Lord of the Rings Fans Debate the Fate of Gollum as He's Influenced by the One Ring of Power, Claiming 'There Was No One to Warn Him Against the Peril'

Nobody does the classic 'good versus evil' trope quite like Tolkien. Although the Lord of the Rings books have an extremely defined set of characteristics that divide the cast into sides, one character in the entire saga straddles the line between good and evil–quite literally due to his dichotomy. Gollum is one of those characters in LOTR that has caused much debate because of his simultaneous pitifulness but also his evil qualities.

Lord of the Rings fans have had a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with their perception of Gollum. For starters, he killed his homie to get a hold of the One Ring of Power even before he ever slipped it onto his finger, but then he saves Frodo from certain demise several times throughout their journey. Is he good or is he inherently evil?

Recently, LOTR fans debated the fate of Gollum and criticized the worthiness of the harshness of his destiny. Because Smeagol/Gollum never had anyone to warn him of the perils of the Ring, does that make him exempt from the consequences of Its corruption? You be the judge.

Keep in mind, this is the same Gollum that ate a few babies here and there…