Et si Gollum n'était pas mort

[Elendil]

Il s'avère que Tolkien s'était lui-même posé la question du repentir de Gollum et y avait répondu ; voir la lettre n° 246 :

This is due of course to the ‘logic of the story’. Sam could hardly have acted differently. [...] If he had, what could then have happened? The course of the entry into Mordor and the struggle to reach Mount Doom would have been different, and so would the ending. The interest would have shifted to Gollum, I think, and the battle that would have gone on between his repentance and his new love on one side and the Ring. Though the love would have been strengthened daily it could not have wrested the mastery from the Ring. I think that in some queer twisted and pitiable way Gollum would have tried (not maybe with conscious design) to satisfy both. Certainly at some point not long before the end he would have stolen the Ring or taken it by violence (as he does in the actual Tale). But ‘possession’ satisfied, I think he would then have sacrificed himself for Frodo's sake and have voluntarily cast himself into the fiery abyss.

Dans ce cas, Gollum se serait volontairement sacrifié pour permettre la destruction de l'Anneau, car Frodo n'en aurait pas été plus capable que dans le roman.

En revanche, Tolkien n'explore pas l'hypothèse où l'Anneau aurait été détruit sans le concours de Sméagol et où celui-ci y aurait survécu.