Looking back at Tolkien's Children of Hurin

Tolkien is being lionized for his diamond sparkling fantasy tales for quite some decades now. While going through the Lord of the Rings we have seen Aragorn told the hobbits the tale of Beren and Lúthien, but of Húrin and his son Turin no reference is seen or heard. This mythical fiction like the other ones is more intense than it seems to be at the first glance. This is a long tale, covering the entire life of the protagonist Turin, the son of Húrin, about 36 years with meticulous novelistic descriptions and conversations, but it also skims over a great deal in summary. Moreover this particular tale of the Middle Earth is infinitely more darker than “The Lord of the Rings”.in fact it can be easily called one of the best modern fantastic sagas. It has no solace at the climax rather the tale brings forward a horrific end of the protagonist. This manner of fatalistic writing is seen in the Greek tragedies of the old like Sophocles.

The story opens primarily with Húrin & Huor’s visit to the secret Elvish city of Gondolin, where they stayed for years and came back only after promising to keep the location secret within them. Then came The Battle of Unnumbered Tears where Huor died and Húrin, the steadfast was taken captive by Morgoth. Being denied to lay down the secret location of the kingdom of Gondolin, Morgoth in a frame of bone-chilling cruelty - binds Húrin and makes him watch all the sorrow that will mount up on his wife and children.

From here begins the troublous & tragic journey of Turin Turambar ‘the Master of Doom’.  At first he has to leave his mother and unborn sister take refuge in Doriath under King Thingol. There he not only grew stronger and skilled but also fought quite a few battles alongside the Elves. As Tolkien described “scarcely out of his boyhood… he was ever forward in his deeds of daring, and he received many wounds by spear or arrow or the crooked blades of the Orcs.” Throughout the story it seems insurmountable that any can defeat him in a fair battle and fair is not the way of the treacherous Dark Lord, Morgoth who’s the disciple Sauron we saw in the Lord of the Rings.

But before the Glaurung treacherous servant of Morgoth came across Turin the valiant had to face his troublesome fate when at first Saeros’s death led him to his self-acclaimed banishment & then after being freed from the Orcs by mistake he ran his sword through the heart of his beloved friend and guide Beleg, a great archer of Doriath in the darkness of the night.

He seemed to lose all that he ever loved. The last being his sister Nienor who came forward at first as an unknown fair maiden who knew nothing about her past due to the enchantments of Glaurung. Turin called her as Niniel and later married her not knowing what their real relationship is. Turin though brings an end to the exploits of Glaurung, the father of dragons but before the worm of Morgoth gives its last sting by telling the deadly truth to Nienor who threw herself in the cold waters of Teiglin. Turin realizing the turn events puts an end to his tormented life with his own blade. The best thing about the book is its continuously thrilling action though with every page one can realize that sooner or later there will be a tragic end. Turin was foolish, proud and thought too much about honor but he was valiant, generous and kind-hearted. Even his worst enemy Glaurung cannot but say “At least you are valiant. Beyond all whom I have met”.

I can’t stop myself from saying some words to the protagonist, Turin.

Turin, O Turin

Why didn’t you ever listen?

To counsel of those that love you most

The elves were right, so the dragon was

O you foolhardy boy

What you want to prove?

By running errands in the woods,

O you valiant heart, O you gentle naïve

Why can’t you ever comprehend?

That you brought Morgoth’s wrath to all

Many died loving you, many for your folly

But who can blame for what you did?

Is it not fair to say?

That tragedy is the story of thy life.

(Picture taken from Internet)