Posted: July 21, 2000 at 12:33:50: by Karl
I've been reading 'Disaster of the Gladden Fields'from unfinished tales recently, and for me it rtemains one of the biggest (and tragic) what ifs of ME. For me the story has a lot of heroism (take Elendur begging Isildur to flee, knowing it was certain death for him to stay)and tragedy - the image of Isildur leaving his sons (2 of which were already dead or dying - he must have seen them be taken)and fleeing into the night in an attempt to atone for his pride in keeping the ring, only for him at the last moment to be killed is a powerful one.
I mentioed what ifs - the biggest of course is what if Isildur had been swept further down stream and had evaded the orcs and found refuge, the history of the third age would be very different (i.e there wouldn't be a LOTR for a start). There is also the chance of Isildur having taken off the ring put it into the case around his neck, the been shot by the orcs... which would mean Saruman finding the ring when he found the body afterwards.
I feel that Isildur is perhaps one of the most interesting of the characters of ME. We know he was a powerful warrior ( I think in the Silmarillion 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age' it mentions that Isildur dealt the death blow to Sauron, no mean feat)and also a good tactician - he made the best of the situation in the Gladden Fields. he was wise (designed Minas Ithil so that the moon light welled through its halls, and also instructed the realm of gondor to menendil (sp?) and set the tradition of isildur.
We know he had pride ( it caused him to take the ring) but also the humility to see that he had made a mistake - it mentions that part of the reason he went the way hr did was to see elrond, as he required his wisdom over something. Was this the ring? perhaps we'll never know
All in all i think he is put in a bad light in some respects and seems to be portrayed as the 'bad' guy of the Dunedan. I think its about time we realised he was pretty good after all.
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