An Overview of The Silmarillion: Part Five
Note: This is the fifth part in a series of essays summarizing J.R.R. Tolkien's greatest literary work. See Part Four for links to all the earlier essays.
Characters, places, or events previously discussed will not be provided
with reference links. See the prior posts for those.
The legend of Beren and Luthien inspires Man and Elf alike. It motivates Maedhros, eldest son of Fëanor, to attempt a union with other Elves and with Men to attack Morgoth. But the Union of Maedhros is weak, Nargothrond and Doriath choose not to participate, and it contains many Easterlings, Swarthy Men.
In a surprise, Turgon appears with 10,000 warriors from the hidden city of Gondolin. They arrive just in time as Fingon’s Elves attack Angband, before Maedhros is ready. Fingon and Turgon manage to drive the Orcs back to the Gate of Angband.
There, on the fourth day of the Elven attack, Morgoth unleashes an army far surpassing anything expected. This is the fifth great battle of Beleriand, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (Nirnaeth Arnoediad). Fingon and Turgon are driven back from Angband. They might have been obliterated except for the heroic stand of Haldir, leading a force of Men, who is killed along with rest of the rearguard.
Maedhros finally arrives on the field and joins in the fight. Then Angband empties even more only this time it is not Orcs. Wolves, Wolfriders, Balrogs, Glaurung and, for the first time, other dragons all pour onto the battlefield in a war spectacle unequaled thus far in the story.
As Maedhros’ force fights it is supported by solid Men warriors under the Easterling Bór. But a larger contingent under Ulfang betrays the Elves. Secretly in league with Morgoth, they attack Maedhros as well. After Bór is slain, his sons attempt to defend the Elves by counterattacking Ulfang but even more Easterlings arrive as reinforcements. Most of the Elfish force (but not Maedhros) and the Men of Bór are wiped out.
Dwarves, the Naugrim, also ally themselves with the Elves. They kill their share of Orcs and then make a stand against Glaurung. Azaghâl, Lord of Belegost, is slain, but not before he drives a knife into Glaurung and the dragon flees the battlefield.
Similarly, Fingon meets his death while battling Gothmog and another Balrog. Meanwhile, Turgon's force fights Orcs who outnumber them 3 to 1. In a second heroic last stand made by Men for Elves, Húrin and Huor, the only Men to have ever seen Gondolin, tell Turgon they will serve as his rearguard so he can secretly escape back to Gondolin. These Men are the rulers of Dor-lomin, the first fiefdom given to Men by Elves. Huor is slain the next day in massive Orc wave attacks. All the Men are killed but for Húrin, the greatest warrior among Men, who is taken captive by Morgoth.
The Nirnaeth Arnoediad is Morgoth’s greatest military victory. It is decisive, giving Morgoth control of almost all of Middle-earth outside of Doriath, Gondolin, and Nargothrond. Many great Elves and Men are killed in it. Morgoth’s aggression reaches farther south than ever before. Fingon’s son, Gil-galad, is forced to sail off the coast of Middle-earth to the Isle of Balar to elude the Black Lord’s grasp.
But as incredible as this battle is, Tolkien is actually just setting the context for his most complex and sorrowful tale in The Silmarillion. Morgoth places Húrin “in a chair of stone upon a high place of Thangorodrim” and sets ”a doom” upon Húrin’s children. Morgoth commands that Húrin shall have the Dark Lord’s eyes and ears in order to witness fully the evil and despair that are about to unfold.
Apparently, Húrin and his wife, Morwen, conceived a child just before the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. After the battle, with Easterlings pillaging villages and enslaving children throughout the lands of Men, a pregnant Morwen sends their 8-year-old son, Túrin, away to Doriath “to beg King Thingol to harbor him, for Beren son of Barahir was her father’s kinsman, and he had been moreover a friend of Húrin, ere evil befell.”
Thingol’s attitude toward Men has changed and he fosters Túrin, who grows to become a skilled warrior, often fighting alongside Beleg Cuthalion, Doriath’s greatest bowman. But a counselor of Thingol begrudges Túrin for being fostered and insults him. Túrin is prideful and ultimately this leads to the death of the counselor. (This is the first of a multitude of minor characters in this story who facilitate the narrative and then die. For the sake of brevity, I will skip over most of them.) Túrin, fearing Thingol’s judgment, leaves Doriath and joins a band of outlaws.
