With regard to 'fading' and Gollum's reaction as opposed to the Ringwraiths:
Tolkien (thru Gandalf) tells us in Chapter I/2 that a mortal who often uses the Ring to become invisible will eventually become fixed in that state permanently; T makes it clear elsewhere that Smeagol/Gollum never actually wore the Ring much under the mountains, it being dark and all. Over and above this is the fact that Smeagol is a Hobbit, and therefore "very tough in the fibre;" in a similar way Frodo endured a fragment of Morgul-knofe for seventeen days which would have "swiftly overcome" many mighty warriors of Men.
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The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.
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