Lord of the Rings spoilers below, obviously. Also, this is in reference to the books, not the movies.

Throughout the trilogy, the ability of the One Ring to corrupt and control the minds of mortals is a repeated theme. Bilbo becomes "strung out," Frodo is weighted down, Smeagol is transformed into Gollum. The successful strategies against the Ring are to not come into contact with it in the first place (Gandalf), or to be so naturally good that the Ring has little power over you (Tom Bombadil and arguably Sam Gamgee). Nobody can resist the Ring by an effort of will - not even Frodo.

So with this background, we come to the Crack of Doom. At the end of his endurance, Frodo finally completes his journey, gets the better of Smeagol, and is in a position to throw the Ring into the chasm. But in the end, Frodo cannot resist the Ring's temptation:

'I have come,' he said. 'But I do not choose now to do what I came to do. I will not do this deed. The Ring is mine!'

Frodo and Gollum then fight on the brink of the chasm. Gollum wins the fight, biting off Frodo's finger, and with it, the Ring. Gollum is triumphant:

'Precious, precious, precious!' Gollum cried. 'My precious! O my Precious!' And with that, even as his eyes were lifted up to gloat on his prize, he stepped too far, toppled, wavered for a moment on the brink, and then with a shriek he fell. Out of the depths came his last wail Precious, and he was gone.

Gollum has been under the control of the Ring for longer than anyone else - he is entirely subjugated by it. Gollum is also, if nothing else, sure-footed - he is able to sneak in and out of Mordor at will, and is repeatedly shown as a master of woodcraft and stealth.

So what are we to make of this? Is casting Gollum into the Crack of Doom the will of the Ring? Surely not - the Ring does not wish to be destroyed. Did Gollum's "good" personality have something to do with making his feet slip - was it, at last, a form of rebellion against the Ring? There's no hint of anything like this in the text.

So it seems like Gollum just randomly lost his footing at this one, climactic moment. What's the point of this? That even the power of the Ring cannot prevent random events like falling off a cliff? That doesn't make sense, after the Ring repeatedly controls and takes advantage of random events like being found by Smeagol and Deagol in the first place.

I can't escape the idea that Tolkien had painted himself into a corner - Frodo can't just throw the Ring into the Crack of Doom, because that would mean Frodo beat the Ring by an exercise of his own will, and we know that the Ring's will is stronger than Frodo's. But short of that, how else do you get the Ring into the Crack? As a writer, Tolkein just didn't have any better ideas, so Gollum's feet had to slip.

I've always found this deeply unsatisfying. Please CMV by giving me a reason why the climactic scene makes sense as something other than a cop-out.

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