Isildur | Legends of Middle Earth

who was isildur if you've only ever seen the opening to the lord of the rings films you might think of him as weak-willed and the cause of lots of problems later on but there's a lot more to him than that it's time to reassess the legend of isildur hi everyone this is robert welcome to in deep geek this video is sponsored by audible keep listening to the end for a special offer from them and some listening recommendations from me we know the story of isildur as it plays out in the fellowship of the ring movie flashbacks isildur cutting the ring from sauron elrond leading him up to the cracks of doom in order to destroy it then isildur deciding with a smile not to and keeping it for himself i was there the day the strength of men failed elrond proclaims the hearts of men are easily corrupted pronounces galadriel about the same moment centuries later aragorn has doubts about whether he should be king seemingly mostly because he is related to isildur arwin reassures him that you are isildur's heir himself you are not bound to his fate the impression is clear isildur was weak corrupted fell under the power of the ring and represents all that is fallible and doomed about humanity if only he were a better man a stronger willed man but that's not what happened in the books not at all in the books aragorn isn't trying to escape being king he seeks it and he proudly proclaims himself the heir of isildur as a thing to be proud of not something to be ashamed of so what's going on well a lot of this stems from the fact that the flashback at the beginning of the films is close to but not exactly what happened in the books to be sure we need to go delving into the appendices to the lord of the rings and the book of unfinished tales to get the full story but when we do it paints a very different picture isildur's story begins however back in numenor he was born the eldest son of elendil the tall and grandson of a mandil of the line of the lords of andunya one of the regions of numenor and direct descendants of the kings of numenor most importantly his family were the leaders of the faithful the group in numenor who stood firm in worship of uru eluvita and in friendship with the elves it's worth noting that isildur and elendil are both kuenya names elven basically so the kinship is strong isildur grew up married and had his first child in numenor as the oppression of the faithful got worse and worse and numenor slid towards its cataclysmic fool we don't know many details of his time there but it's clear he shared his family's just convictions and was brave and heroic when he learned that king r falazon was planning on cutting down the tree nimloth a gift from the elves and a symbol of friendship between the two peoples isildur snuck in and stole a fruit from it planting it in secret and rescuing it from the flames he nearly died from the wounds he sustained on that one-man mission isildur was 110 years old when numenor was destroyed he his father and his brother anarion were on ships and escaped although the storms separated them on route to middle-earth allendyl ended up in the north of the map we now know founding the kingdom of arnold and isildu and anarion ended up in the south forming gondor isilda and anarion joint ruled a not insignificant point and it's worth taking a moment to consider the inferences we can draw from this isildur was the eldest son and heir it was completely within his rights under numenorean law to rule gondor all by himself but instead he set up a co-rulership with his younger brother each had their own city and the capital osgiliath had two thrones in the throne room side by side not isildur set a little higher this was true joint rulership with his brother why is this important because it tells us that isildur was not someone who sought power for its own sake he could have ruled on his own everyone will have expected him to rule on his own but he chooses not to a big clue i think to why the one ring later found it hard to control him he didn't seek power like so many other men but we're jumping ahead sauron had also survived the destruction of numenor and shortly after the founding of gondor launched an all-out attack on middle-earth isildur stronghold of minas ithil was overrun isildur headed off to get the aid of his father and gil gallard and the last alliance of elves and men was formed we know the next bit of the story well sauron's forces were driven back but eventually sauron came out to meet his foes and killed gil galad and elendil isildur grabbed his father's broken sword cut the ring from sauron and ended the war up to this point i am sure we can all agree that isildur is a bit of a hero there was that epic mission in numenor saving shiploads of innocent people from the destruction of the island being humble enough to share rule of his new kingdom with his younger brother and now ending sauron's rule of terror in the films he then apparently at elrond's prompting heads straight to the cracks of doom to destroy the ring what a guy but then according to the films he is overtaken by its power refuses to destroy it and instead marches off at the head of an army to well we're not told what he was planning to do because he dies before he can do it the clear implication is that if only he had more strength all the problems to follow wouldn't have happened we're invited to feel a bit sorry for him the one ring's power was huge and at its greatest at the place where it was forged so we can hardly blame isildur for not going through with destroying it no one ever went through with trying to destroy the ring not even frodo but that is not what happened in the books first it's not clear that isildur did go to the cracks of doom elrond says this isildur took it as should not have been it should have been cast then into oregruin's fire nigh at hand where it was made but few marked what isildur did he alone stood by his father in that last mortal contest and by gil gallard only kurdhan stood and i but isildur would not listen to our council so isildur had a battlefield discussion with elrond and kurtan and yes they advised him to destroy the ring and yes he seems to have refused but we're not told why then and he didn't have that moment of failure losing himself to the ring's power there was no moment when the strength of man failed sorry movie elwant but even if that dramatic moment wasn't there wasn't the outcome the same wasn't isildur corrupted by the ring's power didn't he still head off at the head of his army down a dark path that would surely have ended in him trying to conquer the world himself well no in fact he seems to do almost the exact opposite after the war is over sauron is defeated and everyone goes home isildur lingers in the south doing very sensible boring tasks the kind of things a conscientious ruler would do when preparing for peace