Why wasn't Gollum turned into a wraith?

[Zilbanne]

Yes I see. I have been making an assumption haven't I! I have been assuming that the nine kings who were offered rings were already greedy before they were offered the rings.

No. Before they had the rings, those nine kings were NOT necessarily more evil or more greedy than anyone else. Anyone who can have lots of everything at their disposal because they are a king though, runs the risk of becoming evil through a misuse of kingly power and the ability to be overly self indulgent because of their personal status as a king. This can happen to a king even if they don't have the evil power from a ring effecting them and pushing them along in a particular direction. I have been assuming that the nine kings were greedy. However they may not have been already greedy in a more outward or overt way. The rings may just have amplified in each of them the inherent problems that can come with a over use of too much power and began to work on them until they became evil.

My thoughts ran along the idea that Gandalf, Galadriel and Aragorn, who were all GOOD people and who had a substaintial amount of personal power, undestood that the ring would be dreadfully wrong even to touch. Not one of them physically were willing to touch the one ring even for a moment because it would have an evil effect on the personal power within them and attempt to turn it to evil.