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James A. Burris

English 2090

Prof. Valerie Bright

April 29th, 2016

Túrin: The “Almost” Hero

Defining the qualities of a hero is a rather broad topic, often with varying definitions

depending on who is asked. There are traits that are highly accepted, however, such as sacrifice,

honor, leadership, and often being a skilled warrior (or being able to stand up to opposing

forces). What makes defining a hero difficult is that there are cases where an individual can

possess all of the qualities one might attribute to a hero, but be rejected as one. In The Children

of Húrin, one such character is Túrin, as is evident through the ebb and flow of his journey. A

few aspects of Túrin’s story will be discussed: first, Túrin’s, and his father, Húrin’s, intent versus

what results from their actions, then, masculinity and heroism will be compared and contrasted

relating to Túrin specifically, and to conclude, Túrin’s complexity as a character will be analyzed

as well as the qualities and factors that ultimately doom him as a character and a hero.

What matters most: the intent of the individual or the end result? It can certainly be said

that having a positive intent will give a person a much higher chance of obtaining a positive

result; but ultimately the result is what is remembered. In The Children of Húrin the intentions of

Túrin and his father Húrin are positive: Húrin’s resistance against the supreme evil of Morgoth is

an example of this. After being captured at the conclusion of “The Battle of Unnumbered Tears,”

he continues to resist Morgoth’s wishes, but the result is a curse upon his kin.

Then wrath mastered Morgoth, and he said: ‘Yet I may come at you, and all your

accursed house; and you shall be broken on my will, though you all were made of

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steel. Behold! The shadow of my thought shall lie upon them wherever they go,

and my hate shall pursue them to the ends of the world.’

(Tolkien, p.63)

Húrin does what any noble warrior would do by standing up to the evil of Middle Earth, but he

does not vanquish this evil, and is captured. His intent was just, but the result is in loss, thus

dooming his family. This of course leads us to Túrin, who likewise has good intentions that lead

to undesirable results. A key section in Túrin’s story is when Gwindor leads him to Nargothrond

after accidently slaying his best friend Beleg. Over time Túrin gains the respect of King Orodreth

and eventually becomes the military leader of Nargothrond, which gives him considerable

power. During this tenure, he makes a bold decision to build a bridge, against the wishes of

others, so that an army can quickly be moved from Nargothrond to oppose attackers. This

decision would later prove unwise, and would cause the downfall of Nargothrond during a battle

against orcs and the great dragon Glaurung.

In that day the bridge that Túrin had caused to be built over Narog proved an evil;

for it was great and mightily made and could not swiftly be destroyed, and thus

the enemy came readily over the deep river, and Glaurung came in full fire

against the Doors of Felagund, and overthrew them, and passed within.

(Tolkien, p.177-178)

The goal of Túrin’s bridge was to benefit his military’s advancement, but the decision to build it

was not well thought out, and he showed stubbornness in following through with his plans

against the wishes of others. He took a calculated risk (or chose to ignore the risk) in building it,

and in the end this led to the destruction of Nargothrond. Another moment for Túrin when the

results did not measure up to intent was near the end of his tale, when confronting Glaurung at

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the Cabed-en-Aras. Túrin is successful in his surprise attack on Glaurung, stabbing him from

below, leaving the dragon fatally wounded. However, in a moment of pride, Túrin gloats over

Glaurung, and carelessly pulls his sword from the belly of the dragon and is injured by its hot

blood, leaving him unconscious. Had he been more careful, the downfall that would result might

have been avoided, but Glaurung is left alive long enough to give news to Nienor that caused her

to commit suicide, which later leads to Túrin’s taking of his own life. The final two chapters are

interesting because Túrin does defeat a terrible force in Glaurung, but how it transpired still

resulted in peril. The intent of Húrin and Túrin are both positive in many ways, but the results are

anything but satisfying regarding their outlook as heroes.

