What would they do?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Findegil

I share the doubts about Galadriel, but I think that anybody should be doubted in that situation. It is easy to advice Isildur to destrory the One Ring. But it is much harder to do it yourself. I think Tolkien made clear in his letters that no body could have willingly destroyed the Ring out of his free will.

At the time Isildur stood in a position to destroy the Ring, it was at its maximum potency, having just been taken from its master's hand. I do not think it would have been possible for any of those present to have willfully harmed it. Now if Elrond had simply knocked out Isildur and thrown him into the Sammath Naur with the Ring, that's a crisis averted.

If the Keepers of the Three had let some time pass, allowing Sauron's influence to lessen, it might have been more of a possibility to gather the will to destroy the Ring, but then it would have been able to gnaw at the reason of whomever guarded it over time. So maybe it was for the best after all that the Ring was lost to the Wise after Isildur's fall.