Alan Sisto

He's not going to be able to stop at the local grocery store.

The only way he's going to get food is to go to orc encampments and steal their food.

Right.

That's high risk every single time.

And, you know, as the text indicates, he loses out on that once he gets away from the eastern side.

So the entire second half of his journey is just starving.

I thought that was interesting because it's telling us, look, this wasn't just hiding from the elves and orcs, although it does that.

It was to keep going, right?

He wanted to get to the Shire.

Yeah.

Find where the Shire was because he still desperately wants his ring.

Big bulbous eyes.

Yeah, that's true.

That seems like a long time.

So I thought I would take a look at the timeline.

So the attack on Thranduil's halls and Gollum's resulting escape, that took place on June 20th, 3018.

That's something that we actually were able to confirm in the Tale of Years and also last week in the episode.

The Tale of Years says that in August of that year, so two months later, all trace of Gollum is lost.

It is thought that at about this time, being hunted by both the elves and Sauron's servants, he took refuge in Moria.

But when he had at last discovered the way to the West Gate, he could not get out.