When Thingol sends Beleg in search of Túrin with word of pardon, Túrin refuses the pardon “in the pride of his heart.” Beleg returns to Thingol’s fortress city, Menegroth, only to be sent back out by a perplexed Thingol to guard his fosterson. Beleg chooses Anglachel, a sword made of a meteorite, to take with him. But Melian foretells that there is “malice in this sword.” Again, being a Maiar, she can see that harm will come but she does not know exactly what will transpire.
To aid Beleg, she offers him lembas, “the waybread of Elves” to use as needed and to share with Túrin. Never before have Men been allowed to use this special Elven bread, the giving of which “belonged to the Queen alone.” Of course, lembas is what Galadriel, two Ages later, offers to the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings. It is rare that anyone outside of Elves is allowed access to this special, nourishing bread.
Meanwhile, Túrin and his outlaws seek a safer lair and this brings him into contact with the Mîm, an old Dwarf belonging to a group of Dwarves who were long ago banished from the various Dwarf-cities of the east. Mîm guides Túrin and the outlaws to the isolated safety of Amon Rûdh. Soon, Beleg finds them there anyway and, together, operating out of there, they clear much of the surrounding lands of Orc activity.
It happens that Mîm is captured and tortured by Orcs. The Dwarf betrays the location of Túrin and his outlaws. This leads to the capture of Túrin and, ultimately, to his rescue by Beleg, who sneaks by night into the Orc camp and uses Anglachel to cut Túrin’s bound body. In the process, however, Beleg pricks Túrin with the sword. Awaking suddenly in the dark, Túrin takes Beleg for an Orc, wrestles the sword away from him and slays him. Madness overtakes Túrin when he realizes what he has done which is only healed when he drinks from the springs of Eithel Ivrin.
Whereupon, Túrin comes to Nargothrond and, being the son of the great warrior Húrin, is welcomed there. Over time, Anglachel is reforged into Gurthang, Iron of Death. Túrin grows into a great warrior fighting with the Elves, so great that he ultimately becomes the only Edain to ever lead an army of the Eldar. Under Túrin’s leadership, the Elves change from their stealthy tactics into a conventional, unified battlefield army. By his counsel, Nargothrond builds a bridge over the river Narog to facilitate the movement of the army to openly fight the Orcs. This bridge has its detractors who think it is a mistake, but it is built anyway. The Elves win many battles.
By this time, Morwen has long since given birth to a daughter, Nienor. Taking advantage of the relative peace brought to the region by the success of Nargothrond’s army, Morwen journeys to Doriath to visit Túrin, who she believes still resides there. She and Nienor become guests of Thingol when there is no word of where Túrin might be.
It should be pointed out that Doriath, ever secretive and isolationist, is not communicating very well with the outside world since Fëanor’s sons tried to take Luthien to Nargothrond. Also, recall that Maedhros had the greatest difficulty in organizing his Union against Morgoth. Doriath wanted nothing to do with it. The Dark Lord is gradually succeeding in his endless efforts to break the Elves apart. So, though Túrin is renown in Nargothrond, no word of that reaches Doriath.
Morgoth unleashes Glaurung again. The dragon wreaks havoc over the land. Túrin organizes the army of Nargothrond, crosses the bridge and the Battle of Tumhalad takes place which turns out to be a disaster for the Elves. The dragon and Orcs overwhelm the Elves. The bridge, always a controversial construction, does aid the Elves in concentrating their army rapidly, but it also more or less reveals the secret location of Nargothrond, which is now completely sacked and taken over by Glaurung.
Túrin is not killed but, rather, Glaurung puts a spell over him to seek out Morwen and his sister in Dor-lomin. Meanwhile, news of Túrin’s exploits finally reaches Doriath and Morwen decides to visit Nargothrond in order to see her son at long last. Thingol sends an escort with her. Unbeknownst to anyone, Nienor follows them. Naturally, they just miss meeting Túrin, who now calls himself "Turambar," which means “Master of Doom” in Quenya. Glaurung attacks the party and Morwen flees never to be seen in Doriath again. The dragon casts a spell of forgetfulness upon Nienor.
Time passes and through an intricate set of circumstances Túrin finds Nienor, but, since he left home before she was born and she has forgotten who she truly is, neither of them knows the other. Now the twisted malice of Morgoth’s curse upon Húrin comes to its iniquitous fruition. He sees with Morgoth’s eyes and hears with Morgoth’s ears as his two children, without realizing it, fall in love and marry. They conceive a child.
At first Túrin and his sister, who he has renamed Níniel, Tear-maiden, live a peaceful, private life together. He is “deedless” while Glaurung and Orcs continue to rampage through the region. At last, however, the dragon becomes so destructive that Túrin can no longer stand by. He mortally wounds the beast but he seems to die in the process.
