Did Gollum deserve death?

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Mansun

Gandalf was prepared to let Saruman off the hook when he ran into him towards the end of the book, despite all the murders & treason he had committed, so one may say that Gollum would have been set free & unharmed also.

Neither Gandalf nor Tolkien said that Saruman deserved to be let off the hook, even if he was let off the hook. The question here is not "Would Gandalf have shown Gollum (or anyone else) mercy" it's "Did Gollum deserve death". And that could be extended to, "Did Gollum deserve death, even though Gandalf would not have been the one to deal out justice because he would have shown mercy?"

-- Folwren