>\n