tonyc3742

I don't think Frodo failed, per se. That's why he was special--most other people would have taken the ring and succumbed to it. Frodo did, at times, succumb, but ultimately he had the willpower, not to destroy it, but to at least resist it. I have not read the books; I was almost thinking Frodo would have jumped into the pit with the ring, rather than giving it up. He knows what he 'should' do, and he does want to do that, otherwise he wouldn't have risked his and his friend's lives on the 13 month quest; but actually giving it up, and saying Goodbye to it and dropping it, would be too much. So yes, a fortuitous coincidence that Gollum/Smeagol was weaker than Frodo. And Sam, while of course wanting the Ring to be destroyed, I think his ultimate allegiance was to Frodo--if it were a choice between keeping Frodo and the ring, or destroying them both, he would definitely have a challenging decision to make. So I can see why he wouldn't leap over to Frodo and shove him over, at least at first.
I don't know if I saw 'guilt' at the bowing scene, or simply shock/humility ["they're bowing to *me*?"].

Supermallet

I think you have your chronology mixed up. When Elrond and Isildur are in Mt. Doom, the Elves aren't going to leave for several centuries. After the war, Elrond forsees that the power of the three rings will diminish once Sauron tries to reclaim the One Ring, but that's Frodo's story. Isildur is centuries dead by then.

I always thought he didn't take it from Isildur because A) He would have had to have killed Isildur to get it away from him, or risk being killed himself, and killing Isildur would start a war between men and elves, which might kill them all and B) Elrond had a ring of power, and knew what kind of, well, power it gave him. He probably realized that he didn't have the willpower to destroy the ultimate ring of power, even if he could get it off Isildur. Plus, no one knew for certain what happened to Sauron after Isildur cut the ring off. Although most thought that Sauron would return (and Elrond actually forsaw it), they hoped that perhaps they had defeated him for good, and so he didn't press the destruction of the One Ring as much as he should have.

Also, and it isn't mentioned in the film, but Isildur is related to Elrond through Elrond's brother. He wouldn't want to kill a relation.

Jepthah

Isildur is not an ordinary man...he is in the ancient direct royal line of Numenor. If Elrond actually tried fighting him, you had better believe the elf very well might not have survived that battle.

jayson1017

The burp was kool.