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The Children of Hurin
by J.R.R. Tolkien



More information on the radar plot criteria

This radar plot is meant to give a graphical representation of the book in question. For a better idea of what each spoke means, see the table below. Also, keep in mind that higher numbers are not necessarily better. Depending on your taste, a 0 may be just as appealing as a 10 (or a 5, etc) in a particular category. (Click to close)


Category 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Maturity 18+ 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8
Violence Excessive Violence Violent acts (no blood-gore) No Violence
Action Constant Action Even mix of action-drama No Action
Epic Lord of the Rings Epic Large scope, less detailed Limited scope
World Completely unique Half real/half unique Set in our world
Realism Focus outside the realm of accepted science Focus evenly split between explainable-unexplainable Nothing unexplainable - not the focus
Modernity Present Day (or beyond) 1980-1999 1960-1979 1930-1959 1870-1929 1800-1869 1700-1799 1400-1699 200-1399 (1000)-199 Ancient
Humor Laugh out loud throughout Funny (but not primary focus) Intentionally not funny

As a child Turin was like his mother, Morwen, somber and quiet, but strong-willed. Turin’s sister Urwen (Lalaith) dies at a young age due to a plague that swept through the region. While only 8 years old, his father Hurin went to fight in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears where he was captured by Morgoth and taken back to Angband. As a result of his unwillingness to reveal the location of Gondolin (the hidden elf city) to Morgoth, Hurin and his children are cursed and he is kept alive to watch the realization of his children’s dooms.


When Hurin fails to return from the battle, Morwen send Turin off to live with the elves in Doriath in order to keep him safe. Thingol, the king there, adopts Turin as his own son. Morwen remains in Dor-Lomin because she is pregnant, and soon gives birth to a daughter, Nienor. Turin grew strong in Doriath, and soon went out to battle orcs at the front lines where he befriended an elf named Beleg. Upon returning to Doriath one time, he has an argument with an elf. Later, the elf attacks Turin, but he is bested and Turin forces him to run naked through the woods. While attempting to jump a ravine, the elf slips and dies. Turin, fearing what will happen to him and too proud to tell how the elf attacked him first, flees Doriath. Thingol, however, learns the whole story (from an elf who loved Turin and watched over him). Pardoning Turin, Thingol send Beleg after him to share the news of his pardon and welcome in Doriath.


At this time Turin joins a band of outlaws, and eventually becomes their leader, hoping to use them to raise a force to battle the orcs. He leads them out of Dor-Lomin and into the south where they find a petty-dwarf named Mim who provides them with shelter. After years of searching, Beleg eventually finds Turin and he joins him for a time. Mim, out of hatred for the elf, betrays their location to the orcs who attack and capture Turin. Beleg, wounded, follows soon after him. Finding an elf released from Angband, they free Turin from the orcs. Turin, however, waking suddenly in the dark and believing he is being assailed by orcs, strikes out and kills his friend Beleg. Grief striken, Turin is lead to Nargothrond by the freed elf.


In Nargothrond Turin rises again in stature, and falls in love with an elf-maiden named Finduilas over a period of five years. Morgoth, however, sends orcs and the dragon Glaurung to do battle against the elves. Glaurung succeeds in routing Nargothrond and his orcs capture many elves, including Finduilas. Glaurung lies to Turin, however, saying his family in Dor-Lomin is about to be murdered if he does not go there quickly. He does, but upon returning to his home, he learns that Morwen and Nienor had already gone to Doriath. Realizing the deception, he now sets off to find Finduilas. Unfortunately, the orcs had been waylaid in Brethil, and had killed all their captives. Thus Turin, believing Nienor and Morwen to be safe, settles in Brethil.


Morwen and Nienor, however, do not remain content in Doriath and so they set out with a group of elves to discover what happened in Nargothrond. Upon arriving, Glaurung causes the group to be separated and he finds Nienor. Dominated by his evil power, Nienor is rendered mute and she is guided back towards Doriath by an elf Mablung. Morwen, however, disappears and is not seen again. During the return trip, Nienor suddenly runs off, stripping her clothes and fleeing madly. Mablung is unable to catch her, and she eventually finds herself in Brethil, lying upon the grave of Finduilas. Turin finds her there, and brings her back to his home. Upon waking, she weeps and is unable to remember anything of her past so they name her Niniel, Maid of Tears.