When Niniel visits the place of the dragon’s death, with a final gasp the beast breaks the spell and all her memory comes back. In despair over the "death" of Túrin her lover/brother, she commits suicide by flinging herself over a cliff and into a raging river. Of course, Túrin is not actually dead and when he finally revives he is told the truth about his sister. He casts himself upon Gurthang and dies.
This ending obviously has archetypal romantic undertones that are reflected in other forms of classic literature and ancient folk tales. It is incestuous, which goes back to Oedipus Rex and it has the “death by faux death leading to final suicide” exemplified by Romeo and Juliet. As I mentioned, in telling it Tolkien introduces the reader to a myriad of secondary characters, most of whom die in the story. “Túrin Turambar” is Tolkien’s most complicated yarn in The Silmarillion. And it is also his most sorrowful, especially when seen against the backdrop of the Battle of Unnumbered Tears.
In fact, it is easy to see that death is a weighty theme throughout The Silmarillion. By this point in the narrative, virtually all of the great Elves that sailed or hiked back from Valinor are dead. (Galadriel is an obvious exception.) As for the first houses of Men, their great leaders have all either died naturally or in battle fighting for/with Elves. The heroic Easterlings have all been killed, leaving mostly Swarthy Men.
Túrin Turambar, after leading many great victories and one catastrophic defeat, dies by suicide over love, death, and incest. Again, he is the only Man ever to lead an army of Elves. He is the greatest Human warrior in the First Age, except for perhaps his father, Húrin. Beren is a great fighter as well, of course. But he is at his best as an outlaw type combatant. Túrin, at his best, is a true field commander, someone like Alexander the Great in our world history.
Although he is certainly a renowned outlaw, he also knows how to fight larger battles better than any Elf. And, tragically, this fact leads him to be enormously prideful and stern. In fact, after death and the degeneration of the pristine, it can be argued that pride as the arrogance of power is the central theme in the The Silmarillion. Tolkien sees arrogant power as a sin, perhaps even an “original sin.” The pride of Fëanor and Túrin and other characters comes from unique and powerful talents. As their power grows so too does their pride.
As a devote Catholic, Tolkien feels this is wrong. Pride, in and of itself, is not sinful. One should certainly have confidence in one’s actual capabilities. One should feel pleased with one's accomplishments. But, when power grows in your life, pride should remain where it started, steadfast but humble. When pride swells to the size of great talents it has gotten too large and will swallow you. Túrin, who is peerless as a warrior, is engulfed by such pride and, indeed, had great capabilities. But, ultimately, he caused the sack of Nargothrond, the death of his sister, of Beleg, of many others, and of himself.
That is a personalized perspective on death. But, it only means anything because of the context of this long parade of death going back hundreds of years. The deaths of Elves killing each other. The death of Elves against Morgoth and his host of Orcs, Glaurung, Balrogs, etc. The majority of Human characters in The Silmarillion are now dead. Húrin remains alive only to witness this tragedy all-knowingly (though Tolkien says Morgoth "knew of the working of his malice Húrin knew also, but lies were mingled with the truth, and aught that was good was hidden or distorted"). Death is almost everywhere.
Yes, Tolkien certainly addresses death as a major theme, which is understandable given his personal experience in the trenches of World War One. But this death theme has no "higher" meaning outside of possibly being connected with arrogance as its enabler. Tolkien reveals a lot about what happens to immortal Elves when they die but gives the reader only a comparatively vague notion as to what happens when mortal Men die.
The death theme, rather, is there to simply and straightforwardly impact the reader. The sheer weight of death in terms of numbers and depth in terms of the ending of numerous loving, emotional relationships is breathtakingly horrific. Few other authors in literature have been able to convey the thick pervasiveness of death like Tolkien in The Silmarillion.
“The Lay of the Children of Húrin” is part of The Lays of Beleriand and it is the longest poem Tolkien ever conceived. It was published in prose form(s) in The Children of Húrin in 2007 and as part of Unfinished Tales in 1980 (under its Elfish title “Narn I Hîn Húrin”). Tolkien wrote a great deal more about this story than any of the other specific aspect of the narrative. The deaths of Túrin Tunambar and Nienor Níniel are experienced as a profound sadness by the surviving Elves and, indeed, by the reader. It is a weighty tragedy.
