[Melilot Brandybuck]

In re-reading LOTR for the umpteenth time, I got to wondering. Had Frodo managed to destroy the Ring on his own, and Smeagol had not died, could Smeagol have been rehabilitated? Clearly he would never return to who he was when he lived his youth by the river, but could he have gone on to become a productive member of society?

Had he lived, the hobbits or the elves or maybe Gandalf even, would have had to take responsibility for him. Perhaps under the influence of the elves, and without the dreadful pull of the Ring, Smeagol could have spent the remainder of his life doing something positive.

I could see him given a little cottage of his own at Rivendell. The elves would not allow him to live there for nothing, he would have to "earn his keep," perhaps he would be assigned to work on the land as a gardener or groundsman. Gradually he might begin to heal. Would he ever be pleasant to be around? Could he ever be trusted? I like to think he could. But then, as one of the Ring bearers, and one who was cruelly used by Sauron, would he have been allowed to sail into the West? What do you think?