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tolkiens legendarium - Why didn't Gollum grow old and die after he lost the One Ring to Bilbo?


Gollum had his life largely extended because he possessed the One Ring. He appeared to be an old, deformed, and twisted creature.


According to this list, he had the Ring for 478 years. His loss of the Ring and the events of The Lord of the Rings are separated by around 77 years.



Did the Ring continue to extend his life after he lost it?



Answer



Yes, the Ring continued to extend Bilbo and Gollum's lives after they stopped bearing it up until the destruction of the Ring.


Gandalf himself alludes to this when talking about Bilbo:



it might take a long while for the influence to wear off. ... he might live on for years, quite happily: just stop as he was when he parted with it.



Since neither Gollum nor Bilbo appear to age significantly after losing the Ring, despite their already extended ages, that's a reasonable assumption.


Bilbo had deteriorated significantly by the time he left Middle Earth, which concurs with this conclusion. The Ring had been destroyed by then so any legacy effect it had on him would have ended. Arwen would have only left Rivendell a few weeks after the Ring was destroyed to travel to Minas Tirith, but when she got there she commented




Do you wonder at that, Ring-bearer? For you know the power of that thing which is now destroyed; and all that was done by that power is now passing away. But your kinsman ... is ancient in years now, according to his kind; and ... he will not again make any long journey save one.



Obviously the destruction of the Ring was already having the effect that Gollum also alluded to when he said



when Precious goes we’ll die, yes, die into the dust.



We never got to witness this because of his encounter with the interior of Mount Doom instead.


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