[Iris Alantiel]

I always liked Gollum as a character, always felt sorry for him, but I never really trusted him. I agree that it's letting him off too easily to just blame the ring for all of his actions. After all, lots of characters were tempted or affected by the ring, and they chose to behave differently from Gollum. Way way back, when Gollum killed Deagol for the ring, it was the first time he had ever laid eyes upon it. Now there were a lot of other characters who were not so driven by need for the ring that they had to have it, even if they had to commit murder to get their hands on it.

I think in the end, I don't trust Gollum for the same reason that I feel sorry for him - the fact that he's weak. Someone like Frodo or Sam was able to resist the power of the ring and hold on to their humanity (or it's hobbit equivalent), but Gollum just let go and allowed the ring to take hold way too easily. You could argue that the fact that he was weak wasn't his fault, and maybe that would be fair to say, but he's still not someone you want to trust, because when it comes right down to it, he'll do what he has to in order to get the ring, because he just hasn't got the strength to say no to it.