[MLD-Grounds-Keeper-Willie]

Here's what I said from this thread Gollum do you pity him or hate him?

The ring has powers; it has a lure, and it can be extremely strong at times. What about Boromir? He almost killed Frodo before he touched the ri- no, actually he never touched the ring. So you can't tell me that no one wants the ring until you touch it. It doesn't matter. Just to be around it, to see it, to even know about it, it's enough to make a person do anything to get it. Just look at Saruman. He never touched it, he only heard about it and he bread armies to search for it. He even tried to make one more powerful. And Bilbo and Frodo never had to do anything to get it. Bilbo came across it by accident or the ring chose him. He did not have to kill anybody for it or take or steal it. Frodo inherited it, he also did not have to do anything to get it. And he even had knowledge of the ring. And besides, Bilbo might have killed for the ring. What if Gollum had the nerve enough to go himself and see what Bilbo's got in his pocketses? Bilbo didn't even put it on yet he was extremely reluctant to even let Gollum know he had the ring.

And here's what I said in this thread Do you wish gollum had lived?

Gollum usually was just tricked by the ring. And the reason he killed to get the ring was because of the overwhelming desire to posess it. Gollum did not hate everything. Remeber, there was a part of gollum's mind that was still gollum (or I should say Smeagol) and I think that gollum did want to change, even though it would take long. When he didn't have the ring, there were parts of him that showed that hadn't in ages. Also, even though he was quite bitter, when he didn't have the ring anymore, I think that a very (ok, not very but extremely) slow rehabilitation process began in him. You say that he hated the ring. Yes he did. He loved it and yet he hated it. This is the one thing that tore him apart. He loved it like a drug- he was addicted. But he loathed it. He had an instinctive hatred for the ring, and I think that's why he became kinder at times after he lost the ring. He realized how much he hated it and wanted to let it go but it was so hard. It was like a drug to him and very hard to quit, but even though it may not look like it, I believe that he was trying to quit; to let the ring go.

and

Gollum killed Deagol because of the overwhelming desire to posses the ring and partly because the ring clouded his judgement.

And here's what I said in this thread Gollum vs Other Hobbits

I also have a theory that the ring was a separate character in lotr. I don't think that it was just an object or a tool. When I read lotr, I get the impression that the ring was a character. It couldn't physically interact in the environment like the other characters could. It couldn't walk or talk, but it could think. I think that it had a mind and its own personality. Maybe its personality wasn't really developed but I'd describe it in one word- evil. The ring could use its mind not to communicate but to trick and confuse and to even control ring bearers. It even used ring bearer's to get closer to sauron. It had the ability leech on to a ringbearer's mind, or it was like a virus that enters the body (in the ring's case, the mind) and take over. I think that it could predict how it would get to sauron. For example, the ring purposely slipped off of isildur's finger to avoid being brought to Gondor and then under counsel, where it would be decided that it must be destroyed. Or maybe it wanted revenge for sauron. Anyway's, the ring saw gollum as an opportunity to get closer to sauron.

So, I do agree with A), but also, the ring can corrupt people without any direct contact with them, as you said. As for B), I say that the ring does the corrupting, not the desire, however, I believe that the ring uses desire to corrupt.