The real power here lies in how possession corrupts perception—Gollum doesn't cherish the Ring because it's objectively valuable, but because owning it has rewired his capacity to love entirely. What Walsh captures is how obsession doesn't elevate an object; it hollows out the person holding it, replacing genuine affection with a possessive hunger that can never be satisfied. We see this in modern life when someone becomes so fixated on acquiring status, a relationship, or even a collection that the thing itself becomes secondary to the act of grasping it—the joy drains away, replaced by anxiety about losing it. The tragedy isn't that Gollum wants something; it's that he's forgotten how to want anything else.