Why did the Ring betray Isildur?

[Nurvingiel]

I was thinking about how Bilbo was the only person to willingly give up the Ring (admittedly with significant help from Gandalf), and started thinking about the various fates of other Ringbearers. This thread is also partly insipred by the question "Could the Ring be used for good?" in another thread.


A little backstory...

After the Ring was cut from Sauron's hand, Isildur was the first Ringbearer. I think various writings on Isildur indicate that though he was slowly being corrupted by the Ring, he retained some wisdom about the issue. He was seperated from the Ring when it slipped from his finger and Isildur was shot by orcs. The Ring drifted to the bottom of the Anduin to stay in obscurity for the next several hundred years. This we already know, but the important question is why did the Ring abandon Isildur?

Sauron was wandering as a bodiless spirit, and probably couldn't have reclaimed the Ring if it had been thrown through his face. It seems that the Ring wanted to bide its time until Sauron could take it back. Let's not forget that the Ring's goal was to return to its master and cover Middle-earth in a second darkness.


The sixty-thousand dollar question...

However, why not corrupt Isildur and wreak some havocy havoc in the meantime? Why waste a chance to do more evil? I think the Ring chose the safety of the river bed because it sensed the possibility of Isildur using it for good, or that, after lengthly exposure to Elrond's council, he would seek to destroy it. There's no way the Ring could have orchestrated being found by Bilbo, but perhaps he wanted to be found by Gollum or a similar person (easily corruptible). Isildur, unlike the black-hearted Sméagol, was not easily corrupted.

Thoughts?