Did Gollum want possession of the Ring but not want to wear it?

Question

Is this accurate? While the Ring is definitely something he desired and wore to become invisible occasionally, he did not particularly want to wear it.

Answer 1

Clearly he wanted possession of the Ring -- lust for his Precious devoured him. So the question here is how much he wanted to wear it. Let's look at the evidence:

As it turns out there isn't much! During the entire LotR, Gollum has the Ring only for a few seconds:

Frodo gave a cry, and there he was, fallen upon his knees at the chasm's edge. But Gollum, dancing like a mad thing, held aloft the ring, a finger still thrust within its circle. It shone now as if verily it was wrought of living fire.

'Precious, precious, precious!' Gollum cried. 'My Precious! O my Precious!' And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail Precious, and he was gone.

Note that while he held the ring, he does not seem to have worn it. But was this five seconds? Ten? It's hard to say, but it wasn't long.

Also in LotR Gandalf narrates the history of the Ring. The relevant section of Gollum's part was

'...But Sméagol returned alone; and he found that none of his family could see him, when he was wearing the ring. He was very pleased with his discovery and he concealed it; and he used it to find out secrets, and he put his knowledge to crooked and malicious uses. He became sharp-eyed and keen-eared for all that was hurtful. The ring had given him power according to his stature. It is not to be wondered at that he became very unpopular and was shunned (when visible) by all his relations. ...

... He caught fish in deep pools with invisible fingers and ate them raw.

So initially he wore the Ring some of the time.

He certainly did not wear it all the time:

Gollum used to wear it at first, till it tired him; and then he kept it in a pouch next his skin, till it galled him; and now usually he hid it in a hole in the rock on his island, and was always going back to look at it. And still sometimes he put it on, when he could not bear to be parted from it any longer, or when he was very, very, hungry, and tired of fish. Then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins. He might even venture into places where the torches were lit and made his eyes blink and smart; for he would be safe. Oh yes, quite safe. No one would see him, no one would notice him, till he had his fingers on their throat. Only a few hours ago he had worn it, and caught a small goblin-imp. How it squeaked! He still had a bone or two left to gnaw, but he wanted something softer.

I find it hard to make the comment "until it galled him" match what we learn in LotR, though.

Gandalf goes on to make some comments which may be relevant:

'A Ring of Power looks after itself, Frodo. It may slip off treacherously, but its keeper never abandons it. At most he plays with the idea of handing it on to someone else's care - and that only at an early stage, when it first begins to grip. But as far as I know Bilbo alone in history has ever gone beyond playing, and really done it. He needed all my help, too. And even so he would never have just forsaken it, or cast it aside. It was not Gollum, Frodo, but the Ring itself that decided things. The Ring left him.'

'What, just in time to meet Bilbo?' said Frodo. 'Wouldn't an Orc have suited it better?'

'It is no laughing matter,' said Gandalf. 'Not for you. It was the strangest event in the whole history of the Ring so far: Bilbo's arrival just at that time, and putting his hand on it, blindly, in the dark.

Is it possible that Gandalf is suggesting that Gollum's leaving of the Ring where Bilbo found it was not because he did not desire to wear it, but because Iluvatar intended the Ring to go to Bilbo? If so, the implication from The Hobbit that Gollum did not always wear the Ring may not been of his own doing.

It seems clear from the evidence that Gollum did not feel a compulsion to wear the Ring at all times, but the evidence is not there to suggest he didn't care.

Answer 2

Somewhat

Tolkien does say that Gollum found the ring to be "tiring" to wear all the time, and "galling" to keep on him all the time.

But Gollum was still willing to use it whenever he was hungry.

“My birthday-present! It came to me on my birthday, my precious.” So he had always said to himself. But who knows how Gollum came by that present, ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said. Gollum used to wear it at first, till it tired him; and then he kept it in a pouch next his skin, till it galled him; and now usually he hid it in a hole in the rock on his island, and was always going back to look at it. And still sometimes he put it on, when he could not bear to be parted from it any longer, or when he was very, very, hungry, and tired of fish. Then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins. He might even venture into places where the torches were lit and made his eyes blink and smart; for he would be safe. Oh yes, quite safe. No one would see him, no one would notice him, till he had his fingers on their throat. Only a few hours ago he had worn it, and caught a small goblinimp. How it squeaked! He still had a bone or two left to gnaw, but he wanted something softer.
_{The Hobbit - Chapter 5 - "Riddles in the Dark" - 1951 Second Edition}

In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf also says that Gollum hated the Ring and seldom used it.

