Helm & Isildur

Helm-Hammerhand

In life, Helm was a powerful but very grim man, who resented fools and did not suffer them gladly, which caused him to make enemies both outside his kingdom and court, as well as within. As he himself stated, he was a great hunter, having hunted every beast in Mordor. Described a grim man of great strength, Helm was a legend on the battlefield, revered for his stamina which caused some to believe he had the capacity to fight for days on end without rest, with nothing but his own hands as his weapons. At some point in life, a powerful warlord known as Siric desired Helm's daughter, Berwyn, as a wife, and demanded her hand in marriage, which Helm refused. Some time later, Siric ambushed Helm and his daughter whilst they rode through the forest, and had his archers strike him down with a flurry of arrows at point blank, and abduct his daughter. Dying from his injuries, Helm was visited on his deathbed at Edoras by Sauron, and Celebrimbor; Sauron gifted him a Ring of Power, promising Helm it would ensure his "daughter's safe return" and he very rapidly fell under its dark influence. Renewed, Helm lay siege to his enemy's fortress, intending to get his daughter back from the warlord who had taken her. Confronting his enemy in his chamber, Helm's daughter Bernwyn, asked Siric not fight her father, before the warlord threatened Hammerhand, claiming that by killing him he would start a war, to which Hammerhand declared war had already came, before swinging at his enemy with his great war hammer. However, in an attempt to stop her father, his own daughter Bernwyn stepped forward in front of his hammer, causing him to accidentally strike her down and kill her. Infuriated, Helm proceeded to take his hammer and kill both friend and foe alike in the chamber where his daughter died, even going as far as to kill one of his own men with their helmet. At some point after this event, Hammerhand fell completely into Sauron's curse and power, becoming one of the Nine.

Isildur

He was the oldest son of Elendil and brother to Anárion and is the direct ancestor of Aragorn, who would return 3,000 years after Isildur died to reclaim the throne of Gondor during the events of The Lord of the Rings. As the High King of Gondor and Arnor during his lifetime, Isildur and his brother Anárion jointly ruled Gondor in the South, while their father dwelled in the North. During the War of the Last Alliance, Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand after Sauron killed Isildur's father, Elendil in battle, but he refused to destroy it as the ring seduced and corrupted him. Isildur was later killed by Orcs and the Ring was lost in the Disaster of the Gladden Fields. After his death, the Orcs brought Isildur's body to the diminished and vengeful Sauron, who put a Ring on his finger, reviving him as one of his servants and eventually turning him into a ringwraith. As one of the nine Nazgûl, Isildur was forced to serve the Dark Lord for all time and becoming one of his loyal servants.