[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hicklin

I could look it up in Letters, if my copy was to hand, but Tolkien wrote (IIRC to Eileen Elgar) that NO one could destroy the ring at the Sammath Naur. It was beyond the strength of will of any, even a Gandalf. Frodo (and by extension Isildur) cannot be faulted for not doing the impossible.

This isn't Isildur's weakness, though. His weakness comes before and after his failure to destroy the Ring.

Before:

Originally Posted by FotR: The Council of Elrond

...and Isildur cut the Ring from his hand with the hilt-shard of his father's sword, and took it for his own.'

[...]

Isildur took it, as should not have been.

Why did he take it? Why did he pick it up? Elrond is convinced Isildur intended to claim the Ring even before he cut it from Sauron's (seemingly-dead?) hand; he had no thought of destroying it even before he took it. He looked at this weapon of the Enemy, which had brought nothing but woe and destruction on the world for two thousand years - and went "yes, I want that power for my own". That's the Numenorean weakness in a nutshell, and Isildur fell prey to it.

After:

It's been a long time since I've reread the Disaster of the Gladden Fields, and I'd forgotten exactly how weak Isildur is during it.

Originally Posted by UT: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

"And we bear burdens of worth beyond all reckoning," said Elendur; for he was in his father's confidence.

The Orcs were now drawing near. Isildur turned to his esquire: "Ohtar," he said, "I give this now into your keeping;" and he delivered to him the great sheath and the shards of Narsil, Elendil's sword. "Save it from capture by all means that you can find, and at all costs; even at the cost of being held a coward who deserted me.

1) Knowing that he won't escape the trap he's fallen into, Isildur sends one of his "burdens of worth beyond all reckoning" off with his squire, telling him to protect it at all costs. But he doesn't even consider sending the Ring with him as well, though he knows full well what Elendur is actually referring to.

Originally Posted by UT: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

"Alas, it is not, senya. 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."

2) Having kept the Ring, Isildur refuses to even attempt using it - because it would hurt to touch. He doesn't say 'I have not yet found the strength, but I will attempt it in this final plight' - just says 'no, it hurts too much'.

Originally Posted by UT: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

"My King," said Elendur, "Ciryon is dead and Aratan is dying. Your last counsellor must advise nay command you, as you commanded Ohtar. 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 my pride that has brought you to this doom." Elendur kissed him. "Go! Go now!" he said.

3) Having just admitted that he is prideful and unworthy, Isildur abandons his men. His father died facing Sauron hand-to-hand to protect his people; Isildur leaves his people (his eldest son!) to protect him. He could have given the Ring to Elendur, sending his heir away with the great burden and sacrificing himself to do so; instead he sacrificed his son to flee.

Originally Posted by UT: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

Isildur turned west, and drawing up the Ring that hung in a wallet from a fine chain about his neck, he set it upon his finger with a cry of pain, and was never seen again by any eye upon Middle-earth.

4) Having refused to attempt to use the Ring to save his men because it would hurt too much, Isildur is perfectly happy to accept that same pain when it lets him run away. Even once he has it on his finger, and "Men and Orcs gave way in fear", he makes no effort to turn it to the defence of his son and his men; he just flees.

In his final hours, Isildur shows two kinds of weakness. He refuses to even consider passing the Ring to another, even to preserve it from the Enemy or to save his son (who, incidentally, is lauded by the text in stronger terms than almost any of Tolkien's heroes); note that Bilbo passed this same test under no more pressure than Gandalf threatening to unfriend him. But he also shows himself as weak even by his own standards: he took the weapon of the Enemy, but in dire straits refused to use it - not because he feared it would turn to evil, but because he was too scared of the pain and too afraid for his life.

EDIT: Oh, and a third weakness: he lost hope.

Originally Posted by UT: The Disaster of the Gladden Fields

The tale mentions a young man who survived the slaughter: he was Elendur's esquire, named Estelmo, and was one of the last to fall, but was stunned by a club, and not slain, and was found alive under Elendur's body. He heard the words of Isildur and Elendur at their parting. There were rescuers who came on the scene too late, but in time to disturb the Orcs and prevent their mutilation of the bodies

Does anyone imagine the Orcs wouldn't have gone straight to mutilating the bodies? The rescuers (Woodsmen) must have come very shortly after the battle - and if Isildur had remained with his men, wearing the Elendilmir and wielding his great sword and authority, I think it very likely that they would still have been alive when the Woodsmen arrived to relieve them.

As the name of Elendur's esquire hints, what Isildur lost in his weakness was estel - that faith that the Powers of the world, whether in the West or Beyond, would give the heir of Elendil aid when he most needed it. They did - in the same "by good chance" sense that Tolkien employs repeatedly throughout LotR - but by that time Isildur had already given in, abandoned his duty, and fled "like a stag from the hounds".

(And yes, still: fascinatingly weak.)

hS