What if Gollum had lived?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Moonraker

But what would Gandalf have done with Gollum? I don't think the likes of Galadriel and Elrond would have cared too much for him, at best they might have been curious to visit him in jail in the Woodland realm of the Elves. Aragorn would have probably got involved in the final decision making process, being an old friend of Gollum's. Frodo & Bilbo would surely have forgiven him as they had first hand experience of the evil of the Ring.

Since when were any of the people you mention a "friend" of Gollum, least of all Aragorn?

'[Gollum] will never love me, I fear; for he bit me, and I was not gentle.

FOTR The Council of Elrond

So spoke Aragorn.

And Gollum wasn't anyone's responsibility. Yes, I think Frodo might have offered Gollum some help, if anyone did. But he would have been the only one, and it wouldn't have been out of any sort of obligation.

Originally Posted by Moonraker

Would the folks over the Great Sea not be curious to sea the creature behind all the tales that Frodo would have told them once the Company arrived on shore of the far green country, the Undying Lands?.

No, no more than they would have wished to see Wormtongue, or the Witch-king. You couldn't just stick anyone on those boats. Bilbo and Frodo were very special cases.

Originally Posted by Moonraker

As for Gollum surviving, I could envisage a scene whereby he sees Frodo cast the Ring into the fire, shrieks out loud, and then faints. Sam and Frodo between them carry Gollum outside, then the Eagles come and take the three of them away. Gollum finally revives himself, now feeling terribly old and venerable, and no longer capable of being a physical danger to his captors. I can also conceive Gollum passing out permanently as he sees the Ring gone forever, maybe a stroke or heart attack due to the sheer shock and anger at losing what mean't so incredibly much to him. Certainly in old age this end would have been plausible, much like when a Pope died of shock in Rome after being informed that Jerusalem was lost by the Catholic soldiers to the Islamic Empire during the Crusades.

I personally think that if Gollum had witnessed Frodo throwing the Ring into the Fire, he would immediately have leaped in after it. Without it, he would have had no will to live.