Let's say Smeagol never betrayed Frodo and the gang succeeded

>>1436070
>and the gang succeeded in destroying the ring with him surviving

Impossible, the ring was simply unable to be wilfully destroyed by anyone, everyone succumbed to its powers eventually, the only reason it was destroyed was because smeagol jumped into mt. doom accidentally. Frodo would've kept the ring for himself otherwise.

Woah dude spoilers!

>>1436074
Let's talk sense sense here, if you haven't read the story or at the very least seen the movies, you either never will or you're underage.

>>1436073
Sure, but if he stayed a loyal guide they would could have reached the destination much sooner, before the ring managed to mess up Frodo as much as it did.

Entertaining non-canonical hypotheticals are always the most boring shit around. It's no different from the "what should Hitler have done to win the war?" threads on /pol/.

Just accept the story as it was meant to be told, there can be no other outcome. It's a fandom trope as old as time.

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298KB, 600x1117px

>>1436070
That depends a bit on the exact circumstances, but I think they likely would have. Frodo would vouch for him, and I'm not sure what else could really be done with Smeagol. He can hardly reintegrate into a normal society, but he's been warped enough by the ring that he could become dangerous if left to his own devices oit in the wilds. At the same time, it would be unjust to execute him or imprison him forever.

>>1436073
It's true that no one had sufficient willpower to intentionally destroy the ring, but it could theoretically have been destroyed by an accident that didn't involve Smeagol's death. Frodo could have just accidentally dropped it into the fires of Mount Doom when he tried to claim it for himself.

>>1436084
Wouldn't matter, no one could actually destroy the ring on his own accord, that's why suaron never even bothered posting guards there, he knew that even if someone miraculously managed to get to mt. doom he wouldn't be actually able to cast the ring into the fire, just like Isildur was unable to, and despite being a human and probably more susceptible to the rings power he had the ring in his possession for a very short time compared to frodo.

>>1436084
Frodo struggled to toss the ring into his own fireplace way back before he even began his journey. It doesn't matter what state he was in, he was never going to be able to destroy it.

>>1436090
It's been a long time since I read it so I might misremember things, but if I recall correctly, Sauron never even conceived the idea that someone would possibly want to destroy the ring, so the moment Frodo put on the ring there he figured out their plans and started freaking out and ordered everyone to get there as soon as possible. So he wasn't certain that no one would be able to destroy the ring.

>>1436083
I never watched the third movie but I'm reading the books for the first time now and I'm 23. Although I was just kidding with >>1436074, it's basically like spoiling star wars or something.

>>1436088
based fun ruining bro