Other than offering fantastical tales of adventure, danger and friendship, one of the many reasons fans have loved The Lord of the Rings for decades is largely thanks to its vast cast of characters.

J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the most famous authors of all time inspiring the likes of Star Wars, World of Warcraft, and The Chronicles of Narnia to name just a few. The chances are, that The Lord of the Rings will continue to inspire many more tales for generations to come.

Depending on the species, characters can live for hundreds of years in Middle-earth, if not thousands. For example, Bilbo is said to be around 130 years old while Gandalf is believed to be around 55,000 years old. However, it seems that fans of The Lord of the Rings are shocked to learn how old Gollum is.

Before he became Gollum, this Stoor Hobbit was known as Sméagol and would have had an estimated life expectancy of around 100 years (give or take). Yet, thanks to the corruption of the One Ring, Gollum went on to live a lot, lot longer than his natural cycle.

So, with that in mind, Redditor a32filtros asked “How old is Gollum?” To no surprise, fellow users on the Reddit thread were keen to provide answers. Give or take, Gollum is said to be around 600 years old.

“I’ve seen people cite his birth year as 2430, making him 33 when he acquired the One Ring in 2463, and therefore 589 when he died in 3019,” explained Sluggycat. “However, the citation for that birthdate appears to be Robert Foster’s The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, which I do not own and cannot say anything in regards to its accuracy.”

I think that it’s fair to say, that at least for Gollum, living a long life is a curse and not as precious as one would hope.