The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 letter word FRODO
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
F
R
O
D
O
More clues leading to the result FRODO
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Tolkien has him following a ring of gold around" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case tolkien has him following a ring of gold around = frodo.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.