What if Gollum had stolen back the ring?

[Gormonghast]

While toying with ideas on how to give Gollum a more active role in the game, I got to wondering what would've happened if Gollum had got back possession of the ring.
Would he have gone back to his cave under the Misty Mountains?
Would he have taken the ring to Sauron for some promised reward?
Would he have tried to use the ring to wield power for himself?
Would he have DELIBERATELY jumped into the Crack of Doom so that he, and nobody else, would be the last wearer of the ring? (This is actually what happened in an earlier draft of the book!)
We might have a scenario where BOTH sides have to hunt for the ring by looking for Gollum.

[Veldrin]

If Gollum had taken back the Ring he would probably have run away to hide somewhere. Perhaps the Misty Mountains is the ideal place ofr him but maybe he is sick of them and would find a new lair.

He would NEVER give it to Sauron.

[glow=green,2,300]Veldrin[/glow]

[nigel]

Gormonghast said:

While toying with ideas on how to give Gollum a more active role in the game, I got to wondering what would've happened if Gollum had got back possession of the ring.
Would he have gone back to his cave under the Misty Mountains?
Would he have taken the ring to Sauron for some promised reward?
Would he have tried to use the ring to wield power for himself?
Would he have DELIBERATELY jumped into the Crack of Doom so that he, and nobody else, would be the last wearer of the ring? (This is actually what happened in an earlier draft of the book!)
We might have a scenario where BOTH sides have to hunt for the ring by looking for Gollum.

Probably he would put the ring on (just like Frodo) revealing himself to the Lidless Eye, and then would have been grabbed by the Nazgul that were racing to Mount Doom, unless he jumped to escape them.

So I guess I'd go with Would he have DELIBERATELY jumped into the Crack of Doom so that he, and nobody else, would be the last wearer of the ring? (This is actually what happened in an earlier draft of the book!)

Nigel

[Malacandra]

I don't believe Gollum, as written, could have deliberately harmed the Ring. Almost certainly he would have put it on straight away, whereupon the Eye of Sauron would have spotted him - it almost latched on to Frodo far away on Amon Hen when he used it to escape from Boromir.

It's highly dubious whether Gollum could then have resisted Sauron's domination - he had after all been directly exposed to Sauron for some time - and even if he could, the Nazgul would have been after him at once. Frodo did not know until after the encounter at Weathertop that the Ring conferred no protection against the Nine - indeed, it made the wearer all the more visible to them - and Gollum would probably have found out too late.

So the probable outcome - None of the above. Gollum either returns the Ring to Sauron because, even with the Ring itself, Gollum is too weak to resist his will; or Gollum is recaptured by the Nazgul and again returned to Sauron and made to surrender the Ring. True, Veldrin, Gollum would not hand it over of his own accord - no reward would have been enough - but to presume that he would have any choice in the matter is to make entirely too much of the chances of a ruined hobbitoid in the living presence of a demigod.

Then Sauron lets him live, purely for the sport of seeing Gollum's torment at seeing the Ring worn by its owner and forever out of reach. (Whatever Wormtongue could do to a de-staffed Saruman, we can rule out any violence by Gollum having the least chance of harming Sauron.)

[Amnesiac]

I wholeheartedly agree with Malacandra. Gollum would have put the Ring on as soon as he reclaimed it (I'm suprised PJ didn't have him don the Ring before falling in the Crack of Doom - I guess the audience had to "see" Gollum fall in...).

As soon as Gollum dons the Ring, Sauron would have the Nazgul converge on him with full force. The only point of contention I have with Malacandra's statements concerns letting Gollum live. I certainly agree with the spirit of the matter - seeing Gollum endure the very height of suffering would indeed be of great pleasure to Sauron, but I don't know if poor Smeagol would survive his encounter with the Nazgul. Afterall, Gollum would never part with the Ring again, not so soon after reclaiming it, without a fight.

Another interesting thought concerning Gollum and the Ring - how much longer would Golum live without the Ring? We see how much Bilbo aged after giving the One up. Would Gollum also not quickly wither? After all, beyond his eternal lust for the Ring, Gollum's very existence depended on his reclaiming his preciousss...

[Malacandra]

I likewise agree with Amnesiac (aren't mutual-admiration threads fun ;D ) but will respond to a couple of points:

Nothing PJ did would surprise me but in the book, Gollum hadn't actually removed Frodo's severed finger from the Ring. Even in the film, I guess we can excuse Gollum taking a minute to hold up the long-lost Ring and admire it for a while, revelling in the joy of recovery, before putting it on again.

As to the Nazgul: Again, I think we're over-estimating Gollum's ability to put up a fight here, whatever his intentions. He is too inherently weak to make effective use of the Ring (much as Frodo was warned by Galadriel not to even try to divine the thoughts of those who bore the Three) and doesn't stand a prayer without its help. It's fair to assume that as soon as

[shadow=red,left,300]the Eye[/shadow]

spots Gollum in possession of the Ring and failing to return it with the utmost haste, Sauron issues orders to have him returned alive so he can be punished for his presumption. This is, in the order of things, extremely petty of Sauron, but when you're an omnipotent supernatural tyrant you can be as petty as you like

[Gajutar]

For a good example of what would have happened if Gollum had gotten the ring, see Midnight from FFG. It is a setting for the D20 system, and in that the Evil God wins and the world is his. Very interesting possibilities arise.

[astartes]

I'd just like to say that wearing the ring doesn't always reveal the wearer to Sauron or the Nine. Sam puts on the ring to hide from the approach of the orcs at Cirith Ungol, and yet he did not attract any servants of the dark lord, and at Bree Frodo putting on the ring didn't bring the Nazgul, it was the work of Bill Ferny and the other mercenaries hired to find the ring bearer. So yeah, I'd go with the run and hide result.

[Krieghund]

I'd go with the "run and hide" scenario. Gollum was a very wily creature, and I'm sure that by the point the Fellowship was in Mordor he would have realized any detrimental effects of wearing the Ring so close to its Master. He wanted to possess the Ring, not necessarily wear it, so I could see him taking it away to what he considered a safe distance before using it.

[madwoffen]

If my memory serves me well (I haven't read Bilbo for ages), in Bilbo the Hobbit, he mostly used the ring only to catch orcs when in need of some flesh (he must be the guy to eat orc flesh on friday and fish every other day) or to travel in the upper caves (frequented by orcs) when it was necessary (because anyway he prefered to stay in his cave lake).

So I kinda agree with KH, I don't see him using the ring lightly, particularly because he must kinda knows it.