Sympathy for the Devil?

[Boromir88]

yes but did he know that he would perish if the ring did? perhaps he thought that power was destroyed but he remained~Morsul

Another interesting question...

When Sauron was beaten, and the Ring cut from his finger by Isildur, I think there were a couple reasons why Elrond et all didn't force Isildur to destroy the Ring.

First, it's Isildur, Elrond and Cirdan were really not in a position to force him to do anything with the Ring. Isildur had claimed it as payment for the death of his father and brother (an arguably legal claim).

But also, no one expected Sauron to be able to rebuild. I believe they just suggested for Isildur to destroy it because it would sort of "cleanse" the world from Sauron's evil. But, it isn't figured out until...well the Council of Elrond that the only way to prevent Sauron from reforming again would be to destroy the Ring.

What's also interesting is in the Appendix, In the TA 2060 it is feared by the wise that Sauron is reforming. However, he does not start trying to start gathering news about Isildur and the Ring until 2850. I don't think this is mere laziness by Sauron, yes he retreats int the East for a while, but he had went to Dol Guldur by 2460. Perhaps Sauron believed the Ring was destroyed? But after finding out about Isildur's death near Gladden fields he figured out the Ring was not destroyed and began searching.