Who delivered the final blow?

[Farael]

I Went with Isidur. Sauron would have probably recovered from whatever Gil-Galad and Elendil did to him, but when he lost the ring he lost part of his strenght/power and was defeated (but not killed)

As the question is "who delivered the final blow?" I'll say Isidur. He delivered the final blow, even if the whole situation was staged by Gil-Galad and Elendil

[Boromir88]

Thanks Fordim, for going through with it.

I think the biggest question comes in was, Sauron "mortally" (as in his body) wounded by Gil-galad and Elendil? Or was he not "dead" until Isildur cuts the Ring from his finger?

Isildur boasts that he delivered the final blow, but again this could be nothing more than him bragging. (And I can certainly see Isildur as the bragging type).

So, the biggest question is. Would Sauron have been able to recover (meaning his physical body wasn't "mortally wounded") if Isildur hadn't cut off the Ring?

I agree with Farael, because to me this quote here...

Then Sauron was for that time vanquished, and he forsook his body, and his spirit fled far away and hid in waste places; and he took no visible shape again for many long years.

suggests that Sauron's spirit didn't leave his body until after Isildur cut off the Ring?

However, I think there's other quotes referring to Elendil and Gil-galad as "overthrowing" Sauron. So, really, it just seems like a toss-up. Whether Sauron's body was dead before Isildur cut the Ring, and perhaps his spirit just decided to leave it's "dead body" after Isildur cut off the Ring. Perhaps, his body was already "dead" before Isildur cut off the Ring, his spirit just decided to leave after the Ring was cut off?

[the phantom]

Perhaps no one delivered a killing blow. Maybe, even after his Ring was cut off, he would not have died had he been left alone.

But Sauron knew that he was injured, his forces were defeated, his Ring was not directly under his control, and that he would soon be "killed", and so chose to leave his physical form before he suffered an actual death blow- a blow that would have left him no choice but to die.

[Bêthberry]

Oh gosh, I saw the poll title and was hoping I could pick--or do a write-in--for Peter Jackson.

[Farael]

Originally Posted by Boromir

However, I think there's other quotes referring to Elendil and Gil-galad as "overthrowing" Sauron.

Well, Gil-Galad and Elendil were the kings and captains of the armies that defeated Sauron's, but Isidur actually defeated Sauron himself. Or well, they all did, but Isidur cut the ring which prompted the escape of Sauron's soul from his body.