[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Just had a thought. I think all the opinions fall into one of the two groups - Gollum's fall is just a fall and Gollum's fall is caused by fate. But who controls that fate? It sure could be a Vala(r) or Eru, but do you think that fate it such a thing that it lies even above them, or at least independent from them?

Regarding this, whereas Fate is a recurring theme, let's not also forget that the history of Middle-Earth, resp. Arda was in many ways still capable of "transcending" or overcoming fate. It is hard to say what exactly Tolkien meant by fate, whether that was supposed to be the "laws of the world set by the Music of the Ainur", or something else. However, in Ainulindalë, one of the crucial points on this topic says that

the Ainur know much of what was, and is, and is to come, and few things are unseen by them. Yet some things there are that they cannot see, neither alone nor taking counsel together; for to none but himself has Ilúvatar revealed all that he has in store, and in every age there come forth things that are new and have no foretelling, for they do not proceed from the past.

So that makes is clear that "fate" is something, in my opinion, that is above Valar or at the same level with Valar (somehow, Vairë and Mandos come to my mind in relation with this), but Eru is still above fate, that's for sure.

Even though - and now I'm getting from a slightly different direction back to the original topic of this thread - actually I would say Gollum's slipping falls into this cathegory of "things that have no foretelling". Because by simple laws of causality, one would have expected Gollum to claim the Ring and walk away happily, where some Nazgul would fall on him, take him to Sauron and Sauron would rule Middle-Earth. Therefore, in fact, if asked which of the Valar caused the slip, I would say neither, since it is exactly "outside the realm of generally expected possibilities", which would imply Eru, and no other mediator involved. But personally, I am with G55 and others who prefer to have the "unanswered question". It simply happened, and that's how I believe it is supposed to be perceived. Seeking an agent behind all this is unnecessary, and maybe even misleading.