I haven’t read every single book or story from Tolkien, but I have read quite a few. If I had to rank my favorites, it would be The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. I genuinely love that book so much. It’s written vastly different from the first two, but I love the stories and the history of Middle Earth.
But if I were to choose which story was the wildest of Tolkien’s mythology (of those I have read), it would absolutely be The Children of Húrin. While the story is told in The Silmarillion, spending a whole book shows how wild it really is! After reading the book for the first time, my first thought was “I wonder what Tollers was going through when he wrote this…”
If you don’t know the story and don’t want any spoilers, then please stop reading now.
We start the story with the Dark Lord Morgoth cursing Húrin. And one of the worst kinds of curses - cursed to watch his children suffer as he was held by Morgoth. And suffer they did.
The story is full of tragedy and is depressing. Here are a couple “highlights.” Part of the curse caused Húrin’s children to forget people in their lives and where they were from. This led to things like Túrin accidently killing his best friend Beleg, later in the story Niënor (Húrin’s daughter/Túrin’s sister) and Túrin don’t recognize each other and get married. Only when the dragon Glaurung comes to town and mortally wounds Túrin, does he let them know who they are to each other. Both are obviously horrified. Niënor ends up taking her own life (she was also pregnant) and Turin begs his sword to finish what Glaurung’s wound started.
After both have died, Morgoth deems that punishment enough and releases Húrin. Does he find any sort of happiness? Nope. He is able to find his wife when they meet at Túrin’s grave, but then she dies in his arms.
Like I said, depressing. But while it was very different, I still kinda liked it. It evoked lots of emotion and it expanded the Middle Earth universe in a different kind of way. Tolkien knew how to write a story that would draw you in and this one most definitely did (you know, after the first few chapters of Tolkien getting into the details of Middle Earth), even with the tragic ending.
I can say that because, even in the tragic tales, Tolkien gives the reader people to root for.
Like Beleg. He was such a true true friend! Like Samwise. He was probably my favorite of the book, so of course he dies. "Thus ended Beleg's Strongbow, truest of friends, greatest in skill of all that harboured in the woods of Beleriand in the Elder Days, at the hands of him whom he most loved; and the grief was graven on the face of Túrin and never faded."
I love the way Tolkien writes about friendship. Such a strong and amazing display, even in a tale of constant woe. I’m just glad he didn’t take this route in LOTR. I would have never recovered if Samwise died.
Poor Niënor. I felt bad for her. When she finally arrived in the story grown up, I thought her fate would be like Éowyn or Arwen, but no. If only she would have stayed.
Overall I wasn't a huge fan of Túrin. While he was cursed, his arrogance and pride played quite the role too. He is no Aragorn (who is?), but an interesting character. He’s summed up rather well here "...he learned to speak early and was slow to forget injustice or mockery; but the fire of his father was also in him, and he could be sudden and fierce. Yet he was quick to pity, and the hurts or sadness of living things might move him to tears..."
I also enjoyed reading about the different villains. There’s Morgoth of course (although you get much more of him in The Silmarillion). But also Glaurung the Dragon, who thrives off of chaos and darkness as this quote so eloquently shows: "The neighing of the horses and the cries of the riders came to the ears of Glaurung; and he was well pleased." He thrived off of destroying humanity. It’s also humorous to think that Smaug would look like a little lizard compared to Glaurung.
The more I read Tolkien and his tales of battles, the more I see how his WWI experience influenced his writings. I cannot fathom the horrors of surviving battle, but Tolkien's tales pay homage to the brotherhood that forms in battle.
I don’t have any deep life lessons to share from this one, just an appreciation for the variety that Tolkien brings to the fantasy world!
I’ll end with this quote, as it seems so fitting for this tale: "To Brethil they brought their dark doom's shadow. Here their doom has fallen, and of grief this land shall never again be free."
Why do you think Tolkien wanted this type of lore in Middle Earth’s history? What’s one of your favorite Tolkien stories? What’s one that wasn’t what you expected?
© 2023 Jamie Lapeyrolerie
Is there a recommended Tolkien reading order?
The Children of Húrin is such an interesting part of Tolkien's legendarium! It's as if he took a look at Greek tragedy and said "Oh yeah? Watch this" haha. Very, very depressing but also fascinating and a definite glimpse into just how big of a bad Morgoth really was.