Déagol

Déagol was a Stoor-hobbit of the Gladden Fields and the cousin and best friend of Sméagol until his discovery of the Ring.

Biography
Déagol was born some time between TA 2400 and TA 2430. Déagol and Sméagol apparently lived in an extended family under a Matriarch. On Sméagol's birthday in TA 2463, they both went fishing, and a big fish, which was presumed to be a pike, pulled Déagol underwater. It was then that he discovered the One Ring, half-buried in the river-bed. When Sméagol saw the Ring, he stared at it with great desire, and then asked to keep it for his birthday. When his cousin refused, he broke into a barbaric rage and strangled Déagol to get it.



He became the third bearer of the One Ring, after Isildur, when he found it in the Gladden river (a tributary to the Anduin) with his cousin Sméagol. Sméagol (later known as Gollum) demanded the Ring for his birthday present, after falling in the power of the Ring, but then grows furious and murders Déagol by strangling him when he refused to give it to him. Afterwards, Déagol's body was never found, as he was murdered far from home and Sméagol cunningly hid it, a deed that haunted Gollum for many years.

Of the Ring's bearers, Déagol carried it for the shortest collective time, possessing it only for a few minutes. By contrast, the next shortest, Samwise Gamgee, carried it for a full day, and all the other Ring-bearers held it for at least a year. He was also the only Ring-bearer never to use the Ring (all the others having either used it at least once), though this was because he was killed before he had the chance.

It was possible that the Ring had already affected Déagol in a way that made him desire to keep the Ring. Explained this way, it's easy to see how Déagol would refuse to give up the Ring when Sméagol demanded it.

In the books

 * The Fellowship of the Ring

In the films

 * The Fellowship of the Ring (film) (hand only)
 * The Return of the King (film)

Films
Déagol also appears in the beginning of Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings voiced by an unknown actor. (The Lord of the Rings (1978 film))

In Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Déagol is played by New Zealand actor Thomas Robins. (The Lord of the Rings trilogy: The Return of the Ring)His hand appears grabbing the ring in the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. Thomas later played as young Thrain in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey)

Etymology
Déagol is an Old English translation of the "original" Westron name Nahald. Both names carry the meaning "Apt to hide, or Secretive".

External link


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