Túrin Turambar

Túrin Turambar (pronounced ) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. Turambar and the Foalókë, begun in 1917, is the first appearance of Túrin in the legendarium. Túrin is a Man of the First Age of Middle-earth, whose family had been cursed by the Dark Lord Morgoth. While trying vainly to defy the curse, Túrin brings ruin across much of Beleriand, and upon himself and his sister Niënor. His title, "Turambar", means master of fate.

Tolkien consciously based the story on the tale of Kullervo in the 19th-century Finnish mythological poem Kalevala. Scholars have noted parallels with other myths including that of Sigmund and Sigurd in the Völsunga saga of Norse mythology; with the Greek myth of Oedipus; and in terms of structure and style, with Arthurian legend.

Excerpts have been published in prose in The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Book of Lost Tales Part II, and The War of the Jewels, and in alliterative long-line verse in The Lays of Beleriand. The complete story was published as The Children of Húrin in 2007.

Publication history

Tolkien wrote multiple versions of the tale of Túrin. These were published after his death, edited by his son Christopher Tolkien, as follows:

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|+ Published versions of the tale of Túrin

! Date

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! Type

! Notes

| 1977 || The Silmarillion || "Of Túrin Turambar" || Prose || Chapter; omits what would have been a short summary of the story's conclusion, "The Wanderings of Húrin" as Christopher Tolkien judged it too complex

| 1980 || Unfinished Tales || "Narn i Chîn Húrin"<br/>("Tale of the Children of Húrin") || Prose || Known as the "Narn"; 90 pages, prose, written 1917

| 1984 || The Book of Lost Tales Part II || "Turambar and the Foalókë" || Prose || 45 pages, with 28 pages of commentary. This was the first version of the Túrin story, written 1917

| 1985 || The Lays of Beleriand || "The Lay of the Children of Húrin" || Poetry || 2276 lines of long-line alliterative verse, composed 1925 in Leeds

| 1994 || The War of the Jewels || "The Wanderings of Húrin" || Prose || Continues the "Narn"

| 2007 || The Children of Húrin || (whole book) || Prose || Complete, book-length; drafted from 1910, revised repeatedly, not finished in Tolkien's lifetime

Narrative

Dor-lómin

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Túrin is the son of Húrin, Lord of the Folk of Hador, and Morwen of the House of Bëor. The Siege of Angband has been broken, but Túrin's homeland of Dor-lómin in the northwest of Beleriand is still contested by Húrin against the Dark Lord Morgoth's forces. When Túrin is eight, Húrin leads his Men to war; all are killed in the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Húrin is captured and cursed by Morgoth, who sends an army of Easterlings to Dor-lómin. Túrin remains with Morwen, who hides him and sends him secretly to the hidden Elven-realm of Doriath; Morwen remains in Dor-lómin, and shortly afterwards gives birth to a girl, Niënor.

