Bilbo Baggins encounters Gollum in a riddle contest in The Hobbit.
Bilbo meets Gollum beneath the Misty Mountains after becoming separated from Thorin’s company. Gollum lives on a small island in an underground lake and challenges Bilbo to a contest of riddles. The contest creates a tense pause in the adventure while both characters try to outthink the other.
During the encounter, Bilbo finds a golden ring that makes its wearer invisible. In The Hobbit, the ring is initially presented as a mysterious magical object. Tolkien later revised and expanded its significance when writing The Lord of the Rings, making it the One Ring created by Sauron.
Gollum was once Sméagol, a creature corrupted by the Ring over centuries. Readers sometimes confuse him with Smaug because both are major threats in The Hobbit, but Smaug is the dragon occupying the Lonely Mountain, while Gollum is the riddling figure beneath the mountains.