wow, this is a really great thread! Well spoken, everyone! Some very good points and interpretations. I had never really considered the fact that Gollum's fate was very nearly Bilbo's, had he killed the creature. If i've learned one thing from reading LOTR, it's about forgiveness ...well, not exactly forgiveness, but pity...and moral strength, and how it's not right to harm anyone in any situation, regardless of what harm they can do to you. Gandalf's quote is excellent: "Many who live deserve death, some who die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety." Many times while reading LOTR, i thought that if I were Frodo or Sam or Bilbo, i most surely would have killed Gollum... and now i know that if i were ever in a situation similar to the likes of theirs,(literally or figuratively), there is no honor in hurting anyone...the honorable thing is to have mercy and "not to strike without need." Ok, enough babbling from me. [img]smilies/redface.gif[/img]
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The musicians had indeed laid bare the youngest, most innocent of our ideas of life, the indestructible yearning for the way things aren't and can never be. ~ Philip Roth, The Human Stain
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