Character of Month: Túrin, Part Three

Tolkien regarded Túrin's story as one of the most important in the legendarium, and it is one of the more complex to unwind textually. Presented by Christopher Tolkien in several forms (including its own volume), there are therefore many confluences and contradictions across what is already a long and tricky tale. For the past several months, firstamazon has been doing us the favor of further distilling Christopher's work into a highly readable three-part biography series of Tolkien's own walking disaster, Túrin Turambar.

In this third and final installment, Túrin's life picks up after Beleg's death, where he ventures next to Nargothrond. This is the moment where his already unlucky existence begins to be ruinous on a much larger scale, leaving people and entire settlements destroyed in his wake, and his own life forfeit to his tragic circumstances.

However, as firstamazon notes, mortal Men "are the game-changers in Tolkien’s legendarium," placing Túrin in a line of Men whose deeds shaped kingdoms and the entire history of Arda. Sadly, his best efforts could not overcome Morgoth's curse, but in a eucatastrophic arc typical of Tolkien, his mortal successors generally fare better (and Tolkien's writings on the Last Battle suggest that Túrin may yet get the final word against Morgoth).

Read the third part of firstamazon's biography of Túrin. And if you missed them, you can find Part One and Part Two on the site as well.

Posted on 26 January 2023 (updated 23 February 2023) by SWG Moderators