Silmarillion - Chapter 21 - Of Túrin Turambar

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Count me in with the people who don't have a great deal of sympathy for Túrin.

Count me out.

He is like a noble version of Gollum. We pity that wretched creature, with Slinker pulling on one side of his mind and Stinker on another. But Turin is, in a way, quite similar. He doesn't wear a loincloth and isn't skin-and-bones and doesn't feed on raw fishes. And he doesn't have the Ring gnawing at him. But he has other things, like the curse. And the greatest similarity is how they both carry guilt in their concience; they remember things that they are trying to forget.

[Edit to clarify: It's easy to judge Gollum by his appearance, and decide on either "wretched" or "disgusting", or both. It is harder to understand, and judge, him by what goes on in his mind. There's a Gollum and a Smeagol playing tug-of-war with his being. In Turin's case, he has so many more factors doing multy-way tug-of-war, which makes it so much more bitter for him to - once again - have chosen the wrong string.]

Túrin possibly could have found it in himself to devote his life to righting wrongs, both those he himself had caused, and those he had no part in. Would that not have been a better penance than simply killing himself and giving Morgoth his full triumph?

Ah, but he tried that, didn't he? He was trying to be as much of a threat to Morgoth as he could, and he tried to "make it right this time". But he always failed, time and again, whether it was by power of the curse or his own actions. I think that when he died, everyone was relieved. He said himself that he casts a shadow wherever he goes, but, sadly, his solution is not to distance himself from others to avoid helping Morgoth, but rather to assume a fake identity.

And that made me think of an interesting thing. In Nargothrond and in Brethil the people knew who he really was, but they kept quiet about it. Was it just because they respected Turin, or maybe were afraid of his anger?

So many places where Túrin could have turned away and made the curse more problematic for Morgoth, and yet he played right into Morgoth's hands. That, to me, is the real tragedy of the story.

Maybe tragedy, but I think irony fits better. The story is full of it. Both dramatic and situational irony.