Isildur is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, the elder son of Elendil. He was born in Númenor, and fled with his father when the island was drowned. He became King of Gondor. He cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, but instead of destroying it, claimed it for his own. He was killed by orcs, and the Ring was lost in the River Anduin, setting the stage for the Ring to pass to Gollum and then to Bilbo, as told in The Hobbit; that in turn provided the central theme for The Lord of the Rings. Isildur features briefly in the voiced-over opening sequence of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
