What happened at Mount Doom?

[The Saucepan Man]

Davem, to draw on your argument from the Feanor - Self-Important? thread, might it be that Eru willed that Gollum be the instrument of the Ring's destruction but that Gollum had free-will as to precisely how he would play his part? Once he chose not to destroy it willingly or to aid Frodo in doing so, then the "accident" was the only means of bringing about that which was fated to occur.

The problem, of course, is that this sets Gollum an impossible task, as not even Frodo could bring himself to destroy the Ring willingly.

Another thought occurs to me. Was there perhaps a way in which Gollum could "accidentally" have destroyed the Ring without falling into the Crack of Doom himself?

Bêthberry asked me:

Just out of curiosity, could you provide us with a brief outline of what you can imagine?

I did give this some thought. One alternative which (I think) would maintain the essence of the story would be to have Gollum trip while triumphantly holding the Ring and lose his grip on it. The Ring then rolls over the edge of the Crack, but Gollum doesn't follow it in. Having had his life preserved well beyond his natural life by the power of the Ring, Gollum then dies of old age with its destruction. Would that fit the bill? Eru could certainly not be labelled a "murderer" in those circumstances as Gollum would have been bound to die with the detruction of the Ring, whatever else happened. There might even be scope for Gollum to renounce his sins, thereby setting up the possibility of his redemption, in his dying words to Frodo.

Any thoughts?