Voronwë_the_Faithful wrote:Just reminding people that this thread is still out there.
I'm not inclined to move forward to the Ruin of Doriath quite yet, because I feel that there is still more to say about Túrin (though I don't have anything in particular to say right now).
Yeah, but I do.
Ahem.
The quintessential anti-hero, or Tủrin Turambar:
<There is so much material in this chapter and there is so much to say that I don’t think I can possibly do it all justice in one post. In fact, I am not sure I can do any of it justice and what follows is merely my own take on the story. I do notice, however, that I share some quite similar views with Ath and Voronwë
I think there‘s more to come though.
After all, I can‘t ignore, as Túrin so rashly did, Ulmo‘s warning to destroy the bridge at Nargothrond..>
I read through this chapter one more time realizing that I really, really don’t care for Túrin very much at all …….. I don’t like him and am finding it difficult, almost impossible really, to muster any sympathy for the predicaments in which he invariably finds himself. His almost ‘Feanorian’ characteristics (as Ath says) lack the grandeur of Fëanor himself and are, for me at least, less comprehensible and far less sympathetic. He falls headlong from one crisis into the next and each succeeding one is more horrific than the one before. It’s the difference between the two children --- the Atani are the lesser born and , in Túrin’s age, have not yet been fully touched by Elvish grace. I almost understand the fearful pride that drove Fëanor but Túrin’s pride seems petty and frequently out of place. He does not warrant it and has not deserved to fall back upon it.
On the free will versus fate issue I contend that the ability to freely choose a course of action is only fully allowed for Men. Elves must travel the path to the Long Defeat whether they will or no and, in the broadest sense, the collective theme of their journey has been composed within the music. (You have all heard me expound upon this belief numerous times in the past so I shan’t bore you again
) The reason Men possess free will is in the main because they are not bound to the intrinsic fabric of the Earth in the same way as the Elves, hence ‘the gift of death’ and the fact that they will escape the confines of Morgoth‘s Ring which is, of course, ‘the circles of the world’ and also because it is through the ennoblement of Men with Elven blood that there is even the possibility of the eventual healing of Arda.
All this is to say that it is my belief that Túrin (unlike Fëanor) was the ultimate master of his own fate.
From the beginning we are told that Men think and feel differently: that they are unalike to all other things because they are not bound by the Music.
“
that the hearts of Men should seek beyond the world and should find no rest therein; but they should have a virtue to shape their life, amid the powers and chances of the world beyond the Music of the Ainur, which is as fate to all things else.”
It’s interesting how Tolkien uses both Elf and Man to illustrate the complex mingling of free will and fate and how he uses Light as a metaphor for the spiritual ...... And how each race approaches the journey which will allow them to meet and influence the other. The Elves move eastward -- away from the Light, and Men move westward -- away from the Dark (of Morgoth) and towards that Light which the Calaquendi hold within themselves.
Of the Coming of Men into the West:
“
A darkness lies behind us, said Bëor (when questioned by Finrod) “
and we have turned our backs upon it, and we do not desire to return thither even in thought. Westward our hearts have been turned, and we believe that there we shall find Light.”
I quote this passage for two reasons: to show that the second born, those who awoke to the lesser Light of the Sun and the Moon ( which is but a reflection and a dimishment of Telperion and Laurelin … a Light which carries the trace of poison and is sullied) and who heard no call from the Valar, who were left to their own devices and yet, without knowledge or comprehension, instinctively seek to move towards Light. This intuition (imo) is already innate and was no doubt woven into the theme by Eru.
The other reason is to propose that despite Túrin’s initial need to move toward Light, to do good in the world, the very turbulence of his spirit, compounded and exacerbated by the power of Morgoth’s spite, compels him downward ever deeper in the direction of the Dark -- the very place he wishes not to go and the very place from which there is no escape. Step by step, act by act, thought by thought, he is ensnared by his own machinations . He is truly his own worst enemy.
