September 14, 2002

Isildur the Mighty
Brett C.

Sorry to disagree with you about Isildur, Alatar, especially when I held your opinion that it was Gil Galad and Elendil that put pay to Sauron for years and years. But only the other evening I was reading some Tolkien, and came across this text by the Professor himself in the Silmarillion [p 355]

"For Isildur would not surrender it [the Ring] to Elrond and Cirdan who stood by. They counselled him to cast it into the fire of Orodruin nigh at hand...but Isildur refused this counsel, saying: 'This I will have as a weregild for my father's death, and my brothers. Was it not I that dealt the enemy his death blow?'"

The implication from this is that Sauron was still breathing [so to speak] when Isildur cut the ring from his hand, and while I admit it is possible that you could interpret the text to mean that his slain body discorporated when the Ring was cut off, as it did in the movie, I know of no actual text to support this theory outright. Personally, I favour the view that Gil Galad and Elendil did the lion's share of the damage, and Isildur managed to get a lucky swing when the Dark Lord was on the ropes [three on one - hardly seems 'honorable', does it Annatar?]