# How did Gollum manage to keep up with the Fellowship from Moria to Lorien?



## Manwe (Nov 18, 2002)

*from moria to lorien*

Just wondering if anybody knew how gollum managed to keep up with the fellowship following Gandalf's fall at Khazad-dum. After trailing them in moria surely he couldn't have sneaked (snook?) across the bridge after Aragorn and Boromir crossed but before Gandalf took up his position defending the bridge ? And after the that the bridge was destroyed. How did he get out of the mines and to lothlorien so quickly?


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## Lady_of_Gondor (Nov 18, 2002)

Perhaps he had a good idea of which way they were going, and went on ahead another way around in hopes of meeting them again when they emerged from Lorien. They stayed there for quite some time as I remember, he would have had time to take a longer route to the Falls of Rauros.


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## Anamatar IV (Nov 18, 2002)

or maybe was it that he wasnt tracking the fellowship from Moria at all. I think the soonest mention of Gollum tracking the fellowship is right before Lorien:



> I saw them away back north before we reached Lorien



frodo is of course talking about Gollums eyes. He goes on to tell he had seen them climbing up the tree...yada yada yada. So was gollum really in Moria with the fellowship? Maybe the movie has left a bit of a print on you there.


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## Maeglin (Nov 18, 2002)

I don't think he was in Moria either Anamatar, there is no way he would survive in there, he would get killed by the orcs and made into a nice tasty morsel.


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## Niniel (Nov 18, 2002)

In the Unfinished Tales, Tolkien writes about Gollum:


> He hid himself in Moria.What happened then to Gollum cannot of course be known for certain. No doubt he had intended to use Moria simply as a secret passage westward, his purpose being to find 'Shire' himself as quickly as he could; but he became lost, and it was a very long time before he found his way about. He knew nothing about the action of the doors. It was thus a piece of singular good fortune for Gollum that the Nine Walkers (= the Fellowship) arrived when they did.



So JRRT thinks that Gollum hid himself in Moria for quite a long time, but got lost and could not get out. When the fellowship arrived, he followed them out and continued following them. JRRT doesn't say anything about how exactly Gollum got out of Moria, but he must have gotten over the Bridge before the Fellowship (just a bit sooner, so that he would not lose sight of them), for if he went too close to them they would have noticed him, and later wasn't possible.


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## Gothmog (Nov 18, 2002)

If Gollum was trailing the Fellowship through Moria he came to a problem in that he could not follow them into the Chamber of Mazabul. Therefore he would have needed to find a different way down to the gates. So it is entirely possible that he found his way across the bridge before the Fellowship and was waiting on the other side for them. It would then be just a matter of getting through the gates after them but before the Orcs had recovered from the discussions had while the Fellowship passed that way.


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## Leto (Nov 19, 2002)

Traveling through Moria, Frodo thought he kept hearing the sound of flapping feet following them, that would continue for a few steps whenever the fellowship stopped. And he thought he would see two pale points of light, like eyes, peering at them while they rested, though he couldn't tell if he was awake or dreaming. That is most definately Gollum following them. Tolkien uses mysterious suspense to hint at his presence, in Moria, in Lorien, on the river. It is obvious (once you have gotten to 'Taming of Smeagol'), that it has been him all along. How he got out is a good question. He could have guessed where they were going, and possibly knew another secret way out by the eastern gate. When the orcs and the Balrog were alerted he might have snuck out ahead of them...or maybe it was he that alerted the orcs to their whereabouts in the first place. Anyway, Gollum always seems to find some secret way around things, into things, out of things...as we saw he was able to climb an almost shear cliff-face in the emyn muil, head first. He can hide from all but the keenest eyes. Even if he were very close by, I'm sure he could have avoided their detection while they were frantically fleeing from the mines.


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## YayGollum (Nov 19, 2002)

Hi! I think that Gollum got across by another bridge. Does it say anywhere that there was only one bridge? I don't know. I wouldn't think so. Maybe there was just a smaller one for not so important Dwarves to use. oh well. Gollum was down there for a while. Plenty of time to find other crazy bridges. *hides*


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## Ravenna (Nov 22, 2002)

No books handy so I can't quote, but I sure that after leaving Lorien, when Sam sees his 'log with eyes', Aragorn tells Frodo that it is Gollum and that he had trailed the fellowship all through Moria, and had picked up the trail again when they took to the river.


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## Gil-Galad (Nov 22, 2002)

> _Originally posted by YayGollum _
> *Hi! I think that Gollum got across by another bridge. Does it say anywhere that there was only one bridge? I don't know. I wouldn't think so. Maybe there was just a smaller one for not so important Dwarves to use. oh well. Gollum was down there for a while. Plenty of time to find other crazy bridges. *hides* *[/QUOT
> This time I would agree with you.Gollum spends a lot of time in Moria so finding another exit is quite possible.


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