Gandalf sighed. ‘Alas! there is little hope of that for him. Yet not no hope. No, not though he possessed the Ring so long, almost as far back as he can remember. For it was long since he had worn it much: in the black darkness it was seldom needed. Certainly he had never “faded”. He is thin and tough still. But the thing was eating up his mind, of course, and the torment had become almost unbearable.
‘All the “great secrets” under the mountains had turned out to be just empty night: there was nothing more to find out, nothing worth doing, only nasty furtive eating and resentful remembering. He was altogether wretched. He hated the dark, and he hated light more: he hated everything, and the Ring most of all.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Frodo. ‘Surely the Ring was his Precious and the only thing he cared for? But if he hated it, why didn’t he get rid of it, or go away and leave it?’
‘You ought to begin to understand, Frodo, after all you have heard,’ said Gandalf. ‘He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter.
_{The Lord of the Rings - Book I, Chapter 2 - "The Shadow of the Past"}

It should be noted though that this idea was not present in The Hobbit as originally published, as Tolkien only conceived of the Ring this way while writing The Lord of the Rings. The first quote given above was from the Second Edition of The Hobbit. In the First Edition no mention is made of Gollum disliking the ring and that first passage went as follows:

Bilbo turned round and waited, wondering what it could be that the creature was making such a fuss about. This proved very fortunate afterwards. For Gollum came back and made a tremendous spluttering and whispering and croaking; and in the end Bilbo gathered that Gollum had had a ring — a wonderful, beautiful ring, a ring that he had been given for a birthday present, ages and ages before in old days when such rings were less uncommon. Sometimes he had it in his pocket; usually he kept it in a little hole in the rock on his island; sometimes he wore it — when he was very, very hungry, and tired of fish, and crept along dark passages looking for stray goblins. Then he might venture even into places where the torches were lit and made his eyes blink and smart; but he would be safe. O yes! very nearly safe; for if you slipped that ring on your finger, you were invisible; only in the sunlight could you be seen, and then only by your shadow, and that was a faint and shaky sort of shadow.
_{The Hobbit - Chapter 5 - "Riddles in the Dark" - 1937 First Edition}

Answer 3

According to The Hobbit, that seems to be correct. After having possessed the Ring for a long time, Gollum typically preferred not to wear it when he did not have to.

And he was a miserable wicked creature, and already he had a plan. Not far away was his island, of which Bilbo knew nothing, and there in his hiding-place he kept a few wretched oddments, and one very beautiful thing, very beautiful, very wonderful. He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring.

"My birthday-present!" he whispered to himself, as he had often done in the endless dark days. "That's what we wants now, yes; we wants it!" He wanted it because it was a ring of power, and if you slipped that ring on your finger, you were invisible; only in the full sunlight could you be seen, and then only by your shadow, and that would be shaky and faint. "My birthday-present! It came to me on my birthday, my precious," So he had always said to himself. But who knows how Gollum came by that present, ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said. Gollum used to wear it at first, till it tired him; and then he kept it in a pouch next his skin, till it galled him; and now usually he hid it in a hole in the rock on his island, and was always going back to look at it. And still sometimes he put it on, when he could not bear to be parted from it any longer, or when he was very, very, hungry, and tired of fish. Then he would creep along dark passages looking for stray goblins. He might even venture into places where the torches were lit and made his eyes blink and smart; for he would be safe. Oh yes, quite safe. No one would see him, no one would notice him, till he had his fingers on their throat. Only a few hours ago he had worn it, and caught a small goblin-imp. How it squeaked! He still had a bone or two left to gnaw, but he wanted something softer.

"Quite safe, yes," he whispered to himself. "It won't see us, will it, my precious? No. It won't see us, and its nassty little sword will be useless, yes quite."

Why precisely the Ring (or the acts of first wearing, then carrying it) "tired" or "galled" him are not spelled out, but those feelings must arise out of Gollum's profound love-hate relationship with the Ring. He was obsessed with it, but it appears that much of the time he preferred not to wear it, or even to have it on his person. However, there were also times when his obsession was such that he could not bear not to wear it. Had Gollum recovered the Ring from Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, he probably would have intended to carry on in a similar fashion to what he had done before—keeping the Ring, but most of the time not wearing it.

Answer 4

Rather than talking about what Gollum wanted, it may be more accurate to say that the Ring had utterly enslaved Gollum, and he did what it wanted.

As Gandalf tells Frodo,

It was the Ring itself that decided things...[Gollum] had no will left in the matter.

–Shadow of the Past (Book I)

For a while during LOTR, it served the Ring's purpose that Gollum was drawn to pursue it and would most likely expose the hobbits or steal it and then get captured. Sauron knew this, and may even have used a spell to enhance Gollum's pathological attraction to the Ring when he interrogated and manipulated him.

The only time Gollum's addiction to the Ring went against the Ring's/Sauron's interests is at the very end, when he steals it from Frodo and falls. Perhaps this was an unintended result, and serves an example of Evil becoming its own undoing, as is a common theme.

As for Gollum's changing preference for wearing the Ring, this may also be due to the Ring's shifting purposes. When Gollum first found it, it seemed to benefit the Ring that he and itself remain hidden from the Elves, the Istari, or any other rivals who might seek to gain control of it with Sauron out of the picture. After Sauron grew in power again (which the Ring sensed), it makes sense that the Ring would impel Gollum away from wearing it – to increase the likelihood of being discovered.