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Over his silence, the voice continued, "Isildur was
a fool -- fey, anile, and gutless. They are all fools.
Look you, ringbearer. The mighty High Lord Isildur,
son of Elendil and great-grandson of Beren Elf-Spouse
whom I hate, stood where you now kneel, and he thought
to destroy me. He discovered my designs, recognized
some measure of my true stature -- though the Numenoreans
had set me on their right side in the Council for long
years without sensing their peril -- saw at the last
who I was. Then there was war between us, war that blasted
Middle Earth and threatened Gondor itself. The feller
fist was mine and he knew it. When his armies faltered
and his power waned, he sheared off my finger with the
Ring, but became mine in thrall to it. He thought that
he might use that power. Therefore he drowned in the
river from which Smeagol's friend drew the ring...
"Say to the Council of Elrond, and to High Lord Elrond
son of Earendil, that the uttermost limit of their span
of days upon Middle Earth is seven times seven years
from this present time. Before the end of those days
are numbered, I will have the command of life and death
in my hand. And as a token that what I say is the one
word of truth, tell them this: Frodo Baggins, Halfing
of the Shire, has the One Ring, and it is a cause for
terror..."