tolkiens legendarium - What was Sauron reaching for?

In the films of Lord of the Rings, in the flashback to the battle where Isildur takes the ring from Sauron's hand, why was Sauron reaching towards Isildur, thus allowing him to cut off Sauron's finger? This is the scene, skip to 3:54 to see Sauron reach down towards Isildur. But why? Surely he knew that, even with a broken sword, Isildur would try to kill him.

Answer

In-universe, Sauron was most likely reaching for Isildur to choke him and burn him to a cinder, as seen in this official concept-art picture from the "Art of the Fellowship of the Ring" (note the smoke rising from the body).

Out-of-universe, we can be reasonably confident that the idea was simply to have Sauron be in a credible position to have his fingers chopped off. Note that in the earliest storyboards, Sauron overbalanced after striking at Isildur with his mace, however since the entire purpose of this scene (according to Peter Jackson in the commentary track) was to establish Sauron as a very credible enemy, having him then turn out to be a poor fighter only a few seconds later doesn't jibe with the extreme fighting prowess the audience has just witnessed.

For the record, there's nothing in the script itself to indicate precisely why he was reaching.

IMAGE: SAURON lays waste to the armies of the LAST ALLIANCE. With desperate courage, ELENDIL leads a charge...THE BLACK MACE OF SAURON LASHES OUT!! IMAGE: ELENDIL'S body falls like a crumpled rag doll... IMAGE: ISILDUR cradles the body of his father in his arms. The SHADOW OF SAURON falls over him...

GALADRIEL (V.O.) (CONT'D) It was in this moment..when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's sword.

ISILDUR snatches up the BROKEN BLADE OF NARSIL..The BLADE severs SAURON'S FINGERS... AND THE ONE RING FLIES from his body.

_{^{Fellowship of the Ring: Screenplay}}

Comments

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