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atalante_star
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Post 1.II. Narn i hîn Húrin (part 2)
on: November 16, 2005 12:22
As with the first half of the Narn, the second half is complex, taking the continuing story of Túrin as its main theme, but weaving in a number of little scenes that add a great deal of depth. There's Morwen – again, there are the Easterlings in Dor-lómin, there is the rather strange speaking sword made of meteoric iron, and the whole gamut of emotions: love, hate, lust, fear, hope, despair …

So I'm going to start this lot with the Easterlings – the people from the East that had recently fought for Morgoth's armies and ended up settled rather discontentedly in Dor-lómin. With the Easterlings, Tolkien gives us a unpleasant cameo of people's lives under invasion and oppression:
"But Morgoth sent thither the Easterlings that had served him, denying them the rich lands of Beleriand which they coveted; and he shut them in Hithlum and forbade them to leave it. Such was the reward he gave them for their treachery to Maedhros: to plunder and harass the old and the women and the children of Hador's people." (The Silmarillion: Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad)

"Those days were evil; for the Easterlings that came into Hithlum despised the remnant of the people of Hador, and they oppressed them, and took their lands and their goods, and enslaved their children." (The Silmarillion, Of Túrin Turambar)

Even the language of the people of Hador was suppressed, becoming that of only serfs or even enemies, and the tongue of the Easterlings was adopted by most. When Túrin spoke his own language, he was chided by Sador:
"If you must speak the old tongue, master, speak it softer, and ask for no tidings. Would you be beaten for a rogue, or hung for a spy?"

"You speak too loud, and I too much, for an Easterling's hall."


So this was the life into which Túrin was born. His family, though, were luckier than most – for Morwen's beauty and majesty frightened the Easterlings, and they considered her almost otherworldly:
"They dared not touch her, though, for they feared her; proud and fair as a queen, before sorrow marred her. Witchwife they called her, and shunned her. Witchwife: it is but "elf-friend" in the new language. Yet they robbed her."

Witchwife is a *cool* name. However, even with a cool nickname, she was still poor, and without aid, and finding herself in that situation, she sent Túrin away, fearing that he would be taken and enslaved by the Easterlings. Only one helper did she have, Aerin, a kinswoman of Húrin, who had been forcibly taken to wife to by one of Easterlings – a charming and pleasant guy called Brodda.


Brodda and Aerin

It had been Brodda who had seized the people, goods and cattle of Húrin's homelands, seeking wealth in those lands which others of his people did not covet. He made Húrin's people build him a new wooden hall in the land to the northward of Húrin's house, and he kept his slaves within a stockade, like cattle. But Aerin he took as his wife, hoping that an alliance with the Edain would gain him lordship in Dor-lómin, and an heir to hold his lands after him.

We don't see many situations like that through Tolkien's work. People tend to spread out into unoccupied areas, or get on with the people whose lands they enter. A few glares and cross words, or even a bit of sword-play and screaming, are usually the extent of the angst. But here we have full-scale occupation, partly willing and partly forced by Morgoth. Interesting huh? The invaders actually somewhat unwilling to invade …

The realities of invasion are brought home to us. Again, here Tolkien shows us a much grittier side of his writing than we see in other places – especially in the relationship between Brodda and Aerin.

There are, I think, three instances we know of someone being taken forcibly to wife – Eöl and Aredhel, Miriel and Ar-Pharazôn, and Brodda and Aerin. We have very little detail about the Miriel marriage, and it is intimated that over time, the Aredhel marriage was not without its joy and pleasure. But Brodda and Aerin? Here we have the reality of a loveless and forced marriage, full of physical and emotional pain:
"She aided them in secret, it is said, and was often beaten for it by the churl Brodda, her husband by need."

"It would cost her much pain were she caught whispering at a door with a wandering wretch of the downtrod people"

""Nothing," said Aerin in great fear, for Brodda watched her narrowly."

Brodda himself seems to be more than a little unpleasant. When Túrin goes up to their table and talks to Aerin, Brodda springs forward, red with drunken rage, and harangues poor Túrin.
"Shall my wife be gainsaid before me, by a beggar that speaks the serf-tongue? There is no Lady of Dor-lómin. But as for Morwen, she was of the thrall-folk, and has fled as thralls will. Do you likewise, and swiftly, or I will have you hung on a tree!"

Really, he deserved to die of something more dramatic and unpleasant than a broken neck. But that was how he died, thrown across a table by Túrin. And after that, when Turin and the people of Húrin had fought the Easterlings, Aerin ends up setting the wooden hall on fire. Whether she died in the blaze, we do not know, but if she did, it must be one of the very few cases of suicide in Tolkien's works. A tragic end to a tragic life, jolted and spun round by the swirls of fate.
AinarielPalantir
Maiden of Nienna and Éomer`s Loyal Puppy
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Post RE: 1.II. Narn i hîn Húrin (part 2)
on: December 12, 2005 02:55
I have one question. In the end when Túrin finds out the truth about Nienor he says he's "blind, blind, groping since childhood in a dark mist of Morgoth."

Does that mean that Túrin *actually* has seen Nienor differently than she really was?
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