Tidbits of Curiosity

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Well, G55 asked me, not you, so yeah.

Well, I posed the question to the public in general, and I'm happy to hear all the "what if" spin-offs.

Originally Posted by Urwen

Could Maeglin be considered a hero in any capacity?

If Macbeth can be considered a tragic hero, Maeglin probably can.

The way the story goes, there is not much sympathy for Maeglin after his initial introduction to Gondolin. It's easy to sympathize with him before that point, but afterwards he leans over to the antagonist side: the haughty prince who speaks down to Hurin and Huor, the weirdo who fantasizes about his cousin, the selfish one who can't get his priorities straight. It's hard to conceptualize him as a hero, even if the story was retold in a more sympathetic light, but he is an antihero - the big character who drives the story, though not somebody one would want to follow or emulate.

[Urwen]

Do you believe that Tuor saved Maeglin (and Idril) from worse fate by doing what he did?

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Urwen

Do you believe that Tuor saved Maeglin (and Idril) from worse fate by doing what he did?

Are you referring to him marrying Idril or killing Maeglin? Or something else?

To be honest, I don't think Tuor saved Maeglin. Yes, things might have happened differently if he didn't do this or say that, but on the whole I don't think redirecting events alone qualifies as saving in that sense. Maeglin needed saving from himself, and if anything Tuor made his cloud darker and pushed him to the point of no return. It's possible that, like Grima in the Shire, he might have experienced a time when he would be able to come back again, but he didn't live to see such a time, so we'll never know.

Perhaps I'm not very objective here because I don't like Tuor very much, but I would not credit him with saving Maeglin.

[Urwen]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Are you referring to him marrying Idril or killing Maeglin? Or something else?

To be honest, I don't think Tuor saved Maeglin. Yes, things might have happened differently if he didn't do this or say that, but on the whole I don't think redirecting events alone qualifies as saving in that sense. Maeglin needed saving from himself, and if anything Tuor made his cloud darker and pushed him to the point of no return. It's possible that, like Grima in the Shire, he might have experienced a time when he would be able to come back again, but he didn't live to see such a time, so we'll never know.

Perhaps I'm not very objective here because I don't like Tuor very much, but I would not credit him with saving Maeglin.

I don't mean in that sense. I meant in 'kill the hroa to save the fea' sense.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Urwen

I don't mean in that sense. I meant in 'kill the hroa to save the fea' sense.

That's exactly what I meant. Tuor didn't save Maeglin from Maeglin, he didn't save his soul or his fea. He mighr have saved the hroa from having to do all the things the fea planned, but the fea was there already.

I just wasn't sure which act you were referring to by "what he did".

[Urwen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKo1krB6OJw

[Urwen]

I found it funny that there is no mention of Tuor mistrusting Meglin until Idril brought it up. I think he was whipped.