The tragic tale of Tủrin Turambar turan ambartanen: Master of Doom by Doom mastered is epic in scope with an Oedipal twist that astonished me on first reading.
So eventful that it is downright dizzying and proved impossible to absorb at one sitting. If I may interject a little criticism here .... there is no calm in the story, no contrasts; it is such a bombardment of madness and mishaps that I am inclined to feel numb and therefore less affected by the ending. I feel that I should shudder at the sword's drinking Túrin's blood but instead my primary reaction is..... "Eh, so you got what you deserved!" ..... At every twist and turn his life is beset by unhappy accident, co-incidence and chance .... all of his intentions go awry.
And then there are the titles he takes upon himself:
Neithen, the Wronged.
Gorthol, The Dread Helm.
Agarwaen, Son of Úmarth: Bloodstained Son of Ill Fate.
Mormegil, Black Sword.
Turambar, Master of Doom.
This last is arrogance personified.
So, she rhetorically asks,
what drives this gloomy story all full of darkness and ill choice? Does the finger of providential Doom show itself even here in this tale of this man of extremes?
It does.
Despite freedom of choice there still is Fate at work here.
Túrin is very much the child of his Mother. And, like Fëanor, is bereft of one parent’s softening influence. As is Morwen he is proud, stubborn in the extreme and , in the end, will fall victim to that obdurate pride.
One senses the intrusive hand of fate working through Beleg else why, in spite of Melian’s direct warning does Beleg choose Anglachel? That black sword forged from black iron by the black heart of Eöl, the Dark Elf. Deep within the structure of that sword Melian has seen an evil and the immense sorrow it will bring to all who cross its path.
“
There is malice in this sword. The dark heart of the Smith still dwells in it. It will not love the hand it serves; neither will it abide with you long.”
She sees clearly and yet surprisingly her prophecy holds no terror for Beleg. The Queen of Dorith is discounted and is dismissed in his answer of almost cavalier nonchalance “
Nonetheless, I will wield it while I may.”
He rebuffs her foresight to his peril … for wield it he does ..... to his death …..... and to the eventual death of his great friend, Túrin.
There is also this to consider:
The decision to wear the helm of Hador is a foolish decision and can only have been made for pride and bravado. Dread helm he calls himself ...
Narn I Hin Húrin.
“
It had a visor (after the manner that the Dwarves used in their forges for the shielding of their eyes), and the face of one that wore it struck fear into the hearts of all beholders, but was itself guarded from dart and fire. Upon its crest was set in defiance a gilded image of the head of Glaurung the dragon; for it had been made soon after he first issued from the gates of Morgoth.”
This helm Húrin chose not to wear preferring, as he says, to look upon his enemies with his own eyes. Yet Túrin embraces the feints of the enemy, using a facsimile of Glaurung to intimidate and cause fear. It doesn’t quite approach the gravity of taking up the one Ring in order to defeat Sauron but it does speak to the fact that Túrin has no second thought in employing a device designed to appropriate some small measure of an evil power (the dragon’s hypnotic gaze) … indeed, one wonders if Túrin would become another Boromir were he transplanted to the Third Age. He would want to take the Ring for good and would invariably fall into utter corruption. The way in which I perceive the inner logic and laws of Tolkien’s universe … there is something innately, terribly wrong with using (or wanting to use) any artifact of the dark side …. regardless of any good intent.
As you may be ( or not) aware, I am fond of finding the pivot upon which a particular story turns. Within this tale of Túrin, it’s my belief that wearing the helm of Hador is that pivot. It seems to set in motion all that is to follow and it marks the place where he truly begins to turn dark. Henceforth all of the negatives are enforced and exaggerated and it begins because Túrin could not, or did not, consider the consequences of wearing such a distinctive piece of armor. It leaves him exposed to Morgoth’s gaze. And he is recognized, captured and taken to Angband.
So it begins .....
.
