Of Túrin Turambar
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Comments 14
That said, Turin's own flaws lay him wide open to Morgoth's curse--and his strengths, also...
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Anyway, I don't think Túrin fully understood that the curse wasn't upon "Túrin son of Húrin, resident of Doriath", but upon "the seed of Húrin", i.e., going by genetics (which he couldn't well change) rather than a mere name or location!
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Anyway, I don't think Túrin fully understood that the curse wasn't upon "Túrin son of Húrin, resident of Doriath", but upon "the seed of Húrin", i.e., going by genetics (which he couldn't well change) rather than a mere name or location!
Thinking about it, I'm not sure anyone understood that it was on Húrin's family rather than on Túrin himself until all the facts were collected and Túrin and Nienor were dead. Morgoth targeting one person clearly isn't out of the realm of possibilty, which makes me wonder if it happened to anyone else.
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4 Excellent point about the Beren thing. Gwindor actually says as much when talking to Finduilas. And in Doriath, too, Thingol's guilt over how he treated Beren made Thingol accept Túrin into his house... so it makes sense that would work in Nargothrond, too. (Not to mention Húrin's heroic stand in the Nirnaeth, of course!)
5 Not sure Glaurung would have that freedom, though, being so firmly tied to Morgoth! Normal Men might not know too much about Mandos, but Túrin is almost a Sinda by education, so he'd probably know as much (or little?) as Melian lets her people know...
6 The Silmarils seem to make anyone act silly, so Thingol probably didn't need the help of Eöl's spirit. Besides, was Aranrúth made by Eöl at all? I remember Anglachel and Anguirel, but I cannot honestly remember who (and when) made Aranrúth!
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You are right, I was thinking of Anguirel and got the names mixed up. But I do wonder how many of Turin's bad decisions were enabled by Anglachel's personality (it clearly had one, and not a very nice one either). One thinks of Elric and Stormbringer.
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Excellent point about the Nirnaeth, and that Orodreth may have felt guilty about not taking part, thus making him open to Túrin's "heroics"!
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I haven't even managed to read Children of Hurin all in one go--since it is essentially all material that I had read at some point or other in HoME already, just all packed together. I've erratically skipped back and forth in it instead.
Which is why I missed that bit about Gwindor's lost hand suddenly having become canonical, until I saw a discussion of it.
I thought it was one of Tolkien's less good ideas myself--I have difficulty believing he would manage to survive in that state until he met Beleg and afterwards he has to take care of Turin as well--but other people seem to think it is an acknowledgement of Gwindor's heroic status, because it puts him on a par with Maedhros and Beren.
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I actually enjoy CoH more than the corresponding Silm chapter. I think because it's taking more time to tell the story, you also have more time to understand the characters, while the Silm chapter basically reads like a list of Stupid Guy Doing Stupid Things. ;)
I have to admit that I'm not a fan of Gwindor's lost hand either, not even because of any reality concerns, but because seriously, he's the third guy with exactly that happening? Sort of reads like a hand is the standard price for a ticket outta Angband. Well, at least they're not charging a hand and a foot... If he'd lost an eye, or a couple of toes to frostbite, or had a limp because of a badly healed broken leg... fine. But yet another hand? :P
OK, so how about this one: Maedhros, Beren and Gwindor walk into a Second Hand-Shop...
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