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Originally Posted by Thenamir
I think the consensus here (and my apologies to those who do not share it) is that Gollum indeed deserves death for all his evil actions. And yet, the wise (Gandalf, Aragorn, and the elves) do not carry out an execution. Why? Gandalf shares his premonition ("my heart tells me") that Gollum still had a part to play in the great unfolding drama of the Ring saga. Whence does this "feeling" come from? I believe* it can only come from whatever connection to or remembrance of Eru still remains after so many long years incarnate in Middle Earth. (And what understatement, to say "the pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.")
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My feeling is that they don't kill him because they never actually needed to - killing in self defence is one thing. Executing someone in cold blood is another. I'm uncomfortable with the idea that they simply kept Gollum around because he might prove 'useful'. A very utilitarian approach which strikes me as more in Sauron or Saruman's line. I think Gandalf's motive was the same as Frodo's - hope that in some way, given time & the right circumstances, Smeagol may have been healed.
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I don't recall Gandalf telling Frodo that Smeagol's people knew that he had killed Deagol. I don't have the book in front of me but IIRC Gollum's grandmother kicked him out of the family hole because he was causing problems in family. Far from seeing into his soul they seemed (if Gandalf's tale is accurate) to consider him a nuisance and wanted him gone.
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Well, I'm sure they noticed that Deagol hadn't been around since the fishing trip & must have had their suspicions.
We're told that no Hobbit in the Shire have ever killed another intentionally & it seems to me that this speaks to the innate distaste for execution among Hobbits.
Aiwendil. Ok - I accept your points - up to a point. But it wasn't simply a matter of the effect of the Ring itself - it was the fact that Smeagol had spent 500 years alone in the dark brooding on it. I strongly suspect that if he'd spent 500 years alone in the dark brooding on his big toe he'd have become quite equally insane (or attained Nirvana.....)