Following on from the last Tolkien thread (they are always something of a guilty pleasure)…
What would have happened if Isildur had survided the Battle of the Gladden fields, escaping with the ring to Arnor? At the battle itself, he resolved that it should go to the ‘keepers of the three’, but would he have been able to hold himself to this?
If Isildur had kept the ring, it seems inevitable that he would have been corrupted by it in time. He’d soon be kicking himself over handing Gondor over to Melendur.
How much of the ring’s power would Isildur have been able to command? Would he have eventually have turned into a wraith?
Personally, I think the orcs did Middle Earth a big favour. Fallen orcish heroes of the Gladden Fields, we salute you.
I’d imagine Arnor would seize Isengard from Gondor securing the primary pass into Eriador. Then the subjugation of the upper Anduin and progressive encroachment onto Gondor proper.
The biggest question would be the available manpower in Arnor compared to Gondor. The primary harbours were in the south and likely the largest concentration of population. Hence the need to control the upper Aduin and incorporate the men of the area.
IANA Tolkien scholar, but I’ll respond in order to bump the thread (I am always looking for Tolkien threads; you’re right about the guilty pleasure).
I think that the Ring would have been less powerful at that time, because Sauron had just been sort-of killed. I think Sauron and the Ring were inextricably linked, and the Ring was comparatively dormant. So yes, I think the corruption would have happened, but it would have happened slowly, and not taken over to the point that Isildur would have become a wraith. In fact, it might have taken many generations to recover to the point of really goosing its owner to start trying to take over the world.
Eventually, however, Sauron began to stir. I think at that time, the Ring would have started to become more active. At this point, a lot would depend on whether it was well known that the heirs of Isildur possessed the Ring or it was believed to be lost. It would really all depend on at what point Sauron would realize who had the Ring. At that point, I believe the wraithification, if you will, would have begun.
Now, since the bearer of the Ring doesn’t age, that might still have been Isildur. But I think that it’s more likely that each succeeding generation of King would have been killed in some violent way, because, after all, they are in a very high-risk profession. A real possibility is that at some point, the Ring would be taken from a dead King by his enemy rather than his successor. In which case, all bets are off, since we have no way of knowing what the enemy would be.
But I agree that, Isildur having failed to destroy the Ring, his death and the Ring’s loss into the Anduin were probably the best outcome Middle Earth could have hoped for.
Isildur becomes high king of all Numenoreans, and is acknowledged as overlord of both Gondor and Arnor. His narrow escape at Gladden Fields and his sorrow over the death of his sons causes him to actually surrender the ring to the guardians of the 3, as he promised his eldest son before he died. He surrenders the ring to Elrond and takes up the Scepter of Annuminas. The Dunedain prosper north and south.
Elrond, Galadriel, and Cirdan pow-wow about what to do with the ring. They decide to take it to Sammath Naur to destroy it. Galadriel volunteers to lead a team there to do the deed, figuring if she can manage that, perhaps she can get the okay to go back to the Undying Lands.
But just after leaving Lorien, her swanboat springs a leak. To lighten the load, her oarsmen throw out all excess baggage, accidentally including the ring. It ends up in the Anduin river.
Time passes, Isildur dies, Valandil inherits but rules over Arnor only as he’s spent most of his time in the North.
And eventually the ring is found by a pair of stoors…
If Isildur wouldn’t throw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom after being advised to do so by Elrond and Cirdan, I don’t think he’d do it later, or turn it over to The Wise regardless of any promise, especially if he’d been emboldened by surviving the Battle of the Gladden Fields. He’d keep the Ring and become ever more covetous and power-hungry as it emphasized his worst personality traits over the decades. Even if he didn’t turn into a wraith, he’d have lingered on the throne far too long. What his heir - or assassin - did with the Ring next would depend entirely on the circumstances of Isildur’s death. It might be wielded by his lawful heir, or taken by some usurping nobleman.
Not only could it, it might very well. After all, didn’t Gandalf feel that there were other Powers working? It may have been meant for the Ring to end up in the river for a time.
If Isildur gave the ring to The Wise, or Galadriel or Elrond, wouldn’t it hasten their own corruption? Would it really be such a good idea to pass the most powerful thing in Arda to Saruman or Gandalf? Would Galadriel go all Dark Queen on everyone? What would it do to Elrond?
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The fact that it fell into the possession of a Mere Human before falling into the drink was a lucky break.