Sméagol: Hero of the Third Age

[Rikae]

Ah! A prophecy. Yes, why didn't I see that before?

Of course, it still doesn't rule out the prophecy working through Smeagol, and his actions ... some part of him deciding, midjump, to swing one leg a few inches too far.
The fate of Middle Earth hanging in the balance - Smeagol loses his balance.
For some reason, I really like it & I think it's a shame Peter Jackson felt the need to change it.

[Raynor]

I don't think it was those words of Frodo that caused the fall of Gollum - but Grace:

Originally Posted by Letter #151

He did rob him and injure him in the end - but by a 'grace', that last betrayal was at a precise juncture when the final evil deed was the most beneficial thing any one cd. have done for Frodo!

Originally Posted by Letter #191

He (and the Cause) were saved - by Mercy : by the supreme value and efficacy of Pity and forgiveness of injury.

And more evidently here:

Originally Posted by Letter #192

Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), 'that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named' (as one critic has said).

[Rikae]

Just to be clear, I wouldn't say they caused it either, but predicted it; it wasn't a spell Frodo cast, but a flash of intuitive knowledge on his part, though he mostly likely wasn't aware of it at the time.

[littlemanpoet]

Interesting.... :

Originally Posted by Rikae

I see it as one last desperate, half conscious impulse for good that caused him to fall.

From Letter #192:
Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), 'that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named' (as one critic has said).

Originally Posted by Raynor

I don't think it was those words of Frodo that caused the fall of Gollum - but Grace

Originally Posted by Rikae

Ah! A prophecy. .... it wasn't a spell Frodo cast, but a flash of intuitive knowledge on his part, though he mostly likely wasn't aware of it at the time.

I had it in my mind that Sam's denouncing of Gollum (Sneak!) closed down any good left in him. But maybe that little unconscious (I wouldn't call if half-conscious) chink in his mind played a part. And the Grace of an ever-present Person played a part. And Frodo's command/prophecy played a part. And Pity played a part. Isn't life like that? Everything is interweaved and all of a piece. Try to tease apart the weave of reality and you end up with a potentially polemical tangle of polarized views, one emphasizing this, another that. Meanwhile it's all there, working together toward the ultimate evangelium, the eucatastrophe. LotR is most powerful when it is most like real life. Like Gollum's evil being absolutely necessary for the great good to happen.

Oh, and a belated welcome to the Downs, Rikae.

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

You might want to visit this thread and cast your own vote.

My own theory about what happened with gollum is explained there.

[littlemanpoet]

The problem with such a poll, my friend, is that you don't have "most of the above" as an option. Thus, I cannot vote.

[Raynor]

Concerning the initial question, I would also note that in letter #181 Tolkien excludes pretty much any merit Gollum could have:

Gollum was pitiable, but he ended in persistent wickedness, and the fact that this worked good was no credit to him. His marvellous courage and endurance, as great as Frodo and Sam's or greater, being devoted to evil was portentous, but not honourable.