Also known as: High King Of Arnor And Gondor
Isildur, elder son of Elendil, was with his father and his brother Anarion a founder of the Numenorean realms in exile. While still in Numenor, at peril of his life, he stole into the king's court and bore away a fruit of Nimloth the White Tree before Sauron and Ar-Pharazon could destroy its line utterly, though he was wounded almost to death in the deed. Escaping the Downfall, he and Anarion founded Gondor in the south and raised the cities of Minas Ithil and Minas Anor, while Elendil ruled Arnor in the north as High King.
In the War of the Last Alliance, when Sauron had slain both Elendil and Gil-galad upon the slopes of Orodruin, Isildur took up the broken hilt-shard of his father's sword Narsil and cut the One Ring from the Dark Lord's hand, overthrowing him. But when Elrond and Cirdan counselled him to cast the Ring at once into the Fire that was close at hand, he would not: he kept it as weregild for his father and brother, and it grew precious to him. Two years later, ambushed by Orcs at the Gladden Fields, Isildur put on the Ring to flee across Anduin, but it betrayed him, slipping from his finger in the water, and he was shot down by Orc-arrows. So the Ring was lost in the river for nigh on two and a half thousand years, until a fisher-folk named Deagol drew it up again.