Quote:
Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli
Arrrgghhhhh! How many times does it have to be repeated? Tolkien never, ever, said that! Not once in any authentic writing did he suggest that Hurin was met with pity or healing. Indeed, in the original Tale and again in the Qenta Noldorinwa, the only narratives written, Thingol treats him with scorn and contempt. In the last version of the incident Tolkien himself ever wrote, the Later Annals of Beleriand, "Hurin brought the gold to Thingol in Doriath, but he departed thence again with bitter words." And if you think Tolkien's view of his character mellowed over time, you'd be dead wrong- this is where The Wanderings of Hurin (ca. 1960) are important. Hurin there is a bitter, vengeful old man, watching with sardonic amusement the fratricidal bloodbath he precipitated in Brethil. If he enjoyed the destruction of the House of Haleth, how much more must he have wished harm on Thingol!
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I'm aware that there are those who believe that
Of the Ruin of Doriath doesn't have a legitimate place within the Tolkien canon. However, whatever handwringing and agonising that Christopher may have done post 1977 he has never sought to revise the tale and at this point it is unlikely that he will do so. So what are we left with? Am I to understand that I
cannot discuss a view of Doriath's destruction presented in a thirty year old work edited by Tolkien's literary executor?