Beginning of the Third Age

Sauron's servants were dispersed after his demise and the the Dark Tower of Barad-dûr was leveled. Some men repented and allied themselves with the Isilidur and the faithful Númenóreans while others kept the darkness of Sauron in their hearts. A watch was placed on Mordor and though Sauron was defeated leaders like Gil-galad and Elendil were no more. "Never again was such a host be assembled, nor was there any such league of Elves and Men; for after Elendil's day the two kindreds became estranged" (p. 295, The Silmarillion).

The One Ring was not destroyed; "For Isildur would not surrender it to Elrond and Círdan who stood by" (p. 295, The Silmarillion). The two Elves had urged Isildur to throw it into the fires of Mount Doom ensuring Sauron would be nothing more than a shadow of malice. Isildur, however, wanted to keep the Ring as an heirloom; a token of remembrance for the deaths of his father and brother as well as for his own glory by cutting it from Sauron's hand. "And the Ring that he held seemed to him exceedingly fair to look on; and he would not suffer it to be destroyed" (p. 295, The Silmarillion).

He bore the Ring to Gondor and Minas Arnor. There he planted the seedling he had saved from the White Tree at Minas Ithil before Sauron invaded. The Tree remained there flowering the courts of the King. He took council with Meneldil, his brother Anárion's son, giving him reign of the southern kingdom. Isilidur then marched north with the Ring toward Eriador, where his father, Elendil's, kingdom was.

Middle-earth timeline: Third Age, 1

Today's reading comes from: The Silmarillion, pages 294-295