May 24, 2026 · 2 hr 5 min · 18 segments
The Elendilmir worn by the Kings of Arnor had not the ancientry nor potency of the original; there’s got to be a joke in there about Alan and Don, right? Join The Man of the West and The Obscure Lord…
Don MarshallHostAlan SistoHostSam H.Guest
"Isildur turned west and, drawing up the Ring that hung in a wallet from a fine chain about his neck, he set it upon his finger with a cry of pain and was never seen again by any eye upon Middle-earth."But the Elendilmir of the West could not be quenched, and suddenly it blazed forth red and wrathful as a burning star.
Men and orcs gave way in fear, and Isildur, drawing a hood over his head, vanished into the night.
Ere long, they all lay dead, save one, a young esquire, stunned and buried under fallen men.
But at first, he ran like a stag from the hounds until he came to the bottom of the valley.
There he halted to make sure that he was not pursued, for orcs could track a fugitive in the dark by scent and needed no eyes.
Then he went on more warily, for wide flats stretched on into the gloom before him, rough and pathless, with many traps for wandering feet.
So it was that he came at last to the banks of Anduin at the dead of night, and he was weary, for he had made a journey that the Dúnedain on such ground could have made no quicker, marching without halt and by day.
Now we ended last week with Elendur insisting that Isildur take the ring and leave, and so we start this week with the king doing exactly that.
He heads west, that is, towards the river, pulls the ring out of its wallet, and puts it on.
Uh, he even mentions it, of course, in the scroll that Gandalf reads at the Council of Elrond.
Uh, I mean, it's, you know, he screams out, cries out in pain when he puts it on.
And in classic Tolkien fashion, we get the ending before we get to the end, right? Isildur is never seen again by any eye in Middle-earth.
And though Isildur is invisible, the light of the Elendilmir is decidedly, uh, visible.
"Isildur turned west and, drawing up the Ring that hung in a wallet from a fine chain about his neck, he set it upon his finger with a cry of pain and was never seen again by any eye upon Middle-earth."But the Elendilmir of the West could not be quenched, and suddenly it blazed forth red and wrathful as a burning star.
Men and orcs gave way in fear, and Isildur, drawing a hood over his head, vanished into the night.
Ere long, they all lay dead, save one, a young esquire, stunned and buried under fallen men.
But at first, he ran like a stag from the hounds until he came to the bottom of the valley.
There he halted to make sure that he was not pursued, for orcs could track a fugitive in the dark by scent and needed no eyes.
Then he went on more warily, for wide flats stretched on into the gloom before him, rough and pathless, with many traps for wandering feet.
So it was that he came at last to the banks of Anduin at the dead of night, and he was weary, for he had made a journey that the Dúnedain on such ground could have made no quicker, marching without halt and by day.
Now we ended last week with Elendur insisting that Isildur take the ring and leave, and so we start this week with the king doing exactly that.
He heads west, that is, towards the river, pulls the ring out of its wallet, and puts it on.
Uh, he even mentions it, of course, in the scroll that Gandalf reads at the Council of Elrond.
Uh, I mean, it's, you know, he screams out, cries out in pain when he puts it on.
And in classic Tolkien fashion, we get the ending before we get to the end, right? Isildur is never seen again by any eye in Middle-earth.
And though Isildur is invisible, the light of the Elendilmir is decidedly, uh, visible.
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