Regarding Gollum's capacity for redemption: Dain wrote:
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Ah, but in the end a major major good thing happens, the distruction of the ring. I don't think Gollum could ever completely be saved, though he may have regained some of his lost "humanity/hobbitity".
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In
The Letters of JRR Tolkien Tolkien wrote that if Gollum had managed differently to get the Ring from Frodo that the focus would have shifted from Frodo to Gollum. Tolkien said that, logically, Gollum would have then been able to see the futility of the whole thing--he would never be able to withstand Sauron given his location. Add to this Gollum's fear and hatred of Sauron, his love for Frodo, thwarted as it may have been,
and his desire to keep the Ring, the only thing to do would be to keep the Ring and jump into Doom. Tolkien suggests that all this may have actually occurred to Gollum as he began to fall.
There are several replies I want to make, so instead of one, long gargantuan post, I'm going to do 2-3 shorter ones.
On to #2.