[The Saucepan Man]

Thanks for the reference to the letter, Tar-Palantir. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] It is the first solid evidence that I have seen that Smeagol was an unsavoury character before taking the Ring. And it certainly does help in explaining the almost instantaneous effect of the Ring on him, although it also upsets my image of pre-Ring Smeagol. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Clearly, he becomes twisted (further) under the Ring's influence, although Gandalf does refer to the murder of Deagol haunting him(the reason for him creating the pretence of it the Ring being his birthday present), which suggests that he may have felt some remorse.