Gollum?

[Elf Girl]

What did Gollum know about the Ring, besides that it was his precious? I would think nothing, but he must have known it couldgive him power, because of his fantasies about Lord Smeagol and Gollum the Great. Also they made a big fuss about it in Mordor, I presume.

[Arathorn]

From what I gather in The Hobbit, he was merely content with being able to trick people with the invisibility it gave him. It allowed him to toy with them (goblins, fissshhh, hobbits such as Bilbo) before feeding on them.

[Renille]

I think he was also aware that he HAD to have the Ring...otherwise he wouldn't be the same and would suffer. It was a twisted addiction.

[Comic Book Guy]

He knew that Tossing the Ring into Mount Doom would 'hurt' the Ring.

[Lightice]

I believe, that when he was captured in Mordor, he learned a great deal about the Ring. He did dream about becoming even mightier than Sauron, if he just had his preciousss...
I don't think, that he understood it's whole potential, though. He just taught of getting fresh fisshes three times a day.

[Earniel]

You think he wanted to be more powerful than Sauron? Frankly I doubt it. From what I gathered he just wanted his precioussssss, some nice and moist cave and a steady income of fish. He cared little for power, I guess.

[Tar-Elendil]

i think the ring ensnared gollums mind at the sight of it. after being shunned by his family he retreated under the misty mountains. he loved being able to capture orcs and stuff using his ring but at the same time hating it becuz ever his thought was brooding upon it and he was always miserable. after it abandoned him he went out to look for it, was captured, and brought to Mordor. There he was questioned. Obviously he knew then somewhat the origin of the ring because he was tortured for information of the ring. He was captured sometime near 3009 Ta and released 6 years later. I think its enough time to hear a suffecient amount of information even from the conversations of the orcs.

[Nienna Grey]

I'm certainly not convinced that Gollum was aware of the Ring's true nature or of its potential. He had it for 500 years and made no attempt to use it to gain power. He just wanted to own it and never be parted from it.

It was Gollum's desire for the Ring which enabled Frodo to control him, to some extent, from "The Taming of Sméagol" onwards in the book. It would be interesting to know what Gollum's reaction would have been if he had been aware of Frodo's true intention at that time.

[Wayfarer]

The (Demi?)hobbit, smeagol, was the sneaky, prying type. And so the ring enhanced those traits. It made him invisible, but it also made him keen eyed (he could see int he dark), likely keen eared, very stealthy (he was nearly impossible to catch). It made him strong.

I'm not sure how much he knew... but he did realize that it was the only thing keeping him alive. But I think he realized the ill effect it had on him as well.

I find it interesting that the ring tempted gollum with visions of fish, sam with visions of gardening, boromir with visions of saving his country, etc. It seems that, along with enhancing the victim's strengths, it inflamed thier desires.