Character from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The man who cut the Ring from Sauron's hand and then could not destroy it — his single moment of weakness echoes through three thousand years of history.
Isildur is courage and weakness in the same heartbeat. He charged Sauron's body and cut the Ring free in a moment of desperate grief-fueled bravery — then held the Ring and heard it whisper and could not let go. He is not a villain; he is a good man who encountered something beyond his capacity to resist. He rationalizes keeping the Ring as a 'weregild' for his father, and the rationalization sounds almost reasonable, which is exactly how the Ring works. His refusal to destroy it is the original sin of the Third Age.
Tall and dark-haired in the Númenórean fashion, broad-shouldered, with his father Elendil's stern grey eyes. Battle-scarred and grief-marked from watching his father die. Wears the shards of his father's legacy and the Ring on a chain around his neck — the weight of both visible in his posture.
Also known as: Isildur, Isildur son of Elendil, Isildur Elendil's son