Summary
Morgoth set Húrin free, but not out of any kind of kindness. Morgoth sent him to Hithlum with an honor guard, and the remnants of his people shunned him, believing him in league with Morgoth. In bitterness Húrin decided to try to find his way to Gondolin, but he could not. Thorondor saw Húrin, and brought news to Turgon, but Turgon didn’t trust him either and refused to have him brought into Gondolin. After fruitless searching, Húrin cried out in bitterness, which the spies Morgoth had watching him duly reported - thus giving Morgoth his first solid information on the region Gondolin was in. He then went on to Brethil, and by found Morwen slumped by the memorial stone for Túrin and Nienor. She said that he came too late, and they were dead, and Morwen herself died at nightfall.
He then went to the ruins of Nargothrond, and found Mîm there. No one else had dared come to Nargothrond since Glaurang’s death, and Mîm claimed all the treasure there for his own. Húrin killed Mîm and avenged his son, and departed for Doriath. He was admitted with honor by Thingol, but Húrin scorned him, and gave him the Nauglamír he had taken with him from Nargothrond as payment for the keeping of his wife and children. Meilan helped him see that all he thought was twisted by Morgoth’s lies, and Húrin recognizing the truth of this repented his scoren of Thingol. He departed Menegroth, and eventually cast himself into the sea.
The thought came to Thingol that the Nauglamír should be remade to include the Silmaril, with which he had been growing ever more obsessed since it came into his possession. He therefore asked a bunch of Dwarves who were staying in Menegroth if they could do the work. They agreed, and joined these two greatest works of the Elves and Dwarves into one. But when Thingol went to put on the completed necklace, the Dwarves tried to claim it themselves. Thingol responded with scorn, and the Dwarves killed him in fury. They fled Doriath, but most of them were overtaken and killed, and the Nauglamír and Silmaril returned to Melian. But two escaped back to Nogrod, and they told a twisted version of events about how wicked Thingol had cheated and murdered their kin. The Dwarves of Belegost sought to calm things down, but without success, and a great army marched for Doriath.
In Doriath Melian sought long in mourning, before telling Mablung to keep safe the Silmaril and send word to Beren and Lúthien. She departed Middle-earth for Valinor, and the Girdle of Melian faded from around Doriath. The Dwarves were able to reach Menegroth unhindered, and many died on both sides, and the Silmaril was taken.
Down in Ossiriand, Beren and Lúthien had a son, Dior, married to Nimloth, a kinswoman of Celeborn. And they had two sons, Eluréd and Elurín, and a daughter, Elwing. When word came of what had happened, Beren led the Green-Elves against the Dwarves, who were caught between Beren’s forces and the Ents, and utterly destroyed. Beren brought the Nauglamír and Silmaril to Lúthien, who wasn’t comforted, but the necklace, the jewel, and her beauty in grief combined to make their home almost like to Valinor. Dior bade farewell to his grandparents, and went to Menegroth to take up his grandfather’s throne and restore the kingdom.
Not long after, a messenger came to Menegroth from Ossiriand, bearing the Nauglamír and Silmaril, and Dior knew that his parents had died. Dior put on the necklace, and rumor of the presence of the Silmaril spread in Beleriand. The Sons of Fëanor (who hadn’t dared demand anything of Lúthien) send word to Dior to surrender the Silmaril, which he ignored. The Sons of Fëanor then attacked Menegroth by surprise, bringing about the Second Kinslaying. Celegorm, Curufin, and Caranthir died there, as did Dior and Nimloth. Eluréd and Elurín were left to starve in the forest. Maedhros repented of that, and searched hard for them, but was unable to find them. But they did not recover the Silmaril: Elwing escaped, and came with the Silmaril to the mouths of the River Sirion.
Commentary
Man did Húrin ever get a raw deal out of life.
He did some incredible feats of courage and valor. He defies Morgoth for decades. And what does he get for it? To watch helplessly as his children go through all that they went through, and then die; to be scorned by his people; to be reunited with his wife just in time for her to die; and then to be pebble that triggers the avalanche that destroys Doriath. An inherently just world this is not.
Speaking of raw deals in life - something of a general theme in the back half of the Sil - let's talk about Mîm. Mîm's not a good guy. But he's not really a bad one either. He paid his ransom to Túrin faithfully, and accepted Túrin's apologies for the death of his son. He didn't seek revenge against him for it, when he easily could have. Mîm’s people's grievances against the Elves were very real - the Petty Dwarves were the first Dwarves to make it to Beleriand, and the Sindar didn't recognize them as sentient beings and literally hunted them like animals. And then the Noldor show up and kick them out of the caves by the river Narog and don't even seem to notice they've done so.
Now Mîm did betray Túrin, but it was to save his own life rather than from spite. And try to murder Beleg in cold blood. It's not Injustice that Húrin killed him. Many that live deserve death, after all, but Mîm is a tragic character in his own right. The Children of Húrin gives more weight to his character.
Speaking of CoH and giving more weight to characters. At earlier points I've put Morwen in the company of Lúthien and Éowyn and Galadriel and Haleth as the Kick-Ass Women of Tolkien. I'm realizing now how much of that came from CoH, because Morwen isn't much of a character here. Gonna have to give that a reread at some point. (Not like this. I need to be done with leading read alongs).
As for the fall of Doriath, everything comes together in perfect tragedy. Morgoth took extra care to poison Húrin against Thingol and Meilan, and that paid off. I don't think Morgoth had it in mind that Húrin would touch off the sequence of events he did; more I think Morgoth just set him loose to see what would happen. But it played out how it did, and everything is set for the malice of Morgoth and the Doom of Mandos to come together in a whirling vortex of suck. Meilan had warned Thingol about the danger of the Silmarils, and wanting one has already cost him his daughter. Now his obsession with it costs him his life and leads to the downfall of his kingdom.
In case anyone was wondering, this is the event that really set off the feud between the Dwarves and the Elves. The Noldor didn't really have a part in it, but the Sindar did. Celeborn and Thranduil were both Elves of Doriath, which makes Celeborn's welcome of, and Legolas' friendship with, Gimli all the more remarkable.
But while there is, as Gandalf will say thousands of years later, blame on both sides, here the fault is on the Dwarves. They have a decent point about the Nauglamír - it was made specifically for Finrod. Húrin doesn't have much of a claim to it, and the Dwarves demanding it to be returned to them isn't unreasonable. But bringing that up after incorporating the Silmaril into the necklace removes any claim to the moral high ground, as does murdering Thingol. And with Melian's departure and the removal of the Girdle, it's only a matter of time for Doriath.
The Ents show up and smack some Dwarves around. Hi Treebeard! <waves>
There's a moment of hope when Dior takes the throne determined to restore Doriath. That moment lasts a good three seconds.
And then that damned Oath of Fëanor rears its head again. Nice one, Maedhros & company. You are literally the reason we can't have nice things. And throw in a little vindictive murder of innocent children too, why don't you. Cause the Oath totally required you to do that. Maedhros is, once again, not quite a good person. Sure he tried to find Dior’s boys, but he still participated in the attack. No attempt to really talk things out and avoid bloodshed, or, you know, not kill people. At least three of the assholes were killed this time.
Next time, things aren’t really looking up when we read about Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin.
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