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[QUOTE=Folwren]Gandalf didn't say that Gollum didn't deserve to die! He said Gollum did deserve to die. However, he told Frodo not to be eager to deal out death in judgement. Death is final, and it's too final for a hobbit like Frodo to deal out. It wasn't Frodo's place to judge people unto death, that's what I think Gandalf was saying.
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While he addresses Frodo specifically, I thought that by adding the words "For even the wise cannot see all ends" Gandalf's comment implied that not even the wise should deal out death in judgment. Since their knowledge of the future is imperfect, they don't know what role someone may play in the evolving tale of Arda and therefore should not issue a final punishment such as death.
Did Gollum deserve to die? I certainly had no problem with him falling into the cracks of doom. By then he was beyond any sort of redemption. But I agree with Mithalwen that he also deserved to die in the sense that he had far outlived his time. IIRC when he comes upon the sleeping pair of Frodo and Sam in Cirith Ungol (??), Tolkien describes him as old and weary, having lived to long. Death would have been a release.
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