Karen Szklany
asked:
Do you think if Sam was more compassionate toward Smeagol/Gollum, the creature would have been able to turn back from evil, let go of the ring, and lived a longer, more peaceful life f or the rest of his days?
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Daan
The ring is much like an addiction. Everybody who has it, even those who try to use it for good, will fall into it.
Gollem/Smeagol is quite a special case. By all means he shouldn't still be alive but he still is. Dangerously turned evil and dangerously dependant upon the ring. Smeagol can't be saved, if he had survived he would be an empty void. Without the ring he would be nothing. He might not have become a servant of the great evil. But he was permanently connected to it.
Maybe you haven't noticed by all surviving ring bearers are offered travel through the gray havens. Because each of them are corrupted even in the smallest way. All of them are affected and there is no cure.
Gollem/Smeagol is quite a special case. By all means he shouldn't still be alive but he still is. Dangerously turned evil and dangerously dependant upon the ring. Smeagol can't be saved, if he had survived he would be an empty void. Without the ring he would be nothing. He might not have become a servant of the great evil. But he was permanently connected to it.
Maybe you haven't noticed by all surviving ring bearers are offered travel through the gray havens. Because each of them are corrupted even in the smallest way. All of them are affected and there is no cure.
Gabe L.
In my opinion, no. Gollum held the ring for 500 years and had 500 years to be exposed to the Ring's corruptive power. Also, Gollum acquired the ring by killing his friend Deagol. That made the Ring's power take hold of him much stronger and faster than it would if he had just found the ring like Bilbo did. Gollum's mind was completely twisted around the Ring. He felt he needed it, and that's why he couldn't ever recover from its corruption, unless the Ring was destroyed.
Karen Szklany
Now that I have read the books and seen the movies again, I have a new appreciation for the real reason Smeagol/Gollum turned back to holding contempt for "the filthy hobbitses."
It is possible that if Sam was more compassionate toward Smeagol/Gollum, the creature may have turned completely away from his evil leanings, but it wasn't just Sam who affected his outlook. Faramir required that Frodo allow Smeagol/Gollum to be held captive by the men of Gondor while they kept company together. This made Smeagol/Gollum feel betrayed by "Master Frodo" and begin looking for a way to have him destroyed and regain possession of the ring.
It is possible that if Sam was more compassionate toward Smeagol/Gollum, the creature may have turned completely away from his evil leanings, but it wasn't just Sam who affected his outlook. Faramir required that Frodo allow Smeagol/Gollum to be held captive by the men of Gondor while they kept company together. This made Smeagol/Gollum feel betrayed by "Master Frodo" and begin looking for a way to have him destroyed and regain possession of the ring.
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