XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: mr@sandman.net   
      
   In article <50eb5105$1$56775$edfadb0f@dtext02.news.tele.dk>,   
    "Raven"  wrote:   
      
      
      
   > > Gollum, Bilbo and Frodo were the ones exposed to the ring the longest   
   > > yet neither of them ever once seemed to think to themselves to use it   
   > > for power - even with the knowledge about the ring (Frodo) did he ever   
   > > desire to put it on to rule others. The ring made him *desire* it, and   
   > > there is nothing in the books that suggests that Frodo would ever   
   > > become "evil" as a result of giving in to that desire. Gollum, while   
   > > very protective and quite aggressive, is hardly "evil" when comparing   
   > > to truly evil characters in the story.   
   >   
   >    How do you define evil?  To me Gollum was very evil, though with a chink   
   > of good left in him, as Gandalf explains.  He would have killed Bilbo for   
   > food, had he been hungrier when he met him, and he still had a mind to until   
   > he discovered that he had lost the Ring.  Killing a fellow person because he   
   > was tired of fish and wanted a change?  Not caring about the suffering and   
   > fate of others so long as he can have a little pleasure?  Seeing every   
   > happenstance that touches him in the light of "how can I benefit from this"   
   > and "I suffered from what that person did, so I hate him"?   
      
   Gollum were more an animal than a person after 500 years under the   
   mountains. He was driven by need, and any moral judgement were lost   
   long ago. I mean, was he evil to kill and feed on goblins as well? Or   
   rabbits? Fish? The wildlife and sentient beings in Middle Earth is   
   sometimes a bit muddy. His normal food were fish, and the occasional   
   goblin now and then - but the motivation was never malice, but hunger   
   as it seems. I would never call him "good" per se, but outright "evil"   
   is quite a stretch for me.   
      
   > Evil is to me selfishless; lack of compassion.   
      
   Which, of course, describes pretty much every predator animal out   
   there.   
      
   --   
   Sandman[.net]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)