Doriath

Túrin reaches Doriath, which is protected by an enchantment, the Girdle of Melian. The marchwarden Beleg leads them to the city of Menegroth, where King Thingol adopts Túrin, in memory of Húrin's heroism. The Elven-lady Nellas watches over Túrin at Melian's bidding, teaching him Elven-lore. Túrin becomes esteemed for his prowess, and Beleg teaches him warfare. When after some years Dor-lómin is cut off and news from Morwen and Niënor ceases to arrive, Túrin decides to pit his strength against Morgoth's forces, hoping to avenge the sorrows of his kin. Thingol appoints him a "knight of the sword". Túrin departs to fight the Orcs in the north of Doriath, where he is joined by Beleg. His chief weapon is the sword, and he wears the Dragon-helm of Hador, so that the Orcs fear him. At the age of 20, Túrin accidentally kills Saeros, one of Thingol's counsellors, who had insulted him. Ignoring advice, he flees from Doriath, fearing imprisonment. Thingol pardons Túrin, and Beleg obtains leave to seek out his friend. Beleg finds the band in the wild, but Túrin rejects Beleg's advice to return to Doriath. Túrin's band captures Mîm the Petty-dwarf. To save his life, Mîm shares his dwellings on the hill of Amon Rûdh with the band. Beleg returns to Túrin, bringing the Dragon-helm. The "Two Captains" free much of West Beleriand from evil, but the Dragon-helm reveals Túrin's identity to Morgoth, who attacks Amon Rûdh. Beleg follows the Orcs through the forest of Taur-nu-Fuin, and meets Gwindor, an escaped slave from Angband. Together they rescue Túrin in Anfauglith. Unfortunately, while Beleg is cutting the sleeping Túrin free from his bonds, he pricks Túrin's foot with the black sword Anglachel. Túrin, mistaking him in the darkness for an Orc, takes the sword and kills Beleg. Gwindor leads the grief-stricken Túrin to the Pools of Ivrin, where he returns to his senses. In the finished manuscript of The Tale of Turambar and the Foalókë, this becomes a story that Túrin and Niënor were only admitted to Mandos after their parents' prayers; they entered the "bath of flame", where the Sun replenished its light, "and so were all their sorrows and stains washed away, and they dwelt as shining Valar among the blessed ones." A new detail is introduced, that "Turambar indeed shall stand beside Fionwë in the Great Wrack, and Melko and his drakes shall curse the sword of Mormakil". elaborated in the 1930 revision of the Quenta Noldorinwa. In "The Problem of Ros" (1968 or later), the last time Tolkien returned to the subject, Túrin is prophesied to return from death and kill Ancalagon the Black in the War of Wrath, replacing the role of Eärendil.

Line of Túrin and Niënor

Analysis

Mythological parallels

thumb|upright=1.35|Tolkien partly based Túrin on the tragic figure of [[Kullervo from the Finnish Kalevala. Painting Kullervo Rides to War by Akseli Gallen-Kallela, 1901]]

Tolkien noted some of Túrin's mythological parallels in a letter to the publisher Milton Waldman:

Túrin, as Tolkien stated, In Norse mythology, Sigmund, the father of Sigurd in the Völsunga saga, resembles Túrin in the incestuous relationship he has with his sister. Further, Túrin is like Sigurd, as both achieve great renown for the slaying of a dragon of immense power: in Sigurd's case Fafnir; in Túrin's, Glaurung.

The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger further likens the tale of Túrin to Arthurian Legend, with its complex manuscript history and "overlapping story variants in both poetry and prose", supplemented by Tolkien's pretence that he was translating a lost Narn poem from its original Elvish language. The Tolkien scholar Richard C. West, in The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia, writes that the tale "is one of almost unrelieved gloom", though a prophecy in Tolkien's mythology holds that Túrin will help in the final defeat of Morgoth, after the end of the world, and that he and his sister will be cleansed of their sin. West writes that as in many other stories of Middle-earth, there is a "delicate balance" between fate, whereby each character inevitably takes certain actions and suffers the consequences, and free will, whereby he makes his own bold or rash choices that determine the outcomes for him. West described the story of Niënor's family as tragic. Elizabeth A. Whittingham wrote in A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien that the story had grown darker with time, commenting that "no tale of Middle-earth is as dark as that", and stating that in its rendition in The Silmarillion as published in 1977 with the end omitted, contrary to the author's original intent, "all glimmer of hope has been extinguished". The scholar of literature Victoria Holtz-Wodzak calls Niënor a "study of the lives of women during wartime. She is, for all practical purposes, a war orphan". Holtz-Wodzak sees the war-time fate of the women in Tolkien's life as well as his own experiences as inspiration for the character and its sympathetic treatment by the author. Holtz-Wodzak also compares his situation to that of Brandír, who as a non-combatant loses the struggle with Turambar for both the respect of his people and the love of Níniel. The scholar even sees an echo of Tolkien's sentiments about not being able to be active in World War II due to age in "Niennor's desperate wish either to keep the man she loves from danger or to die with him".

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