JRRT actually wrote a lot about Isildur in his early manuscripts on Middle-Earth. And they do show him to be a pretty straight-arrow guy, both wise and brave. Bold like Boromir, but sagacious like Faramir.
And in other drafts of the “Disaster at Gladden Fields” essay, Isildur much regretted his failure to destroy the ring. He blamed himself, and (IIRC) didn’t seem to realize the ring was a malign entity on its own.
I’ll have to check my copy of that when I’m home for more insight on this topic.
E: Oh good, because it’s not like he’s recovered from being killed before… <meaningful pause> … you know, back when he was responsible for corrupting Ar-Pharazôn, sinking Númenor, and drowning countless of your ancestors’ relatives… but if you’re happy to bet on him being really, really dead this time…
OK, from UT: The disaster of the Gladden Fields
So Isildur did indeed know somewhat of the powers of the ring, and knew it was more than a valuable trinket. Though he does not mention its corrupting power, only his lack of strength to wield the ring to command.
Doesn’'t Tolkien answer this conclusively by his description of both Gandalfs and Galadriels reaction on being offered the Ring? (Absolute power currupts Absolutely)
Isildur was somewhere halfway between the Elven Lords and Hobbit simpletons, so somewhere between hero (without Ring) an wanker (with Ring).
Well if he’d thrown The Ring into Mount Doom, there wouldn’t have been much of a story, would there? I vote tragic hero/plot device.
And you can have (a replica of) his sword! CB Swords
That occurred to me, but I’m not convinced Isildur and Co. would have known about Sauron’s death in Númenor. Elendil’s ships left before the Downfall (obviously) and may not have been sure how Sauron left the island.
We’re discussing this in terms of the story, not story-external.
Pardon, Highness, but surely you mean to draw Narsil. I know not what this “Anduril” might be.
Fool of a Took!
Narsil was the name of Elendil’s sword–the Blade that was broken–with which the great and tragic Isildur cut off the ring from Sauron’s corpse.
Andúril was the name of Aragorn’s sword. It was forged from the shards of Narsil (which Aragorn, for reasons that have never been clear to me, insisted on carrying about the Wild as if he were as feckless as a Welshman) but was given a new name. This isn’t unreasonable; the old sword “died,” in a sense, when Sauron broke it, and though Andúril was made of (mostly) the same materials, it was not identical.
I know all of this, in fact Anduril is the name of my home wireless network. I was just suggesting that Elendil’s Heir, speaking in his Isildur persona, could not possibly draw Anduril as the shards of Narsil would not be reforged for several thousand more years. Am I mistaken?
I am dispatching a squadron of flying monkeys to your location–not to assail you, but to protect you. EH will strongly object to being called “Isildur,” as he is firmly in the “wanker” category.
Anyway, Isildur would never have drawn Narsil anyway. I’m bet he never touched it while it was whole; he picked up the lower half of it to use in de-fingering Sauron.
(What happened to his sword, anyway?)
That’s a great question. I’ll have to consult my references on that one…
Knock yourself out, but I wasn’t seriously asking. I see the finger-chopping as a fairly cold-blooded episode rather than something Isildur did in the heat of the moment. That is, he came upon Sauron’s corpse after Elendil and Gil-galad defeated him (at the cost of their own lives) and–pissed off for obvious reasons–decided to use his father’s sword rather than his own to remove the Ring, in memory of Elendil.
Quite so…
Hey! :mad:
I meant that you are firmly in the “Isildur is a feckless wanker” category. If I were going to mock you I’d do it in an PM.
Hm. That doesn’t jive with my recollections, but it’s possible I’ve been too colored by various film adaptations by now. I’ll have to go back and check the book.
It’s well accepted that Elendil and Gil-Galad together threw Sauron down. Whether they slew him is open to debate, IMHO. I’m of the opinion that they stunned him (and perished in the process themselves), allowing Isildur to nip in and remove the ring.
Fool of a Took!
Isildur did not simply nip in. He nipped in out around the back and planted a cup in young Benjamin’s sack…
Wait. That was Joseph of the spectactular varigated fantasy frock. Never mind, and I withraw the Took remark.
Fair call… Sauron could have been, say, air-lifted off that doomed land at the last moment by giant eagles… it’s been known to happen.
Skald, you are one of the reasons I cannot stay away from this board.