[Kalimac]

I get the impression that Elrond knew what the Ring was at the time, in both the book and the movie (though rather more in the movie) he seems rather sore and "I told you so" about the whole thing, besides, it's hard to believe that Elrond could delude himself about the power and evil of the thing he was looking at.<P>He probably didn't make Isildur throw it in for two reasons. First of all, Isildur was his friend, his companion, his ally against the dark forces. Remember in FOTR, when Gandalf comments that he could have taken the Ring from Bilbo by force, but in doing so would have broken him? Elrond probably fears that by forcing Isildur to give it up or destroy, he would be breaking Isildur's spirit as well as their friendship and alliance. I don't doubt that Elrond could have done it (or even thrown Isildur himself into the fire); a guy who can conjure up a massive flood on a few minutes' notice could figure out how to get the job done forcibly if he had to. He simply does not want to do it if that's the only way available, the same way Gandalf wants Bilbo to give up the Ring, but not by forcing him. If Elrond had forced Isildur to give it up, he would have been using the tactics and working in the spirit of Sauron, who divided friends and crushed the spirits of his enemies by theft.<P>Secondly, Elrond did not - thankfully for him - know the end of the story. He didn't know that Isildur would be ambushed and the Ring be lost; all he knew was that Isildur had just seen has father murdered and that having seized the Ring was for him the sign of having snatched vengeance and victory out of what had looked to be certain defeat. He was still in the first flush of victory. Elrond may well have had hopes that when Isildur cooled off, so to speak, he might be brought around with good advice and eventually choose to destroy the Ring of his own free will. Of course (what isn't clear in the movie) Isildur kept the Ring for two years before being killed, but for an Elf that's not a lot of time. He probably hoped that he could persuade Isildur eventually, and then - Isildur was gone, and the Ring was gone, and Elrond couldn't do anything about it. Doubtless that made him look back much more bitterly on the opportunity that had been squandered, but he couldn't have known at the time what Isildur's refusal would eventually mean.