he inherited the title of the high king of arnold as well as gondor from his father but instead of heading straight there and claiming his crown he stayed for a year in minas tirith we're told restoring its order and defining its bounds he went on a tour of the borders of gondor with maneldil his nephew and left him in charge there's no hint here of isildur looking to conquer new lands expand his kingdom's borders gain new power for himself save that which he was due to inherit anyway no if anything he was giving power away he previously had day-to-day rulership over half of gondor and now he was giving that up to manell dill so why did he keep the ring if he seemed so immune to its immediate effects the short answer is pride isildur wasn't perfect he thought he could master the ring for himself and use it for good many others have been tempted by the same thoughts but crucially after a year of trying isildur seems to have come to the startling revelation that he couldn't do it he wasn't strong enough to master the rings so he had to give it up to wiser and better people than himself i call this a startling revelation because this isn't how the ring usually worked on people usually the longer they had it the more they thought that they were in control and that they should keep it witness bilbo's slow descent into after all why shouldn't i keep it and frodo's insistence near the end that only he could bear the ring so his duty in gondor north and westward his fateful journey that took him to his death was intended to first be a journey to imladris rivendell he wanted to pick up his wife and baby son on route to his new northern home but we're also told very clearly that as well as that he was in great haste he had an urgent need for the council of elrond why well we find out soon enough once the party had been set upon by orcs isildur's son came to him and said why not put on the ring if he did then surely the orcs would obey him he could stop the attack right then alas said isildur i cannot use it i dread the pain of touching it and i have not yet found the strength to bend it to my will it needs one greater than i now know myself to be my pride has fallen it should go to the keepers of the three so isildur was going to elrond because he wanted to give him the ring isildur perhaps uniquely among the ring bearers came to the conclusion after much introspection that he could not control the ring himself and he decided that he should hand it over to somebody else someone wiser than himself far from isildur taking the ring to gain power and rule he decided to give it up it is only when things are looking really grim in that battle when there seems to be no other way out that isildu agrees to put on the ring at all his sons had been killed or were dying and orcs were overrunning them isilda's oldest son came up to him my king said elendure kuryon is dead and aratan is dying your last counsellor must advise they command you as you commanded ottar go take your burden and at all costs bring it to the keepers even at the cost of abandoning your men and me king's son said isildur i knew that i must do so but i feared the pain nor could i go without your leave forgive me and this elder turns leaving his men putting on the ring and tries to escape to escape in order to give the ring up to leave it to wiser souls such as elrond to decide what to do with it i think we all know what elrond would have suggested doing with it destroy it finally perhaps it now makes sense why the ring should make itself fall from isildur's finger at that moment the ring was not turning isildur and it was not going to if isildur had made it across the river with the ring he would have been free and it would have been destroyed better to look at the bottom of a river for a few thousand years than to be destroyed so the ring abandoned him now of course isildur isn't truly perfect pride does seem to be a factor here it was his pride that led him to believe that he could master the ring in the first place even if he overcame that it was his pride that led him to be trekking across open country with a small force in the first place believing all orcs to be vanquished but he overcame his pride his last words to his son indeed the last words we hear him say to anyone are forgive me and my pride that has brought you to this doom we even read of isildur's feelings in the moments after he realizes that the ring had left him at first so overwhelming was his sense of loss that he struggled no more and would have sunk and drowned but swift as it had come the mood passed the pain had left him a great burden had been taken away his feet found the riverbed and heaving himself up out of the mud he floundered through the reeds to a marshy islet close to the western shore we know how others felt when they lost the ring anguish unquenchable desire to get it back but isildur emerges literally from the river seemingly relieved that he no longer had the ring isildur was proud but he overcame that his last acts were all about trying to give up the ring recognizing his fallibility about trying to get the ring to elrond that's why the ring abandoned him and that's why we should honor him at the last isildur did not represent the failing of the strength of men but one of its greatest most selfless acts that's why aragorn was proud to declare himself the heir of isildur if you want to dig deeper into this then an excellent way of doing so is through an audible membership i have one myself and listen to it almost every day i have done for years now in particular if you want to know more about what happened when isildur lost that ring or a detailed account of aragorn's hunt for gollum or tolkien's detailed description of exactly how palantiri work and lots more then i would highly recommend the book of unfinished tales available on audible you can find the lord of the rings the silmarillion and much more there too as an audible member you can download a new audio book from their huge catalogue every month to keep forever even massive books like the song of ice and fire novels coming in at nearly 50 hours listening long and you can start off with a free month's trial to see if it's for you give yourself the gift of listening for more information go to audible.com indeepgeek or text in deep geek to 500 500 that's audible.com in deepgeek or text in deep geek to 500 500. if you'd like to see more lord of the rings videos please click on the link on the left of your screen or if you'd like to support this channel or get access to some content i produce exclusively from my patrons please click on the link on the right of your screen that's all for this time thanks for watching i'll see you again soon you

Channel: In Deep Geek

Views: 212,677

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Id: SSErzSst1R4

Length: 16min 8sec (968 seconds)

Published: Fri May 13 2022