Isildur

In Isildur's youth Ar-Pharazôn, King of Númenor, was corrupted by the fallen Maia Sauron, who urged that Nimloth the White Tree be cut down. Isildur went to the court of the king in disguise and stole a fruit of the tree. He was severely wounded during his escape, but his sacrifice was not in vain: Nimloth was cut down and burned shortly afterwards, but the line of the White Tree continued by way of the stolen fruit. When Númenor was destroyed by Ilúvatar Elendil's family escaped in nine ships.[T 1]

The refugees from Númenor fled east to the continent of Middle-earth. Isildur's father Elendil landed in the north and founded the realm of Arnor, while Isildur and his brother Anárion landed in the south, where they established the realm of Gondor, which they ruled jointly until Anárion was killed in Mordor.

Isildur settled on the west bank of the Anduin and established the city of Minas Tirith. However, Sauron captured Minas Ithil and destroyed the White Tree. Anárion and his family escaped down the Anduin by boat, bearing with them a seedling of the tree. They sailed to Lindon, seeking the Elven King Gil-galad and Elendil in Arnor. Anárion bought time for Gondor by defending Osgiliath and driving the Dark Lord back to the mountains, while Elendil and Gil-galad marshalled their forces.

As told in The Fellowship of the Ring, Isildur returned with Elendil and Gil-galad in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. After the Alliance defeated Sauron's host at the Battle of Dagorlad they advanced into Mordor and laid siege to Barad-dûr. When Minas Ithil was recaptured Isildur sent his younger sons Aratan and Ciryon to man that fortress, which prevented Sauron and his forces from escaping that way. Isildur was accompanied throughout the war by his eldest son Elendur. The campaign in Mordor was long and bitter, and Anárion was killed by a stone from the Dark Tower.

Besieged in the Dark Tower for seven years, the enemy was all but defeated, and Sauron himself appeared to challenge the king. During the final battle on the slopes of Mount Doom, Elendil and Gil-galad were both killed in combat with the Dark Lord, but Sauron's mortal form was destroyed as well.[T 2] The Second Age ended, and Isildur became King of both Arnor and Gondor.

Isildur took up the hilt-shard of Narsil, Elendil's sword, and cut the One Ring from the hand of Sauron. Despite the urging of Elrond and Círdan, Gil-galad's lieutenants, Isildur did not throw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. He made a scroll with a description of the Ring and a copy of its fading inscription. This scroll was deposited in the archives of Minas Anor (later Minas Tirith) and was discovered by Gandalf nearly an Age later.

After the fall of Sauron, the greater part of the army of Arnor returned home while Isildur stayed in Gondor for a year, restoring order and defining its boundaries. He planted the seedling of the White Tree in Minas Tirith in memory of Anárion. As his brother's helmet had been crushed during his death at Barad-dûr, Isildur left his own helmet as Gondor's crown. He installed Anárion's son Meneldil as King of Gondor, and returned north en route to Arnor with his three sons. He made first for Rivendell, where his wife and his fourth son, Valandil, had stayed throughout the War of the Last Alliance.

'Gladden' is an old name for the yellow iris.[1]

At the Gladden Fields in the middle course of the River Anduin Isildur's party was ambushed by roaming Orcs from the Misty Mountains. It was 5 'October' in the second year of Isildur's reign, and the second year of the Third Age.[T 3]

Tolkien wrote two differing accounts of the battle leading to Isildur's end.

"Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", at the end of The Silmarillion, is told from the point of the view of the Eldar. It states that Isildur had set no guard in his camp at night, deeming that all his foes had been overthrown, and orcs attacked him there.[T 4]

In Unfinished Tales Tolkien gives a fuller account, writing that Isildur was ambushed on the march by orcs. Isildur had left Minas Anor with a party of some 200 soldiers. His men had to march, as their horses were mainly beasts of burden, not for riding. They had two dozen archers, but they were too few to be effective. Isildur chose the route along the Anduin rather than the safer but longer road North. Sauron, however, had deployed an army of orcs east of the Misty Mountains to attack stragglers of the Last Alliance. The orcs did not show themselves when the armies of the Elves and Men passed by, but they were more than a match for Isildur's small company. Isildur was assailed at sunset. Though the first orc sortie was beaten off, the orcs regrouped and surrounded Isildur's party to prevent his escape. When nightfall came the orcs assaulted him from all sides.[T 3]

