everyone's favourite critter, not a critter to be exactly but a hobbit who grew unnaturally old because he kept the precious item of his ossession, the one ring of power for too long. he not only grew old but to a split personality and has totally transformed in something new, a pitiably creature resembling a shizophrene heroin addict.
gollum is to me the represantive for what the true power of a fetish can be like that it makes him nearly immortal and become one with his precious. only that the ring is not the spiritual enlightment but a substitude for a real, healthy life and spirit or even the reverse of it.