Over time, Niniel and Turin fall in love and are married. Glaurung then leaves Nargothrond to come upon Brethil. Niniel is, at this time, now pregnant. Turin devises a scheme to hide in a ravine that Glaurung must cross to get to Brethil and kill him as he passes over. His plan works, but he is wounded by the dragon’s blood and he faints. Niniel, unwilling to wait behind, follows to see the fate of Turin. She finds Turin fainted and assumes he is dead. The dragon wakes, and in his death throws, reveals to her the truth of her past. Her memories return and Nienor calls out to Turin: ‘Farewell, O twice beloved! [M]aster of doom by doom mastered! O happy to be dead!’ She then throws herself into the ravine and dies.


Turin soon wakes, and learns of all that his happened. Distraught, he asks his sword if it will take his life, and it agrees to. Thus, Turin throws himself upon his sword and he dies as well. Having finally accomplished all he wished, Morgoth releases Hurin, who eventually comes upon the graves of his children. There, he spies a woman – his wife Morwen. She asks what happened to them, but Hurin will not tell her and she passes away in the night. The book closes with this scene of Hurin with his wife as she dies upon the grave site of her doomed children.




I’ve had Children of Hurin for over a year now, but was always afraid to actually read it. For some reason, I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the other “first age of Middle-earth” books I read in college. I’m not sure why, exactly, but I thought I might have moved on from my love of the more obscure Tolkien literature and would find this dull. Fortunately, these fears were entirely uncalled for. The book was, from beginning to end, excellent. I’m not sure if it says something about me, as a person, or if Tolkien is simply an excellent author, but his sense of scale and grandeur with the destiny of characters is unmatched. I am drawn to books that deal with fate in general, but Tolkien’s books capture my imagination far more completely than anything else.


In spite of a subject material that is extremely sad, Children of Hurin did not leave me mired in depression. Instead, it left me with a clear sense of “this is what happens when you allow pride to cloud your judgment, and when you refuse to listen to the council of others”. Though Morgoth is certainly powerful, and was the cause of much of Turin’s suffering, it seems clear that were Turin more patient, more humble, and more willing to listen to others the vast majority of his suffering could have been avoided. His life may have still been difficult, and he may have suffered a different doom, but I doubt that he would have murdered his best friend or unknowingly married his sister.


In this database, I will often attempt to analyze or explain what I think a book, or a portion of a book meant. With this work, however, there is little to explain. It is straightforward in its lesson to us – pride of the level of Turin’s is a bad thing. It can be used to bring ruin to you and those who love you. What makes the book so interesting, and worth reading, however is the level of scale to which Tolkien takes it. Turin does not simply murder his best friend, or cause some hardship for himself and his family (which he does). Instead, he brings ruin to entire groups of people not just once, but three separate times (his band of outlaws and the petty-dwarves, the elves of Nargothrond, and the men of Brethil). No one else tells a story the way Tolkien does – there is no need for fancy literary devices, he just tells us a story and that story is so real, and so interesting that it carries itself along. More than anyone else, it really seems like Tolkien was just relaying a history of events that happened, rather than inventing a story.


Finally, I would like to mention that the appendix that Christopher Tolkien puts together here was particularly interesting. In it, he goes into detail about how this book came to be in its current form. After all, his father had not completed it as we see it. However, we learn that none of the events were fabricated – instead Christopher had pieced them all together from various writings, revisions, and versions of the same story. It is not worth recapping everything he went through here (it’s a very short read) but it offered an interesting insight both into how Tolkien wrote, as well as how this “unfinished” story came to be in an apparently complete edition.




“Let the unseen days be. Today is more than enough” (74).



13 - Frequent fighting and battles



Yes


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