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Medical Students Profile Middle-Earth's Gollum
An anonymous reader writes "Several medical students and a lecturer in 'old age psychiatry' have written up their analysis and final diagnosis of Gollum in the British Medical Journal. Other readers note the possibility of metal toxicity from the One Ring in their Rapid Responses." Hopefully everyone has had a few days off to 'Research' this by watching RotK's extended cut.
It was lead, I tells ya! ;)
:(
Site's melted.
A blog like any other.
I'm glad our educational system has progressed to the point that students can get acclaim for watching fantasy movies and devoting their time to "studies" of this kind. The human condition is so much better off now. Thank you very little.
Revealing Gollum's private medical information constitutes a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
My friend and I theorized that under that dirty little loincloth of his, Gollum probably doesn't have much of his manhood left, having shrivelled up and dried off after centuries of disuse. Maybe we should write it up and send off our theory to the British Medical Journal too. I'd feel so erudite seeing my name published there.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
my neurology professor gave a lecutre about neurologic disorders in star wars. the most interesting part was the observation that yoda may have suffered from William's Syndrome
but web site diagnosis is clear: slashdotted.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
Let the students have their fun. I'm sure this study was done with tongue firmly planted in cheek.
Gollum suffers from a severe case of being a book/movie character with behavior patterns that may have some similarities to real-world ailments, but which are ultimately artificial constructs of Tolkein's/Jackson's minds and therefore fruitless to "research." :D
The coolest voice ever.
No need to get your panties in a wad, they're not "being silly".
No one is saying that the author intentionally characterized Gollum with a certain disorder in mind. It was an excercise in psychiatry. If a human presented with these signs, this is how they would approach it.
Now, to figure out just what alloy that it was that the embedded scrollwork was made from which would glow red at a temperature below the melting point of the amalgam (something with phosphorous in it, perhaps?)....
What is the difference between a small revolutionary change and a large evolutionary change?
"Too much time on my hands...."
and it would also violate the Privacy Act of 1974.
I think I think, therefore I think I am.
Google news has a few articles about it - here's clips from the original article via other articles on google. By the way, slashdotting a medical journal is a bad thing - I'm a medical student and I rely on these resources to guide or double-check decisions, or to keep up to date.
... On initial consideration schizophrenia seems a reasonable diagnosis. However, in the context of the culture at the time it is unlikely. Delusions are false, unshakeable beliefs, not in keeping with the patient's culture. In Middle Earth, the power of the ring is a reality. The passivity phenomena Gollum experiences are caused by the ring, and these symptoms occur in all ring bearers. Gollum does not fulfil the ICD-10 criteria for the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
..."
"A space occupying lesion such as a brain tumour is unlikely as his symptoms are long standing. Gollum's diet is extremely limited, consisting only of raw fish. Vitamin B-12 deficiency may cause irritability, delusions, and paranoia. His reduced appetite and loss of hair and weight may be associated with iron deficiency anaemia. He is hypervigilant and does not seem to need much sleep. This, accompanied by his bulging eyes and weight loss, suggests hyperthyroidism. Gollum's dislike of sunlight may be due to the photosensitivity of porphyria. Attacks may be induced by starvation and accompanied by paranoid psychosis.
The presence of two personalities, Gollum and Sméagol, raises the possibility of multiple personality disorder.
"There is no disorder of the form of thought. He uses neologisms such as "triksy" and "hobbitses." Gollum has nihilistic thoughts, believing that he is a murderer, liar, and thief; although there is some basis in fact for this and he shows little guilt or remorse. He is preoccupied with, and deeply desires, the ring. He has obsessive thoughts but no compulsions, though he would do anything for the ring. He is hostile towards Frodo, the current owner of the ring. He has paranoid ideation about Sauron ("the eye is always watching") and about Samwise Gamgee ("the fat hobbit... he knows"). Gollum has difficulty controlling his thoughts and actions, exacerbated by prolonged contact with the ring. As Gandalf and Frodo have similar symptoms in the presence of the ring, we can attribute this somatic passivity to the ring. There are features of dissociation. Smeagol has separated his personality and is now Gollum as well."
"Gollum displays pervasive maladaptive behaviour that has been present since childhood with a persistent disease course. His odd interest and spiteful behaviour have led to difficulty in forming friendships and distress to others," she said.
