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Such things as mercy and pity do not fit into your rigid and economical stance for preservation and self-interest, and certainly Gollum would have been slain had the Hobbits taken your professed tact, to the utter destruction of the Free Peoples.
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Hmmm. I'm reading your posts here,
Morthoron, and I'm disagreeing with the notion that it's an "either or" scenario in regards to Gollum, or that mercy is always at odds with self-interest. We are merciful to others, because we are good
and because we'd like to treat others the way we would like to be treated ourselves. Gandalf, meanwhile, felt that Gollum had a part to play yet.
I think there is such a thing as pure altruism, but it's a state we strive for, not a state we necessarily achieve as human beings. And I think that there is blessing and providence in the
act of striving. I'm not entirely sure if Tolkien would agree with me here, but I saw shades of that in Gollum's story.