Who Is Isildur? Everything You Need To Know About The Future King
Image Source: Screen Rant
Talk about giving away the ending, huh? It’s the nature of doing prequels after sequels. Everyone knew Anakin would become Darth Vader, that Senator Palpatine would become the Emperor, and that Padme would birth twins. The fun comes in the journey, then, so it’s exciting to see a young Isildur in The Rings of Power. It implies we will see him grow into the future king who severs the One Ring from the hand of Sauron.
So who is Isildur?
***Spoilers Below***
By now we’ve been introduced to Isildur as a sailor in training. It’s also becoming clear that the timeline being presented in the show is a highly condensed version of the one laid down by Tolkien. Technically, Isildur is born late in the Second Age, not long before Numenor is destroyed. As the show has established, he is the son of Elendil, and he has a brother, yet to be seen, named Anarion. What is new to the show, however, is the inclusion of a sister.
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Being a mariner is an established profession in his family tree, and his seamanship plays into his survival later. This is the direction the show is trying to take Isildur, at least early on. But perhaps that’s not what he feels is his future, as he gets his friends and himself kicked off the ships they trained on. However, after this latest episode, with him volunteering to be a part of the expeditionary force to sail to Middle-earth, it seems like he is intent on turning his fortunes around.
Isildur, played by Maxim Baldry. Image Source: Showbiz Cheat Sheet
Isildur’s family is of the mind that Numenor should have stayed loyal to the Valar and the Elves, they were known as the Faithful. As the show is establishing, in line with canon, that is not the case for much of the rest of the island nation. Eventually, Isildur and his father will move to counter Ar-Pharazon, who through the corruption of Sauron, convinces the Numenoreans to sail west, which they are forbidden to, and assail the Undying Lands, the home of the Valar.
Isildur catches on to these plans, which included Ar-Pharazon cutting down the white tree Nimloth, a gift from the Valar, and a symbol of Numenor’s ties to the Valar. Isildur disguises himself as a guard and enters Ar-Pharazon’s court. There, he steals a fruit from the tree, and as he escapes, he fights his way through the guards. Isildur becomes gravely wounded in the process, and is barely hanging on to life for months and months, when the fruit begins to sprout, Isildur recovers from his wounds and awakens.
When it becomes clear that they, the Faithful, are among the few on Numenor, and Ar-Pharazon’s plan to sail west and attack the Undying Lands is about to launch, Isildur and the other Faithful decide to flee Numenor. They gather their friends and family and load their ships with their prized possessions, including the fruit and the seeing stones (just introduced in the show). When Ar-Pharazon sails west and sets foot on the shores of the Undying Lands, Eru Iluvatar, the creator of everything, is angered and changes the face of the earth, sinking Numenor into the sea, save Isildur and the Faithful.
Elendil on Numenor. Image Source: Den of Geek
Isildur’s father, Elendil, sails to the north of Middle-earth and establishes the Kingdom of Arnor, and Elendil and his brother sail to the south and establish the Kingdom of Gondor. He and his brother establish two cities and rule jointly from Osgiliath to watch over the realms of men, as it sat in the sight of the mountains of Mordor where Sauron resided.
Early in his rule, Isildur took one of the objects he brought from Numenor, the Stone of Erech, and plants it in the ground at the entrance to the Mountains of White. There, he and the King of the Mountain Men swore allegiance. Soon, Sauron’s power grew again, and Isildur sought other allies to check his growing power. He struck an alliance with Gil-galad and the Elves, known as the Last Alliance of Men and Elves, and they launched the War of the Last Alliance to be rid of Sauron once and for all. When Isildur called on the Mountain Men to fight as they swore to, they did not answer his call, so he cursed them. When they died, they were doomed to stay haunting the mountains until they honor their oath to Isildur’s heirs if they come calling.
Barad-dur and Mount Doom. Image Source: Wikipedia
The War of the Last Alliance progresses until the armies of Men and Elves arrive outside Sauron’s fortress of Barad-dur. There, they lay siege to it for seven years. During the siege, Anarion is killed, leaving Isildur as the only heir to the great kingdoms of men. Eventually, Sauron himself comes out to join the siege, and both Elendil and Gil-galad take on the dark lord. They both manage to inflict great damage on Sauron but lose their lives in the process. Isildur is now the King and his children are the heirs to the Kingdom. In his grief, he challenges the wounded Sauron and severs the One Ring from his hand.
Isildur takes possession of the One Ring. Image Source: TheOneRing.com
Isildur took possession of the ring and the two realms of Men. He intended to leave Gondor to his brother’s son after he mentored him, and he would take Arnor. However, after burying his father and planting the seedling of Nimloth, he set off to leave the ring with Elrond, urged on by his son. While en route, he and his men were ambushed by orcs. Outnumbered ten-to-one, it led to the massacre of his men. Isildur sent a scout ahead to Rivendell with the shards of his father’s sword, the one he used to cut the One Ring from Sauron’s hand, but kept the One Ring itself. He used it to disappear and tried to cross the river they were next to, but in the current, the One Ring left his hand and he floated to the surface, where he was shot dead by orc archers.
His youngest son took rule of Arnor but did not do so in Gondor. Anarion’s sons took over the rule of Gondor. The two kingdoms remained separated until the coronation of Isildur’s heir, Aragorn, at the end of the Third Age.
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Source(s): Fandom, Tolkien Gateway