“…the Elves sang a lament for the Children of Húrin…it is called the Tale of Grief, for it is sorrowful, and in it are revealed the most evil works of Morgoth Bauglir.”
(to be continued)
The legend of Beren and Luthien inspires Man and Elf alike. It motivates Maedhros, eldest son of Fëanor, to attempt a union with other Elves and with Men to attack Morgoth. But the Union of Maedhros is weak, Nargothrond and Doriath choose not to participate, and it contains many Easterlings, Swarthy Men.
In a surprise, Turgon appears with 10,000 warriors from the hidden city of Gondolin. They arrive just in time as Fingon’s Elves attack Angband, before Maedhros is ready. Fingon and Turgon manage to drive the Orcs back to the Gate of Angband.
There, on the fourth day of the Elven attack, Morgoth unleashes an army far surpassing anything expected. This is the fifth great battle of Beleriand, the Battle of Unnumbered Tears (Nirnaeth Arnoediad). Fingon and Turgon are driven back from Angband. They might have been obliterated except for the heroic stand of Haldir, leading a force of Men, who is killed along with rest of the rearguard.
Maedhros finally arrives on the field and joins in the fight. Then Angband empties even more only this time it is not Orcs. Wolves, Wolfriders, Balrogs, Glaurung and, for the first time, other dragons all pour onto the battlefield in a war spectacle unequaled thus far in the story.
As Maedhros’ force fights it is supported by solid Men warriors under the Easterling Bór. But a larger contingent under Ulfang betrays the Elves. Secretly in league with Morgoth, they attack Maedhros as well. After Bór is slain, his sons attempt to defend the Elves by counterattacking Ulfang but even more Easterlings arrive as reinforcements. Most of the Elfish force (but not Maedhros) and the Men of Bór are wiped out.
Dwarves, the Naugrim, also ally themselves with the Elves. They kill their share of Orcs and then make a stand against Glaurung. Azaghâl, Lord of Belegost, is slain, but not before he drives a knife into Glaurung and the dragon flees the battlefield.
Similarly, Fingon meets his death while battling Gothmog and another Balrog. Meanwhile, Turgon's force fights Orcs who outnumber them 3 to 1. In a second heroic last stand made by Men for Elves, Húrin and Huor, the only Men to have ever seen Gondolin, tell Turgon they will serve as his rearguard so he can secretly escape back to Gondolin. These Men are the rulers of Dor-lomin, the first fiefdom given to Men by Elves. Huor is slain the next day in massive Orc wave attacks. All the Men are killed but for Húrin, the greatest warrior among Men, who is taken captive by Morgoth.
The Nirnaeth Arnoediad is Morgoth’s greatest military victory. It is decisive, giving Morgoth control of almost all of Middle-earth outside of Doriath, Gondolin, and Nargothrond. Many great Elves and Men are killed in it. Morgoth’s aggression reaches farther south than ever before. Fingon’s son, Gil-galad, is forced to sail off the coast of Middle-earth to the Isle of Balar to elude the Black Lord’s grasp.
But as incredible as this battle is, Tolkien is actually just setting the context for his most complex and sorrowful tale in The Silmarillion. Morgoth places Húrin “in a chair of stone upon a high place of Thangorodrim” and sets ”a doom” upon Húrin’s children. Morgoth commands that Húrin shall have the Dark Lord’s eyes and ears in order to witness fully the evil and despair that are about to unfold.
Apparently, Húrin and his wife, Morwen, conceived a child just before the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. After the battle, with Easterlings pillaging villages and enslaving children throughout the lands of Men, a pregnant Morwen sends their 8-year-old son, Túrin, away to Doriath “to beg King Thingol to harbor him, for Beren son of Barahir was her father’s kinsman, and he had been moreover a friend of Húrin, ere evil befell.”
Thingol’s attitude toward Men has changed and he fosters Túrin, who grows to become a skilled warrior, often fighting alongside Beleg Cuthalion, Doriath’s greatest bowman. But a counselor of Thingol begrudges Túrin for being fostered and insults him. Túrin is prideful and ultimately this leads to the death of the counselor. (This is the first of a multitude of minor characters in this story who facilitate the narrative and then die. For the sake of brevity, I will skip over most of them.) Túrin, fearing Thingol’s judgment, leaves Doriath and joins a band of outlaws.
When Thingol sends Beleg in search of Túrin with word of pardon, Túrin refuses the pardon “in the pride of his heart.” Beleg returns to Thingol’s fortress city, Menegroth, only to be sent back out by a perplexed Thingol to guard his fosterson. Beleg chooses Anglachel, a sword made of a meteorite, to take with him. But Melian foretells that there is “malice in this sword.” Again, being a Maiar, she can see that harm will come but she does not know exactly what will transpire.
