We do not desire the power of wizard-lords, only strength to defend ourselves, strength in a just cause... What could not a warrior do in this hour, a great leader? What could not Aragorn do?. [then only at this point] Or if he refuses, why not Boromir?

"...frightful evil can and does arise from an apparently good root: the desire to benefit the world and others - speedily and according to the benefactor's own plans - is a recurrent motive."

JRR Tolkien, in a 1951 letter to Milton Waldman, an editor, (about the potential publication of what was to become The Silmarillion).

On the other hand, Ulmo used his power in Sirion to protect Huor and Hurin when they were lost as boys. He did nothing here to save Isildur when he had swum to safety. But I think overall, he's just not involved in the 3rd Age. We're lucky the Eagles still are.

That got me thinking that Boromir came closest to succumbing to the Ring's temptation after their extended trip down the Anduin. Nothing purifying about Ulmo's waters in that case, is there? What a shame. But then somehow Boromir's funeral ship is preserved in the great falls AND Faramir is summoned by a dream to the Anduin to watch it go past on its journey to the sea. That took magical intervention of some kind; I'd give some credit to the boat of Lorien, but the vision by a river during sleep has Ulmo written all over it, doesn't it?

I'm not sure how much Tolkien intended Ulmo's fingerprints to appear in LOTR, and how much he just thought that supernatural things were at work. But since many of us are Ulmo fans, it's nice to give him credit even when he may not deserve it.

Isildur was not the only Great One to require water to separate himself from the Ring. Elrond saw the Ring go South from behind the bridge and behind the Ford (and also there in the very protective watery conditions of Rivendell the Ring was revealed at the Council). Gandalf (by sheer luck, perhaps) took a deep dive into the oblivion of the waters at the depths of Moria and had to focus for escape on the Balrog (whose flame was conveniently, for Gandalf, quenched until he "burst into new flame" at Durin's Tower). Galadriel chose the Tongue as the place to see the Ring away. Aragorn chose Parth Galen as the place to break the Fellowship (and that proved a good choice because there he himself and Legolas and Gimli had to accept that the Ring was gone and focus on the Three Hunter's chase). The Ring was revealed to Faramir beside the protective waters of the Henneth Annūn (because he wasn't allowed to meet it at Rivendell as the prophetic dream required). All this compounds on the hardship endured by Frodo who had to carry the Ring through the unbearable thirst of Gorgoroth and try to destroy it inside Orodruin, surrounded by flames and molten lava.

PS: Based on a myriad of great and small details I believe the member of the Fellowship specifically chosen by Ulmo was Meriadoc.

I can roll with the idea of Ulmo's hand in the mix very easily! One of many masterful moves against Morgoth and is legacy. That line about other powers in LOTR does I think give us the license to incorporate it... And your point about Faramir's visions and the boat are lovely to think on.

Nonetheless Ulmo loves both Elves and Men, and never abandoned them, not even when they lay under the wrath of the Valar ... For all seas, lakes, rivers, fountains and springs are in his government; so that the Elves say that the spirit of Ulmo runs in all the veins of the world. Thus news comes to Ulmo, even in the deeps, of all the needs and griefs of Arda, which otherwise would be hidden from Manwe

And thus it was by the power of Ulmo that even under the darkness of Melkor life coursed still through many secret lodes, and the Earth did not die; and to all who were lost in that darkness or wandered far from the light of the Valar the ear of Ulmo was ever open; nor has he ever forsaken Middle-earth, and whatsoever may since have befallen of ruin or of change he has not ceased to take thought for it, and will not until the end of days.

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It sounds to me that Ulmo very much kept up with what was going on in Middle-earth, and it would be possible for him known about the Halflings, Isildur's Bane, etc. His prescence could perhaps be found in every form of water in Middle-earth - snow, oceans, rivers, pools and even fog (*rushes off to change conclusion of my fog essay*).

Thank you. I am in awe of all of you and the delightful expositions. Reading them here in the laundry room on my new android smart phone. But more discussion on elrond. Why didn't he take more decisive action with isildur at mt doom?

"There was little else that I could do. I could not take it from him without doing greater harm; and I had no right to do so anyway." - LotR I.2

I think that is Tolkien's answer, in a nutshell, to the question of why the Elves didn't have Isildur and the Ring thrown on the barbie.

In the movie prologue, they are alone in a chamber with access to Mount Doom's lava. One 'careless' shove…

But that's one visualization: they might have been on the battlefield, and if so there might have been a risk of it coming to blows, and then the Last Alliance quickly descending into the Last Battle.

It's Elrond and Cirdans inactivity afterwards which now seems odd…

Isildur was no Gollum, to oblige the Free Peoples by overstepping and falling into the abyss (and unlike the movie-version, there is no reason to suppose he was near). So Elrond and Cirdan would corrupt Vilya and Narya to kill him - the ultimate victory of Sauron, I think!
To say nothing of their being unable to let the One Ring go. After such a deed, they would fight each other for its possession.