Well, it's taken a while, but Gollum's first appearence in Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar is nearly here. SPOnG's got the first pieces of artwork featuring the tricky little blighter to get you in the mood.

Codemasters informs us that Gollum will make his first "brief" appearance in the upcoming Book 11 content update, which will be free to subscribers.

SPOnG does have a bit of a gripe, however. One of the pieces of concept art below shows Gollum with the ring on his thumb. Surely that picture ought to just be a blank background? Or does the ring only turn you invisible when worn on the appropriate finger? Or maybe Gollum's just picked up some other ring he found lying around?

Anyway, dig in to the images below and see what you think. When you're done, visit SPOnG's dedicated LOTRO game page for more.