[davem]

The question still remains - to what extent was Gollum compos mentis? It strikes me that he was not 'sane'. Hence we can't judge him as we would judge a sane person. Now, a psychopath must be removed to a place of safety for the good of themselves & others - but they are not judged in the same way or by the same standards as sane people. This is because their perception of what is right & wrong, acceptable & unacceptable, is skewed. In order to judge Gollum as a criminal you would have to prove that he not only knew what he was doing, but that he knew that what he was doing was wrong. I don't see any real evidence of this in his behaviour. Even his near repentance on the stairs does not provide evidence that he felt betraying the Hobbits to Shelob was 'wrong' in any moral sense - merely that he felt sad that they 'had' to die that way.

Gollum seems to lack any 'higher' or rational consciousness. Quite fitting really, for a being who throughout the story acts almost as Frodo's projected 'id' or 'Shadow'. He is the repressed, the rejected, the despised. The thing nobody wants around &, while most of them would not actually execute him, most of them wish he would just go away & die out of their sight.

We know that even before the Ring came he was a 'mean little soul' (Tolkien's words), yet it seems odd that a 'Hobbit' child/adolescent should behave in the way Smeagol did. Either some childhood trauma affected him deeply, or he was born with some kind of psychological problems (possibly even some kind of autism) or brain damage. Whatever - Smeagol seems always to have been a uniquely 'odd' & alienated Hobbit. His behaviour - whatever its cause - lead him to be shunned & the resulting isolation seems to have profoundly affected his thinking - including his moral value system. Add to this the effect of the Ring & you have a uniquely screwed up individual. What standards of judgement can you possibly apply?

Hence Smeagol-Gollum is the most difficult character for the reader to deal with. He is simply as he is. We are in an impossible position - its not possible to judge him fairly because none of our standards can encompass him. He must be 'accepted' for what he is- almost a 'force of nature' (even in a way an 'Act of God'). He is like no other character. All the other characters make 'sense' - in a way Gollum doesn't. He is a dark mystery. There may be a light in his eyes but there is a darkness behind them. A 'void'. He is almost a personification of the Ring itself - a hard surface surrounding emptiness. He should not exist, & it would be easier if he did not. But he does exist & there it is.