To aid Beleg, she offers him lembas, “the waybread of Elves” to use as needed and to share with Túrin. Never before have Men been allowed to use this special Elven bread, the giving of which “belonged to the Queen alone.” Of course, lembas is what Galadriel, two Ages later, offers to the Fellowship in The Lord of the Rings. It is rare that anyone outside of Elves is allowed access to this special, nourishing bread.
Meanwhile, Túrin and his outlaws seek a safer lair and this brings him into contact with the Mîm, an old Dwarf belonging to a group of Dwarves who were long ago banished from the various Dwarf-cities of the east. Mîm guides Túrin and the outlaws to the isolated safety of Amon Rûdh. Soon, Beleg finds them there anyway and, together, operating out of there, they clear much of the surrounding lands of Orc activity.
It happens that Mîm is captured and tortured by Orcs. The Dwarf betrays the location of Túrin and his outlaws. This leads to the capture of Túrin and, ultimately, to his rescue by Beleg, who sneaks by night into the Orc camp and uses Anglachel to cut Túrin’s bound body. In the process, however, Beleg pricks Túrin with the sword. Awaking suddenly in the dark, Túrin takes Beleg for an Orc, wrestles the sword away from him and slays him. Madness overtakes Túrin when he realizes what he has done which is only healed when he drinks from the springs of Eithel Ivrin.
Whereupon, Túrin comes to Nargothrond and, being the son of the great warrior Húrin, is welcomed there. Over time, Anglachel is reforged into Gurthang, Iron of Death. Túrin grows into a great warrior fighting with the Elves, so great that he ultimately becomes the only Edain to ever lead an army of the Eldar. Under Túrin’s leadership, the Elves change from their stealthy tactics into a conventional, unified battlefield army. By his counsel, Nargothrond builds a bridge over the river Narog to facilitate the movement of the army to openly fight the Orcs. This bridge has its detractors who think it is a mistake, but it is built anyway. The Elves win many battles.
By this time, Morwen has long since given birth to a daughter, Nienor. Taking advantage of the relative peace brought to the region by the success of Nargothrond’s army, Morwen journeys to Doriath to visit Túrin, who she believes still resides there. She and Nienor become guests of Thingol when there is no word of where Túrin might be.
It should be pointed out that Doriath, ever secretive and isolationist, is not communicating very well with the outside world since Fëanor’s sons tried to take Luthien to Nargothrond. Also, recall that Maedhros had the greatest difficulty in organizing his Union against Morgoth. Doriath wanted nothing to do with it. The Dark Lord is gradually succeeding in his endless efforts to break the Elves apart. So, though Túrin is renown in Nargothrond, no word of that reaches Doriath.
Morgoth unleashes Glaurung again. The dragon wreaks havoc over the land. Túrin organizes the army of Nargothrond, crosses the bridge and the Battle of Tumhalad takes place which turns out to be a disaster for the Elves. The dragon and Orcs overwhelm the Elves. The bridge, always a controversial construction, does aid the Elves in concentrating their army rapidly, but it also more or less reveals the secret location of Nargothrond, which is now completely sacked and taken over by Glaurung.
Túrin is not killed but, rather, Glaurung puts a spell over him to seek out Morwen and his sister in Dor-lomin. Meanwhile, news of Túrin’s exploits finally reaches Doriath and Morwen decides to visit Nargothrond in order to see her son at long last. Thingol sends an escort with her. Unbeknownst to anyone, Nienor follows them. Naturally, they just miss meeting Túrin, who now calls himself "Turambar," which means “Master of Doom” in Quenya. Glaurung attacks the party and Morwen flees never to be seen in Doriath again. The dragon casts a spell of forgetfulness upon Nienor.
Time passes and through an intricate set of circumstances Túrin finds Nienor, but, since he left home before she was born and she has forgotten who she truly is, neither of them knows the other. Now the twisted malice of Morgoth’s curse upon Húrin comes to its iniquitous fruition. He sees with Morgoth’s eyes and hears with Morgoth’s ears as his two children, without realizing it, fall in love and marry. They conceive a child.
At first Túrin and his sister, who he has renamed Níniel, Tear-maiden, live a peaceful, private life together. He is “deedless” while Glaurung and Orcs continue to rampage through the region. At last, however, the dragon becomes so destructive that Túrin can no longer stand by. He mortally wounds the beast but he seems to die in the process.
