Overview
Isildur is the hinge of the whole tale: his failure to destroy the Ring sets in motion the War of the Ring three thousand years later.
- Ancestry
- Elder son of Elendil; ancestor of the Kings of Arnor and of Aragorn.
Biography
Survivor of Númenor
Isildur escaped the Downfall of Númenor with his father Elendil and the White Tree.
The Last Alliance
At the end of the Second Age he cut the Ring from Sauron’s hand, but kept it as weregild rather than destroying it in Orodruin.
Death
He was ambushed by Orcs at the Gladden Fields and the Ring was lost in the river for ages.
Relationships
Places
In the histories
Artifacts
ArtifactThe One Ring
Sauron's master-ring, forged in secret to dominate the other Rings of Power and their bearers. Its passage through Middle-earth drives the central drama of The Lord of the Rings.
ArtifactNarsil and Anduril
The sword of Elendil, broken when he fell before Sauron and reforged in Rivendell as Anduril, the Flame of the West, the blade that passes to the heir of Isildur.
Sources
The Lord of the Rings · 1954–55
Three volumes: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King.
The Silmarillion · 1977
Posthumously edited. Contains the Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth and Of the Rings of Power.
Unfinished Tales · 1980
Expanded and alternative accounts of the First, Second and Third Ages.
Related entries
Elendil
Survivor of Númenor and first High King of the Dúnedain in Middle-earth, who founded Gondor and Arnor.
CharacterAragorn
The heir of Isildur, raised in Rivendell in secret, who becomes King Elessar and reunites the kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor.
CharacterSauron
A Maia and former lieutenant of Morgoth, forger of the One Ring and the central antagonist of The Lord of the Rings.