Did Gollum deserve death?

[alatar]

Originally Posted by davem

Again, even if he did steal & eat the babies, did he really see the babies he stole as 'human beings' like him, or did he, in his insanity, see them simply as 'food'? Ultimately passing judgement on someone who is insane because they so things that are 'unnacceptable' to sane, civilised folk ignores the central fact of Smeagol's nature - he is insane. His perceptions, values, & yes, his 'morality' is not the same as those who are judging him.

Sounds a bit too 'relative' and so anyone - Sauron, Melkor, etc - are just doing what seems sane to them, as surely anyone silly enough to take one's Creator could be considered by some insane. At what point do we say that anyone is guilty of anything - it's my nature, my genes, my lot, etc. No one guilty?

Or am I just not seeing what you mean?

I guess that Gollum, eating children, could be just foraging for food. Okay and well enough. I'm some denizen of Mirkwood, and I'm going to try to catch anything that tries to enter my window at night, and most likely kill it as that seems okay to me as well. Makes sense, and probably is what really occurs in life - we give ear to 'morality' but at times must be practical as well in order to survive.