"He fulfils seven of the nine criteria for schizoid personality disorder, and if we must label Gollum's problems we believe that this is the most likely diagnosis,"
Wiki entry on Schizoid
Ok, even by Slashdot standards this is going to be a seriously geeky post. Prepare yourself - you have been warned.
Gollum is at least 969 years old, and probably a whole lot older. Proof follows.
In the Silmarillion, there is a quote in "Of The Rings of Power and the Third age" that goes as follows:
Gollum found the ring while there was still a ruling king in Gondor, before the reign of the Stewards.
The reign of the Stewards began in TA 2050, after the death of King Eärnur at the hands of the Witch-King. So we know that Gollum had the ring before TA 2050.
The ring was destroyed in TA 3019. That makes Gollum at least 3019-2050=969, and that's only if he found the ring on the very day the Stewards claimed Gondor.
The Third Age begins with the defeat of Sauron by the Last Alliance. The earliest Gollum could have found the ring would be the day Isuldur lost it (TA 2), so he could be as old as 3019-2=3017.
So Gollum is somewhere between 969 and 3017 years old. Splitting the difference makes him probably around 2000 or so. In any event, he's a lot older than 587.
So how's that? Geeky enough for you? =)
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
One thing that was mentioned in the movie commentaries, but not mentioned in the medical journal reports is that the One Ring, along with other mystical phenomena, provides sensations of euphoria to its bearer. Also, if a bearer is deprived of contact with the One Ring, he experiences symptoms akin to withdrawl. All bearers of the One Ring experienced these symptoms, but because Gollum had possession of the Ring for over five centuries, his symptoms are extreme. So, on top of Antisocial Personality Disorder, Dissociative Personality Disorder, as well as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, I would have to diagnose Gollum with addiction to the One Ring, and have him checked into a substance abuse treatment center as soon as possible.
Meldroc, Waster of Electrons
One of the things that make your first psyc clinical so challenging is how normal the patients are, not how abnormal.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
When asked for comment, Dr. Gregory House muttered something sarcastic and hobbled away.
You are SO wrong. If there was a prize for geeky wrongness, you are it. You are the wrongest LoTR geek on the planet and here is why: you didn't read the book.
The book says in Appendix B, The Tale of Years, Third Age and I quote
Which makes him only 556 years old. I hereby banish you to an eon of nerd. Go, and never return! And take those medical students with you!
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
The article was interesting and enteraining. I did notice a couple of unconsidered aspects. First, the ring renders the wearer transparent to visible light. Depending on upon its response in the ultraviolet spectrum (UV-B exposure is necessary), this could have induced some Vitamin D deficiency. This would have been exacerbated by Gollum's increasing photophobia, growing nocturnal habits and finally his relocation to a subterranean habitat. In addition to rickets, restlessness and irritability are possible symptons of inadequate Vitamin D.
------ The only greater hazard to your liberty than n politicians is n+1 politicians.
Well, coincidentally the BBC have a report about movies which have amnesiacs acting as they are supposed to.
Finding Nemo and Memento are amonst the gud'uns. Overboard and the Tom'n'Jerry movie are amongst the bad'uns.
The research was done by the National Society for Epilepsy, so its being used as a publicity piece I guess to highlight misconceptions about amnesiacs. Epileptics can suffer from amnesia as part of their condition. This does make it different to the subject story - which I guess is just a bit of speculative fun from people with too much time on their hands.
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
This can't be right: "Sméagol (Gollum) is a single, 587 year old ... When Gollum was 25, the ring was stolen by Bilbo Baggins".
The events of "The Hobit" must be at most a decade or two earlier than those of LotR. By the time that Bilbo aquired the ring, Gollum was already far gone; thus he must have been over 500 years old when he lost the ring to Bilbo.
Gollum's main aliment is a powerful addiction to the strong magic that both sustained and ravaged him over the centuries. Hobbits, which Gollum basically is, do not normally live to be over 150.
Jackson's movies worked with that angle, having him look and act like a totally ravaged junkie.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
To me the movie made it clear that gollum's mental problems were the result of:
1) Magic power of the ring.
2) 550+ years of solitude.
3) Terrible guilt.
When 900 years old he reaches, be so healthy he will not. Hmmph!
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.