[Raynor]

Originally Posted by davem

No he isn't 'evil'. He does evil things.

Would you care to address my point about his conscience instead of simply stating your opinion, in a going-in-circles way?

How could anyone within the story possibly know what was going through Gollum's mind at that point?

But we don't have to restrict our understanding of Gollum at the level of Sam, at the moment he woke up, now do we?

Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee – but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing.
...
- Nothing, nothing, said Gollum softly. Nice Master!

And in the FotR is is said:

Originally Posted by Shadow of the past

Even Gollum was not wholly ruined. He had proved tougher than even one of the Wise would have guessed -as a hobbit might. There was a little corner of his mind that was still his own, and light came through it, as through a chink in the dark: light out of the past.

He is, in fact, so tough, that he proved "ultimately indomitable" even to Sauron, as I quoted previously. Therefore, even under the almost "unbearable torment" of the ring, he maintains his conscience of good. To resist "as a hobbit might" is indeed very telling, since, as stated in the letters:

Originally Posted by Letter 109

I think that there is no horror conceivable that such creatures cannot surmount, by grace (here appearing in mythological forms) combined with a refusal of their nature and reason at the last pinch to compromise or submit.

I still say that 'repent' in the context in which it is used in ToY does not imply Gollum concieves of himself as 'evil'.

How can you repent if you don't acknowledge that??

What do you consider this 'repentance' consists of - that for a fleeting moment he had decided to help Frodo complete the Quest & destroy the Ring?

It could have been an actual, significant turn towards good; the only one we know that he had. Tolkien himself speculated that if allowed, his dawning change could have matched, if not surpassed in the end, the mastery of the ring.

Originally Posted by Lal

But seriously, maybe the memory of what happened/didn't happen to Gollum is what prompted the Elves to take the other three Hobbit ringbearers overseas.

I agree

Originally Posted by Letter #325

As for Frodo or other mortals, they could only dwell in Aman for a limited time – whether brief or long. The Valar had neither the power nor the right to confer 'immortality' upon them. Their sojourn was a 'purgatory', but one of peace and healing and they would eventually pass away (die at their own desire and of free will) to destinations of which the Elves knew nothing.

Anyway, what about my questions I addressed to you, Lal? They are piling up beginning from page one .