When Niniel visits the place of the dragon’s death, with a final gasp the beast breaks the spell and all her memory comes back. In despair over the "death" of Túrin her lover/brother, she commits suicide by flinging herself over a cliff and into a raging river. Of course, Túrin is not actually dead and when he finally revives he is told the truth about his sister. He casts himself upon Gurthang and dies.
This ending obviously has archetypal romantic undertones that are reflected in other forms of classic literature and ancient folk tales. It is incestuous, which goes back to Oedipus Rex and it has the “death by faux death leading to final suicide” exemplified by Romeo and Juliet. As I mentioned, in telling it Tolkien introduces the reader to a myriad of secondary characters, most of whom die in the story. “Túrin Turambar” is Tolkien’s most complicated yarn in The Silmarillion. And it is also his most sorrowful, especially when seen against the backdrop of the Battle of Unnumbered Tears.
In fact, it is easy to see that death is a weighty theme throughout The Silmarillion. By this point in the narrative, virtually all of the great Elves that sailed or hiked back from Valinor are dead. (Galadriel is an obvious exception.) As for the first houses of Men, their great leaders have all either died naturally or in battle fighting for/with Elves. The heroic Easterlings have all been killed, leaving mostly Swarthy Men.
Túrin Turambar, after leading many great victories and one catastrophic defeat, dies by suicide over love, death, and incest. Again, he is the only Man ever to lead an army of Elves. He is the greatest Human warrior in the First Age, except for perhaps his father, Húrin. Beren is a great fighter as well, of course. But he is at his best as an outlaw type combatant. Túrin, at his best, is a true field commander, someone like Alexander the Great in our world history.
Although he is certainly a renowned outlaw, he also knows how to fight larger battles better than any Elf. And, tragically, this fact leads him to be enormously prideful and stern. In fact, after death and the degeneration of the pristine, it can be argued that pride as the arrogance of power is the central theme in the The Silmarillion. Tolkien sees arrogant power as a sin, perhaps even an “original sin.” The pride of Fëanor and Túrin and other characters comes from unique and powerful talents. As their power grows so too does their pride.
As a devote Catholic, Tolkien feels this is wrong. Pride, in and of itself, is not sinful. One should certainly have confidence in one’s actual capabilities. One should feel pleased with one's accomplishments. But, when power grows in your life, pride should remain where it started, steadfast but humble. When pride swells to the size of great talents it has gotten too large and will swallow you. Túrin, who is peerless as a warrior, is engulfed by such pride and, indeed, had great capabilities. But, ultimately, he caused the sack of Nargothrond, the death of his sister, of Beleg, of many others, and of himself.
That is a personalized perspective on death. But, it only means anything because of the context of this long parade of death going back hundreds of years. The deaths of Elves killing each other. The death of Elves against Morgoth and his host of Orcs, Glaurung, Balrogs, etc. The majority of Human characters in The Silmarillion are now dead. Húrin remains alive only to witness this tragedy all-knowingly (though Tolkien says Morgoth "knew of the working of his malice Húrin knew also, but lies were mingled with the truth, and aught that was good was hidden or distorted"). Death is almost everywhere.
Yes, Tolkien certainly addresses death as a major theme, which is understandable given his personal experience in the trenches of World War One. But this death theme has no "higher" meaning outside of possibly being connected with arrogance as its enabler. Tolkien reveals a lot about what happens to immortal Elves when they die but gives the reader only a comparatively vague notion as to what happens when mortal Men die.
The death theme, rather, is there to simply and straightforwardly impact the reader. The sheer weight of death in terms of numbers and depth in terms of the ending of numerous loving, emotional relationships is breathtakingly horrific. Few other authors in literature have been able to convey the thick pervasiveness of death like Tolkien in The Silmarillion.
“The Lay of the Children of Húrin” is part of The Lays of Beleriand and it is the longest poem Tolkien ever conceived. It was published in prose form(s) in The Children of Húrin in 2007 and as part of Unfinished Tales in 1980 (under its Elfish title “Narn I Hîn Húrin”). Tolkien wrote a great deal more about this story than any of the other specific aspect of the narrative. The deaths of Túrin Tunambar and Nienor Níniel are experienced as a profound sadness by the surviving Elves and, indeed, by the reader. It is a weighty tragedy.
“…the Elves sang a lament for the Children of Húrin…it is called the Tale of Grief, for it is sorrowful, and in it are revealed the most evil works of Morgoth Bauglir.”
(to be continued)
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