Isildur

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Regardless of what Elrond and Cirdan's actual motivations were in the moment, whether it was wisdom or fear or ignorance which drove the decision, I think it is a good thing that neither tried to physically force Isildur to give up the Ring - or destroyed the Ring together with Isildur

Oh, I don't think that's what Elrond and Círdan should have done. I was just wondering about the possible thought processes going on at that critical moment.

I got a bit off-track there anyway.
What I was trying to get across was that Isilder's claiming the Ring for his own was not a moral weakness. It started to work on him immediately.

I seriously doubt Isildur thought of the One Ring as a "weregild" in any real sense: he simply was justifying his possession of it, just as Gollum long after seized upon the idea of the Ring as his "birthday present".

Gandalf says that Bilbo was the only one who ever gave up the Ring of his own accord, and even that was a very close thing.
The greater one is, the more easily the Ring takes hold. With the knowledge that three hobbits were Ring-bearers, and two-thirds could not summon the will the give it up, I cannot blame the King of Arnor and Gondor for being unable to resist it.