The Dúnedain were surrounded and outnumbered. Ciryon was killed and Aratan was mortally wounded in a failed attempt to rescue Elendur, who urged his father to flee. Isildur put on the Ring, hoping to escape under the cover of invisibility. Fleeing to the Anduin, he cast off his armour and tried to swim to the other side of the river, but the Ring slipped (of its own volition) from his finger. Isildur felt that the Ring was missing and was momentarily dismayed, but with the burden of the Ring removed he rallied and made for the opposite bank. Despite the darkness, the Elendilmir that he was wearing betrayed his position to orcs on the far bank, who were seeking survivors from the attack, and they killed him with their poisoned arrows. Isildur's squire, Ohtar, saved Elendil's sword from the enemy, fleeing into the valley before the orcs encircled Isildur's company. Estelmo, Elendur's squire, was found alive under his master's body, stunned by a club.[T 3]

During the War of the Ring the Nazgûl searched the Gladden Fields, but failed to find any traces of Isildur's remains. Their efforts were hampered by Saruman, who had deceived the Nazgul, and who had got there first. After the overthrow of Saruman and the opening of Orthanc (in The Two Towers) Gimli found a hidden closet containing the original Elendilmir, which was presumed lost when Isildur died.

In Ralph Bakshi's animated film version of The Lord of the Rings, released in 1978, Isildur is called Prince Isildur of the mighty Kings from across the Sea and appears as the events of the Last Alliance are portrayed in silhouette. He is called "the heroic shadow who slipped in" to chop off the One Ring from Sauron's finger. Later, as he sat at the base of a tree by the River Anduin examining the One Ring. he senses a disturbance, draws his sword, and is shot by Orc arrows a moment later.

In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy Isildur is played by Harry Sinclair.[6] He briefly appears in the first scenes of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and in an extended flashback scene later on. In the theatrical versions Anárion and heirs do not appear, nor are they mentioned, and Arnor does not figure either. In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Legolas refers to Isildur as "the last king of Gondor". However, in the extended edition both Arnor and the House of Anárion are mentioned, and it is clear that Isildur was not the last king. In the first film Isildur and Elrond go to the Crack of Doom where he refuses to destroy the Ring (Tolkien never wrote that he went to the Crack himself, only that he was advised to). In all versions of the films Isildur speaks only the one word "No" when he refuses to throw the ring into the Crack of Doom. This line was spoken not by Sinclair but by Hugo Weaving, who played Elrond. The Disaster of the Gladden Fields, too, is depicted in Jackson's first film: Isildur's column of mounted troops is ambushed on a dark forest road.

Shippey writes that Jackson uses the voice-over to say of Isildur that he had "this one chance to destroy evil for ever", commenting that when Tolkien says "for ever", he at once indicates that that optimistic hope is wrong: Elrond says he recalls "when Thangorodrim was broken, and the Elves deemed that evil was ended for ever, and it was not so." Shippey writes that there is a glimpse here of a sharp difference between Jackson's and Tolkien's concept of evil, and their respective media: Tolkien believed that even the best of men were fallen, victory always temporary, and portrayed that in his writings, whereas a dramatic medium like film required good on one side and bad on the other.[7]

In the video game Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Isildur's fate differs from the traditional accounts. After he was attacked by the orcs, they transported his lifeless body to Mordor at Sauron‘s behest, who then adorned Isildur with one of the nine rings. Isildur was then kept prisoner and tortured for an extended period of time and eventually became a Nazgûl after his spirit was broken. The specific power of his ring allowed him to raise the dead and have them fight by his side as mindless minions. Eventually, he was defeated by the game‘s protagonist, Talion, after several encounters. Instead of subduing him with his own ring of power, he chose to spare Isildur and release his spirit, finally allowing him to proceed into the afterlife after millenias of service to Sauron. Talion also obtained Isildur‘s ring and eventually took his place as a Nazgûl.[8]

This list identifies each item's location in Tolkien's writings.