Figure Glance: Prince Isildur

Toy Biz's Price Isildur was made available as a single card and in the "Kings of Middle-Earth" gift pack, although both were the same figure. Isildur has good articulation in the lower body, excluding the ankles, but his upper body is very limited by the armor he wears. The paint work on the figure is amazingly detailed especially on the parts of his armor that are meant to be metal. 

Isildur comes with 2 accessories including his sword, which would seem to be the little brother of Narsil, the sword that cut the ring off Sauron's hand, as it is very similar in style. The other accessory is his metal helm, which is an open faced piece with wings at the sides, representing the exiled Numenoreans. His chest piece is very similar to the armor worn by the other Kings in his bloodline, with the symbol for the White Tree at the bottom. Surrounding the tree is 7 stars, representing the 7 ships with palantíri aboard that brought him and his kin to Middle Earth.

Isildur was born in Numenor during the second age as the son of Elendil. He was hailed as a hero for rescuing a seedling of the White Tree from Numenor before fleeing for Middle Earth. After helping to establish the Gondor capital of Osgiliath, he built a smaller fortress city to defend it called Minas Ithil. Sauron later attacked and captured Minas Ithil and renamed it Minas Morgul, but not before Isildur was able to escape with his family and another seedling of the White Tree. He later became the second High King of Gondor and Arnor after his father was killed in the War of the Last Alliance.

At the end of the War of the Last Alliance, Sauron came out of his tower, fought against and killed Isildur's father, Elendil. As Elendil fell, the king's sword Narsil was broken into many shards and a larger hilt-shard piece. Isildur was able to take the hilt-shard piece and cut the One Ring off the hand of Sauron, while taking it for himself. Once Isildur was in possession of the ring, Elrond tried to convince him to throw it into Mount Doom, the one place it could be destroyed.

The ring however, had already corrupted the mind of Isildur and he chose to keep it, to the dismay of Elrond. Years later, Isildur was going to the North with three of his sons and he was ambushed by Orcs that were drawn to the power of the ring. The Orcs numbers were too great and his three sons were slain, so Isildur attempted to escape by putting on the ring. As he was attempting to cross a nearby river, the One Ring abandoned Isildur's hand and he was spotted by Orcs that quickly killed him.