{"id":4332,"date":"2009-06-17T22:49:14","date_gmt":"2009-06-18T05:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/?p=4332"},"modified":"2009-11-19T01:27:36","modified_gmt":"2009-11-19T08:27:36","slug":"the-long-road-to-menegroth-part-three-of-the-wanderings-of-hurin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/the-long-road-to-menegroth-part-three-of-the-wanderings-of-hurin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Road to Menegroth: Part Three of “The Wanderings of Hurin”"},"content":{"rendered":"

“But upon all whom you love my thought shall weigh as a cloud of Doom, and it shall bring them down into darkness and despair. Wherever they go, evil shall arise. Whenever they speak, their words shall bring ill-counsel. Whatsoever they do shall turn against them. They shall die without hope, cursing both life and death.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Morgoth’s words to H\u00farin, son of Galdor, upon the Haudh-en-Nirnaeth, from The Children of H\u00farin<\/a><\/em> by J.R.R. Tolkien.<\/p>\n

In my first post about H\u00farin<\/a>, the greatest mortal warrior of Tolkien’s First Age, I looked at his life and deeds up to his sixtieth year. In my follow-up blog<\/a>, I then summarized the events laid out in the collection of texts which JRRT seems to have intended to call “The Wanderings of H\u00farin.” In this post, I will trace H\u00farin’s journey to its bitter end. Much of this is recounted in The Silmarillion<\/em>, but significant bits of the tale can only be found in The War of the Jewels: The Later Silmarillion<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When last we saw H\u00farin, he had, within the space of a few days, accomplished the ruin of Brethil and the ruling line of that land was extinguished. He had no intention of cooling his heels. With the hall of the last Chieftain of Brethil in flames behind him, H\u00farin set out for Nargothrond, the ruined fortress-city of the Elf-king, Finrod Felagund.<\/p>\n

Hurin’s motives for this move are unclear. His son, T\u00farin, was a great defender and war-captain of Nargothrond before its fall, but that seems insufficient reason to walk the long leagues required to get there. In a note written around the same time as the other texts dealing with “The Wanderings of H\u00farin,” Tolkien wrote that a thirst for “news” of some sort, though of what and from whom is not stated, was one motive for H\u00farin’s journey to Nargothrond. Tolkien also made a passing mention of some degree of admiration and friendship between the son of Galdor and Felagund. Perhaps H\u00farin simply wished to see the hoard of the dragon, Glaurung. His own son had slain Glaurung, a feat that would be remembered for many centuries to come.<\/p>\n

H\u00farin found a new claimant to Glaurung’s hoard when he reached Nargothrond: M\u00eem the Petty-Dwarf. Years before, M\u00eem had betrayed T\u00farin and his men to the agents of Morgoth. H\u00farin knew this. M\u00eem laid claim to the treasures of Nargothrond by right of the fact that the halls of Felagund’s city were first hewn out by Dwarves, long before Finrod Felagund came over the sea from Valinor. The father of T\u00farin had scant patience for M\u00eem’s lawyering.<\/p>\n

‘Then you shall enjoy your inheritance no longer,’ said H\u00farin; ‘for I am H\u00farin son of Galdor, returned out of Angband, and my son was T\u00farin Turambar, whom you have not forgotten; and he it was that slew Glaurung the Dragon, who wasted these halls where now you sit; and not unknown is it to me by whom the Dragon-helm of Dor-l\u00f3min was betrayed.’<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With that, H\u00farin drew his sword and cut M\u00eem down on the spot. The last of the Petty-Dwarves was dead. Wandering the once-beautiful, treasure-strewn halls which still reeked of dragon, H\u00farin found the one thing he sought there. Placing it beneath his cloak, he strode out, black staff in hand, and turned his face eastward towards far-off Doriath<\/a>, the Guarded Realm.<\/p>\n

\"372px-alan_lee_-_beleg_departs_menegroth\"<\/p>\n

Doriath was the most powerful Elven-realm in Beleriand, ruled by Thingol and his consort, Melian. At some point in the past, every member of H\u00farin’s family had guested in Menegroth of the Thousand Caves, the fortress of Thingol. Those stays had not ended well and H\u00farin burned for yet another reckoning. <\/p>\n

H\u00farin was brought before King Thingol. The Lord of Menegroth greeted H\u00farin, who simply stood silent before the throne, making no answer. Then Hurin drew forth what he had brought out of Nargothrond. It was the Nauglam\u00edr, the greatest treasure ever crafted by the Dwarves. Set with gems brought from the Undying Lands, it was a necklace made at the order of Finrod Felagund and was prized by him above all other treasures. H\u00farin cast it at Thingol’s feet.<\/p>\n

‘Receive thou thy fee,’ he cried, ‘for thy fair keeping of my children and my wife! For this is the Nauglam\u00edr, whose name is known to many among Elves and Men; and I bring it to thee out of the darkness of Nargothrond, where Finrod thy kinsman left it behind him when he set forth with Beren son of Barahir to fulfill the errand of Thingol of Doriath!’<\/p>\n

Thingol endured H\u00farin’s scornful words in silence, for he knew something of what had befallen the son of Galdor and pitied him. Finally, Queen Melian spoke, showing to H\u00farin how Morgoth had twisted every kind action and honest mistake. The scales fell from H\u00farin’s eyes and he stood moveless and silent. Then he picked up the Nauglam\u00edr and handed it to Thingol.<\/p>\n

‘Receive now, lord, the Necklace of the Dwarves, as a gift from one who has nothing, and as a memorial of H\u00farin of Dor-lomin. For now my fate is fulfilled, and the purpose of Morgoth achieved; but I am his thrall no longer.’<\/p>\n

Then he turned away, and passed out from the Thousand Caves, and all that saw him fell back before his face; and none sought to withstand his going, nor did any know whither he went. But it is said that H\u00farin would not live thereafter, being bereft of all purpose and desire, and he cast himself at last into the western sea; and so ended the mightiest of the warriors of mortal Men.<\/p>\n

*Art by Alan Lee<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“But upon all whom you love my thought shall weigh as a cloud of Doom, and it shall bring them down into darkness and despair. Wherever they go, evil shall arise. Whenever they speak, their words shall bring ill-counsel. Whatsoever they do shall turn against them. They shall die without hope, cursing both life and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-world-of-tolkien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4332"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7446,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4332\/revisions\/7446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leogrin.com\/CimmerianBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}