Gladden Fields

The tale of Isildur taking the One Ring from the hand of Sauron and the Ring's betrayal of Isildur leading to his death is one of the pivotal turning points in all of Middle-earth's history.

The disaster of the Gladden Fields was the tragic ambush of Isildur and his company, and the event raises fundamental cosmological and narrative questions about the nature of the One Ring and its inherent connection to its maker and master, Sauron.

To understand the ring's betrayal, one must first understand the malignant substance of the ring itself.

And much of the strength and will of Sauron passed into that one ring, for the power of the elven rings was very great, and that which should govern them must be a thing of surpassing potency.

The ring was a snare, and in choosing to keep it, Isildur ensured that the victory of the last alliance was ultimately hollow, costing the lives of both Elendil and Gil-galad for a temporary reprieve.

There would be no permanent peace.

The disaster of the Gladden Fields took place in the second year of the Third Age, and was a major turning point for Middle-earth and the High Kingship of the Dúnedain in the north.

After spending a year in the south re-establishing the realm of Gondor and planting a seedling of the White Tree, the sealer left the southern kingdom under the rule of his nephew Meneldil and set out for the northern kingdom Arnor.

And Thranduil's distrust went back even to his father, Oropher, which we read this about him in the Unfinished Tales.

In the Second Age, their king, the king of the sylvan elves of the woodland realm, Oropher, the father of Thranduil, father of Legolas, had withdrawn northward beyond the Gladden Fields.

This he did to be free from the power and encroachments of the dwarves of Moria, which had grown to be the greatest of the mansions of the dwarves recorded in history.

and also he resented the intrusions of Celeborn and Galadriel into Lorien.

And the proof came almost immediately.

Two years into the New Age, riding north to his kingdom, Isildur was ambushed at the Gladden Fields.

The ring he had claimed as his father's wereguild betrayed him, slipped from his finger as he tried to escape by swimming the Anduin, and left him to the orc arrows.

The ring rolled into the river and was lost for two and a half thousand years, and the man who would not destroy it earned a new name for it that would outlast his own.

Yeah, so actually, since I'm already here on the map, I can point it out here for those watching on YouTube.

Just a little bit west of Mirkwood is a location marked the Gladden Fields.

It's right beside the Gladden River.

So that's going to kind of be the location we're talking about.

But the ring was lost in the Gladden River and it would be lost for like two millennia.

And it would be hunted later by parties such as Saruman and Sauron.

And yeah, that's the story which is known as the disaster at the Gladden Fields.

And can we just also add to the fact that despite Isildur leading a party of over 200 Dunedain, except his son and around two squires, if I'm not mistaken, everyone else was killed.

He never makes it.

He is ambushed by orcs at the Gladden Fields, he's slaughtered in the mud, and the ring sinks to the bottom of a river.

Okay, if I am Elrond, this is the breaking point.

The mortal men you trusted failed you, your kings are dead, the superweapon is missing, and evil is guaranteed to eventually return.

He misunderstands Gollum's tortured ramblings.

He thinks this place called the Shire is located near the Gladden Fields, where the Rin was originally lost thousands of years ago.

Right, they don't know where it actually is.

To allow the Nazgul to cross the river Anduin secretly and begin this hunt, Sauron orchestrates a massive diversion.

But their intel is still terrible.

Oh, it's awful.

Sauron learns that Saruman the wizard has been acting treacherously and concludes that the ring isn't in the Gladden Fields.

He commands the Nazgul to ride all the way to Isengard to confront Saruman.