Curse of Túrin

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Arvegil145

To begin, Narn i-Chîn Húrin is my favorite story that Tolkien wrote.

Mine too. Well, kind of. I can't pick one absolute favourite, but if I really had to COH/Narn would be the one.

Originally Posted by Arvegil

To begin again, I think that Morgoth had no power over Húrin, Túrin, Morwen or Niënor. I think that all their woe stems from their pride - only Ilúvatar had any power over his Children - Elves and Men - their origin comes from Eru Himself - and none other than Eru can change or alter their fate.

In this I beg to differ. There are other instances of curses "coming true". You might say some are coincidental (e.g. Mim's arrow curse), but some just can't be denied (e.g. Isildur's curse). Some are half-prophetic half-curses (e.g. Frodo's exclamation to Gollum on the slopes of Orodruin). You could say, I suppose, that Eru "sanctions" the righteous curses and discards Morgoth's, but I don't think that's the case. For one thing, Eru is not a bureaucratic Human Resources office. For another, there are words that have power beyond the ordinary; Tolkien showed it better than many in the legendarium. Curses have power - real curses, that it. I am not referring to an old Lobelia Sackville-Baggins thinking in her rocking chair, "When will that Bilbo die, curse him!". I mean real curses, curses that require a great deal of willpower and almost feel like the speaker leaves part of himself behind with that curse. If curses really originate from Eru, well, it just cheapens them and their casters. It turns them into empty words.

Specifically in this story, however, I cannot say that Morgoth's curse had no effect whatsoever. He wanted Hurin to suffer by watching his family suffer. Let's suppose he has ultimate power over their fates/lives/actions and over Arda - just let's suppose that for argument's sake. He could cause them anguish by making it rain lava on them one drop at a time. He could put on a Tantalus play and starve them into wraith-hood. He could apply a whole range of exquisite tortures. But what torture could equal the family's downfall at its own hands? Anything that Morgoth would force on this family just makes them more heroic and him more horrifying, but also weaker and less keen at the same time. So, taking my original assumption aside, it's true we can't see Morgoth's direct involvement in the Narn, but that does not necessarily disprove its existence, as Morgoth is too clever and sadistic to use more direct means (even if he had the ability to do so). It's much better to have Hurin take the audience's perspective, see all the dramatic irony, and be unable to even warn his loved ones - especially if they are the ones who choose to make these choices that Hurin knows won't bode them well.

I don't deny, and never have denied, that there is a fair bit of pride and stubbornness involved. However, if you look at each instance from the point of view of Morwen/Turin/Nienor, without the extra background you know as the audience - most of their choices are not meant wrongly, and are definitely made with good intentions. Put yourself in their place and their limited knowledge. Would you be able to choose any better? Some things just genuinely seem to be right. Heck, the last Kings of Arnor chose wrong in the end, and yet they missed their chance that seemed like the worse option at that time, but people can understand that and relate to it. They were even told a prophecy that they should choose the option that seemed less sound! It happens to people, and it's not their fault, because players are not readers and have limited knowledge. It happens to Hin Hurin a bit too often, though. Almost like there is a guiding hand behind each success-that-turns-into-failure. Somehow, we tend to believe that if only Turin stayed in Doriath, or if only Nienor didn't follow Morwen, or if only half the choices in the book were made differently, then their fate would be better. But here's the thing: we don't know that. These if onlies exist to torment the reader just as they are tormenting Hurin. They don't mean that it would necessarily turn out otherwise.

Thus, my conclusion on that point is that we can't prove Morgoth's curse, but neither can we disprove it. No one knows the exact extent of it. I think even Morgoth doesn't know, since he doubts himself several times along the way and fears Turin. I definitely don't think Morgoth's curse was empty words, intended to scare Hurin, but neither does it wholly dominate the story. I think I prefer not to know just how much influence it actually had. I think some things can't be known, and shouldn't be know, and this is one of them.

Originally Posted by Arvegil

HOWEVER - I think that Glaurung WAS MORGOTH HIMSELF - in other words, Morgoth dispersed himself, as in the matter of Arda, to Glaurung himself - and in his irrational malice he used his "avatar" Glaurung, so to speak, to get revenge on Húrin and his offspring.

I'll be honest with you. When I first read that, I thought this belongs more in a sci-fi movie than a Tolkien book. But after thinking it over for a bit, it doesn't seem that out of place. It's not like Morgoth possessed Glaurung or something, but people leave traces of themselves in their work - like in their curses. Perhaps, consciously or by chance, Morgoth put a little more personalized malice into this particular creation (or distortion?). Glaurung does seem more sadistic and horrifying than most other evildoers - but maybe it's just because he's the only one with more than a couple lines of dialogue. I don't know, but I also don't think it's implausible. And Glaurung definitely represents Morgoth's malice, even if he isn't actually physically carrying it in him. So in the end the curse gets Turin - but he gets Morgoth too.

Originally Posted by Arvegil

To my mind, Túrin represents the best and the worst of the humanity - and I think it would be fitting to have Túrin destroy the Evil of humanity once and for all - it would bring a new era of humanity in which Túrin (representation of ALL humanity in one person) would become Tuor or Eärendil (representation of humanity as it SHOULD have been).

Perhaps he stands for all humanity, especially in the final struggle with Glaurung. During his life, though, I think he does not. He seems to want to get away from humanity, to distance himself from it, to run away from people and from himself. He's certainly a contrasting character. I believe Melian even told him once to "beware both the heat and the coldness of your heart" (paraphrased from the Narn). One thing that can be said for him, though, is that he knows what the true evil is. He has a conscience, which is more than can be said about certain others, but he is also driven by his fight against Morgoth. It's possible that this passion, being so great to match such a great foe, in part blinded him to the importance of smaller acts. He was so caught up in the grandiose that he missed many a chance of goodness. But that doesn't make his cause less noble just his sight too focused on his goal to see wider.



I had another thought, in response to Inzil's last sentence, but I wrote way more than I intended to and it's getting late. Basically, I was gonna say that Turin is a person, or maybe character, of a certain mold of tragic heroes. They are people who are hard to love personally, but hard not to follow. They are charismatic but impersonal, or cold, or like Turin with whatever social/ethical flaws you choose to name. I just finished reading Les Mis, so I had the urge to write another several paragraphs comparing Turin to Enjolras, but looking at the clock I will refrain from doing so and limit myself to noting that these two are of the same mold or prototype, just Enjolras's "mischoices" are shown in a much less negative light than Turin's while his charisma is more emphasized. If there is enough interest in this, I might start a thread of character comparisons.

Good night, and aure entuluva!