Titus Turambar: Tragic Tales

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Of course he did, and I find it hard to fault him for it. He was a natural born leader of the kind that leads from the front and felt it his duty to risk his own life and happiness to protect those who depended on him. When people act like they feel they must and thereby become guilty and doom themselves, that's when true tragedy happens.

I think you're right here. I always questioned weather Turin ever really desired to settled down at all. I suspect that had he survived Glaurung and Niniel had lived he would still have gone out again and again to war. That's the pattern of his behaviour. Again, he has a compassionate side, but also a violent one. It is the loss of this side of him that often seems the most tragic. Knowing that there was something else in him beyond the warrior.

The same is true of Steerpike, to reiterate my original comparison . He is vindictive and violent, like Turin, but he too has a gentle side. For most of the story it seems that his affection for Fuchsia seems nothing but a mask to get him the power he wants. But when she finally rejects him there is a real sense of sadness from him and loss. Indeed, it is this emotional whack that, I thought, sent him over the edge.

I'm also reminded of the times during the CoH where, as a young boy, Turin was given the figures of animals and men by Sador but would rather listen to the tales of battle.

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

If Turin had no curse, it is difficult to say how he would turn out. Would he still die young and tortured? Perhaps not. As that saying goes Actions speak louder than words, Morgoth's curse was just words, yes they did go into effect at some point (when this was is unclear) but Turin's actions ultimately led to his downfall, I think.

Hard to say. One gets the impression he had been 'beyond the reach' of the curse at times. Indeed, he as even been on the verge of escaping it yet has often run right into it at the moment freedom was within his grasp. But if Morgoth's curse had such a hold on him to lead him to doom, one often wonders what might have happened if it had not been so. Could he have become a great leader of the armies of Doriath and fought in an assault on Angband? I don't know, his character may have always driven him away from the places he was most welcome and loved. Poor bloke.