The Disaster of the Gladden Fields
The Death of Isildur and the Loss of the One Ring
A sudden ambush on the riverbanks at the Gladden Fields cost Isildur his life and sent the One Ring tumbling into the water, creating a loss that shaped the Third Age. Ambushed by Orcs while travelling north after the Last Alliance, Isildur was struck down and the Ring slipped from his hand into the river. Centuries later Déagol found the lost Ring and was murdered by Sméagol, a hobbit who became Gollum; that act of theft and corruption traced a direct line back to the ambush. Death, the missing Ring, the river, Gollum, and the long shadow over Middle-earth all began with that brief, deadly encounter at the Gladden Fields.