Lord of the Rings experts to decide if man goes to prison over Gollum meme

J.J.R. Tolkien's character of Gollum once describes protagonists Frodo and Sam and "wicked, tricksy, false" in lamenting how they carry the all-powerful ring throughout the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

The gnarly creature inadvertently destroys the ring, leading to a debate as to whether Gollum was evil, a victim of fate, or simply misunderstood. A Turkish man is hoping for the latter as he awaits his fate after posting a meme comparing Gollum to President Tayyip Erdogan.

Insulting the president is a punishable crime in Turkey, and Biglin Ciftci - a former physician in the city of Aydin - is facing up to four years in jail.

Ciftci was fired from his position at the Public Health Institute of Turkey last October after uploading memes placing Erdogan next to the "Lord of the Rings" character. The president got wind of Ciftci's alleged crime and immediately prepared a case.

The only problem is that the presiding judge hasn't completed the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and can't decide whether Ciftci's comparison is an insult.

this one is getting Turkish twitterati into trouble: govt suing over Gollum/Erdogan comparison pic.twitter.com/O640fmY5hy

— BenAris (@bneeditor) December 2, 2015

"The prosecutor didn't watch the movie and he defined Gollum as 'the monster in a bad role," Hicran Danisman, Ciftci's lawyer, told Reuters. "But we said Gollum can't be defined as evil. The character itself is a war between good and bad. He is basically seen as a victim of society."

The Turkish court is calling on five experts in field of psychology, behavior, and cinema production to validate Ciftci's defense. They have to decide whether Erdogan is being depicted as the good version of Gollum - formerly known as Smeagol - that helps in destroying the "one ring," or the evil Gollum that transforms into a "small, slimy creature," as the meme notes.

The film trilogy's creators saw the picture and didn't find anything worth going to jail over.

"If the images [in question] are in fact the ones forming the basis of this Turkish lawsuit, we can state categorically: None of them feature the character known as Gollum. All of them are images of the character called Smeagol," director Peter Jackson said in a statement.

Screenwriter Fran Walsh added, "Smeagol is a joyful, sweet character. Smeagol does not lie, deceive, or attempt to manipulate others. He is not evil, conniving, or malicious - these personality traits belong to Gollum, who should never be confused with Smeagol."

If convicted, Ciftci would follow in a long line of victims subject to Turkey's freedom of speech laws.

According to the BBC, 236 people were investigated for insulting the head of state between August 2014 and March 2015; eight were arrested. Since 2003, Erdogan has sentenced 63 journalists to a total of 32 years in prison.