I just pray he doesn't make Gollum destroy the ring on purpose, in some final self-sacrificing way. It needs to be like in the books.

the ring is destroyed in the book.

But it has never even occurred to me to change it so Gollum destroys it intentionally. I can't imagine it would be changed that way.

What I have always wanted to see since reading the trilogy for the first time in 1966, was to set it up so the ultimate act is Frodo's choice. The way it happens seems to be just some sort of cosmic occurrence of good (or great, really) luck when Gollum happens to fall.

I understand that Tolkien wanted to show the power of the ring ultimately getting to Frodo but I would still rather see him destroy it by choice, ultimately overcoming the ring's power at the end.

Perhaps after Gollum bites off Frodo's finger, Frodo wrestles the ring back, rips it off the finger and is about to put it on another finger, hesitates, hears Sam ("Mr. Frodo!" sounding faint and very far away) yelling at him to throw the ring in Mount Doom, garners the strength to overcome the ring's power and throws it in. Gollum, in his obsesseion, jumps in in a desperate attempt to get the ring. He could even catch it but, sorry, too late! Precioussss...

and I've heard it said that tolkien even wrote somewhere (in his notes, I think), that nobody alive, not Frodo, not Aragorn, not Gandalf, nor Galadriel or Elrond, would be able to actually willingly cast the ring into the Cracks of Doom, were they to make it that far. It could be argued that at that place, within Mordor, in the same mountain where it was created, the ring might just be at the absolute pinnacle of its power over whoever holds it.

It seems to me that if that was what Tolkien's thoughts on it were, it certainly did not seem that Gandalf, the elves or anyone knew that for a fact. They knew it was an almost impossible quest but always thought there was hope, against all odds, that Frodo could somehow succeed.

I have no doubt that Gandalf, Aragorn, Galadriel, Elrond or almost anyone else would have been sure to fail (Isildur couldn't destroy it). They were too powerful and thus much more susceptible to the ring's power than a simple hobbit. If any one of them had taken possession of the ring and kept it from Sauron, he or she would have eventually, in essence, become Sauron.

Anyway, what may have been in Tolkien's notes was not in the finished product.

Even though it is pretty much known that PJ is not going to have the "Scouring of the Shire" in the 3rd movie, I also really, really really, hope that he includes and properly conveys the sadness and meaning of the Grey Havens. Part of what I love about the books is these small things that go against the Hollywood fairy tale: Frodo's ultimate failure to destroy the ring (personally), and the tremendous sadness (for me, at least) at the Grey Havens, when so many important, powerful people leave the world voluntarily, because they see that the world has changed, and they no longer belong there. I hope I am crying my eyes out when I leave the theater. I better be. If there is some tacked-on super-happy ending, I will be pissed.

I don't think concocting a happy accident in order to have a happy ending is any better.

I don't think my idea turns Frodo into a superhero at all. It allows him to do what even Gandalf, Aragorn, the elves etc. thought he might be able to do (which they knew none of them could) if he could get as far as Mount Doom.

Gollum's slipping is a deus ex machina that has bothered me for 36½ years.

I think the Ring will be destroyed much as it was in the book.

Gandalf (in the movie) tells Frodo that Gollum might still have a part to play in this affair after all. Pretty strong fore-shadowing that he's going to be the one to destroy the Ring.

I thought of that. I think it's in the books too but it's been an awfully long time since I read them so I may be wrong.

But there could be many ways for Gollum to have a part to play, and even a big one, short of following the ring ending in the book.

I think that Frodo's failure to ultimately be the
one who destroys the ring over is important. It will explain
why he feels compelled to leave Middle Earth to heal.
He will be not only be brought down by his physical wounds
but also the psychological wounds of the burden of being
ringbearer but knowing secretly he failed. To come so far
only to fall into its grasp. It will also answer
Gandalf's foreshadowing that Gollum will have a role to play
in this adventure.

I saw Jackson and Wood on Charley Rose and Jackson is planning a real emotional ending. Wood said that he has seen the ending multiple times within few minutes and he could not
help being brought to tears.

in the case of gollum and the ring's destruction, the outside intervention comes from faith and hope....