Túrin as a heroic character is not so clear; but as a masculine character, he is the

prototype. Túrin is a fantastic warrior without a doubt. He is courageous and stands up to

conflict, even if it is often to a fault. He is a leader and is able to win over the favor of important

people (such as King Orodreth), and he is even described as attractive, “…tall, dark-haired and

pale-skinned, with grey eyes, and his face more beautiful than any other among mortal men, in

the Elder Days”(Tolkien, p.163). Yet these traits are often attached to heroes as well, further

blending the descriptions of heroism and masculinity. Túrin’s failings, however, show that a

person can be very masculine, and have many traits that would be considered stereotypical of

heroes but, indeed, not be a hero. Killing Glaurung shows that even if a person kills “the

dragon,” the results more often dictate whether or not the act was heroic or not. He saved many

souls by defeating Glaurung, but he dooms his sister Nienor, Brandir, and later himself in the

process. Additionally, it is often the case that villains contain many masculine and sometimes

heroic traits, further complicating exactly what a “hero” is. Many villains are courageous, great

warriors, physically gifted, but they contain vices that hold them back, or they have intentions

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that are impure. Túrin certainly is not a villain based upon intent, but he shows a great example

of a highly masculine character with heroic qualities, who does not end up “the hero.”

So what are the reasons that hold back Túrin from being the hero that he should be?

Ultimately there are two main factors: Morgoth’s curse on his family, and several character flaws

displayed throughout his story. The inclusion of the scene when Morgoth tells Húrin that he has

doomed his kin is important in order to set the tone for the bad things that happen to Túrin and

those around him. There is debate whether his family is actually cursed or if his ill fate is the

result of some self-fulfilling prophecy, but either way the curse of Morgoth seems to follow

Túrin everywhere he goes, and it affects not only Túrin, but the supporting characters. From the

beginning of this tale, he is ill fated, and his story ends in the same somber way. Túrin shows that

one cannot run away from their fate, because even if they try, such as when Túrin refrains from

battle in Brethil, fate will find you. In Túrin’s case, that fate is Glaurung’s approach, which, as

mentioned before, leads to his demise. Although he has an unavoidable ill fate, Túrin makes

many poor decisions that fuel his fate. These character flaws show themselves perpetually

throughout his tale, and make one wonder how many times bad situations could have been

avoided. Túrin has a tendency to be impulsive, without much thought on the long-term

ramifications of his actions. The first example of this is his accidental slaying of his best friend

Beleg in the dark, confusing him for an orc. Túrin grapples with Beleg and is caught in the

moment, taking action before analyzing the situation, and kills his friend in the process. Another

scene demonstrating Túrin’s impulsiveness is when he chases the elf, Saeros, in the woods. After

Túrin easily neutralizes Saeros’s attack, he decides to strip Saeros and chase him in

embarrassment. This leads to Saeros death from a fall while attempting to jump a gap during the

chase. Both of these occurrences take place because of Túrin not thinking things through and

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quickly taking action when it was not necessary. Another major character flaw of Túrin is his

stubbornness and arrogance. These traits are evident in two prior mentioned moments: building

the bridge against opposing advice in Nargothrond, and his gloating over slaying Glaurung. His

stubbornness to go through with building the bridge to Nargothrond led to the downfall of the

city, allowing easy traverse of the orc army, and his arrogance to gloat over Glaurung instead of

either quickly finishing the dragon off or leaving and allowing the dragon to expire led to the

fulfillment of his and his sisters doom in the end. Either situation could have been avoided easily

had these negative traits not been present in Túrin, but these flaws, which helped fuel Morgoth’s

curse, lead to Túrin’s demise.

It is easy to see that Túrin is a complex character regarding masculinity and heroism. He

has many traits that one would expect a hero to have, yet he has a few shortcomings that make

you think twice before giving him such a title. His (and his father’s) intentions are typically

good, but the way he approaches conflict, and the often-poor results that happen are what

disqualifies him from hero status. Túrin can, however, be described as highly masculine due to

his warrior traits, but his stubbornness and arrogance, coupled with the doom placed on him by

Morgoth, ultimately keep him from being revered as one of the great heroes of Middle Earth,

making him settle for being the most important “almost” hero in Tolkien’s universe.

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Bibliography

1. Tolkien, J. R. R., Christopher Tolkien, and Alan Lee. Narn I Chîn Húrin = The Tale of

The Children of Húrin. New York: Del Rey/Ballantine, 2010. Print.