Did Gollum deserve death?

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by davem

For one line in such a long book this opens a whole can of worms....

OK, I know I'm possibly going to get flamed for this... I can already hear the cries of "Heretic! Recant!! Recant!!!", but isn't it possible that you're looking too closely at this? That maybe when Tolkien wrote it he wasn't thinking that deeply about it? That it was just a line? It moved the story arc along?
I mean no offense, but if Tolkien gave as much thought to every single freakin' line that some people around here do, parsing every fragment to death... the books would never have been written.
Now, if these are just fun mental exercises, that's cool. But some of the posts I read here... you guys are kinda scary.

[davem]

I still think its interesting that Gandalf would not only use those means but that he would tell Frodo about doing it.

The other thing to consider is the effect this would have on Gollum - Aragorn captures him & does not (in his own words) treat him 'gently'. Gandalf 'puts the fear of fire on him'. Aragorn brutalises him. Gandalf terrorises him in his cell. Sauron tortures him. If Gollum hadn't felt completely isolated before this would have done it anyway. Talk about not being on anyone's side because no-one's on my side.....

[Boo Radley]

Nah, it's OK. I sense a puckish sense of humor there, which is very cool with me.

Here's the thing, I will freely admit that I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. As a matter of fact, my mother's nickname for me is "Big Dummy", (Gotta love a person like that). And when it comes to reading, I tend to... underanalyze the story.
I read for entertainment. Not for enlightenment. Life does that for me and reading is a respite.
That's why I would be the worst possible person to have in a book discussion. While everybody else would be talking about character development and motivation and throwing out words like "gestalt" and "angst" and "Dickinsian", I'd be in the corner, saying,

"But... er... what if he just put that bit in there cuz it made for a ripping good yarn?"*

And then I'd tug my forelock.

And then I would be stoned.
And not the fun way.

Sad, really.

So, I'm just sayin'...

*[/i](A paraphrase of something that Stephen King once reportedly said in a creative writing class in college. Which, you could say, "So what? He's a hack" and althought I'd have to agree with you now, in his earlier days I thought he could toss off a "ripping good yarn")[/i]

Originally Posted by Boo Radley

Nah, it's OK. I sense a puckish sense of humor there, which is very cool with me.

I am glad to hear it - the orc filth was a light hearted joke but somebody evidently didn't think so & removed it. Besides, orc filth has been proven to have some healing powers, in a similar manner to that potion, Miruvor, which Elrond gave to the Company.

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by Mansun

I am glad to hear it - the orc filth was a light hearted joke but somebody evidently didn't think so & removed it. Besides, orc filth has been proven to have some healing powers, in a similar manner to that potion, Miruvor, which Elrond gave to the Company.

Yes. I'm very curious as to why the two posts were removed. Certainly, I didn't sense any kind of threat in the "orc filth" line.
I thought it was funny and quite germane to the topic.
If I had responded by calling you a cad and a bounder, would I have been banned???
Say it aint so, Joe!

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

Gollum didn't deserve death but he needed to die. That was the only way he was going to attain any sort of peace. He was too old, too bitter, too sad to live any normal life. Even if he had never led Sam and Frodo into Shelob's lair and was hailed as a hero there would have been no happy ending. He was doomed from the moment his hands clasped around Deagol's neck.

[Aaron]

Um, no he wasn't. Gollum had plenty of chances to turn back but didn't. He should have been killed ten times over for his pathalogical treachery. Did he deserve death? Well yeah, more than any other character in the story actually because he has the chance for redemption but continuously spurns it.

[Gothbogg the Ripper]

But you have to take into account the fact that he really is a slave to the Ring. It's like some filthy junkie, they'll do anything for a fix. They deserve our pity, not our hatred because they have a severe addiction. I mean, what are you saying? That you'd like to see all drug addicts killed?