Davem wrote:
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Its odd that Isildur should use that word of the Ring - ie that Tolkien should have a Gondorian of Numenorean descent use not just that word but have that concept. The Gondorians seem to ‘civilised’ to think in such terms. Felarof is (as far as Eorl is concerned) in debt to him for the killing of his father & Eorl demands (& gets) payment of that debt through Felarof’s service to him. Did Isildur think the same way - that Sauron had ‘paid his debt’ to Isildur for the killing of his father by the ‘surrender’ of the Ring?
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Well, the concept seems at least to have existed in Beleriand in the first age (whence, ultimately, Gondorian culture is derived). From the revised Lay of Leithien:
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Though price was set upon each head
to match the weregild of a king,
no soldier could to Morgoth bring
news even of their hidden lair
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If Isildur did think that way (ie, if he believed in the concept of weregild) then he would have been almost obliged to take the Ring & to keep it in payment of Sauron’s ‘debt’ to him.
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Why? I don't see how the concept of a weregild would oblige Isildur to do any such thing. If the concept is applied to Sauron's slaying of Elendil, then Sauron owes something to Isildur; but surely Isildur is in no way obliged to accept the gift.