Túrin

"Evil have been all thy ways, son of Húrin. Thankless fosterling, outlaw, slayer of thy friend, thief of love, usurper of Nargothrond, captain foolhardy, and deserter of thy kin."

- Glauring's curse upon Túrin

Túrin Turambar was an Adan of the House of Hador and a Man of Middle-earth, who became a tragic hero (or anti-hero) of the First Age, in the tale called Narn i Chîn Húrin ("The Tale of the Children of Húrin").

Early life
Túrin was the only son of Húrin Thalion and Morwen Eledhwen. He had a younger sister Urwen, whom everyone called "Lalaith" because of her laughter. However, she died in childhood of plague. After Húrin was captured in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, Túrin remained with his mother Morwen, who hid him from the Easterlings that Morgoth had sent to Hithlum, fearing they would kill Túrin or enslave him. Unknown to Túrin at that time, Morgoth had placed a curse on all of Húrin's family.

His life in Doriath


When Túrin was eight years old Morwen sent him to Doriath, where he was adopted by Thingol as a son. After this Túrin's second sister, Nienor was born. Túrin was restless, and as soon as he was permitted he joined Beleg Cúthalion on the marches of Doriath, fighting the orcs of Morgoth. He wore the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin, and the orcs feared him above all others.

Life as an Outlaw
Túrin accidentally caused the death of Saeros, one of Thingol's counselors who had provoked and attacked him. Before he could be either punished or forgiven, he fled, eventually encountering a band of outlaws that dwelt south of Brethil. There he identified himself only as Neithan (the wronged). Túrin killed their leader, and became their leader in his place. During his rule, he stopped the outlaws from raiding houses of free folk, and only hunted Orcs.

In the meantime, Beleg Cúthalion obtained leave by Thingol to seek out his friend. In FA 487, Beleg found Túrin's outlaws at the outskirts of Amon Rûdh and was held tied up in question by them until Túrin returned; when Beleg could not persuade his friend to leave the outlaws, he left to return to Doriath. Túrin's band later captured Mîm the Petty-dwarf while Beleg and Túrin were parted. Mîm was forced to share his halls on Amon Rûdh with his company while Túrin promised to repay Mîm for the accidental death of his son Khîm.

Death of Beleg
At Doriath, Beleg asked to be able to join his friend. Thingol allowed this and also gave him the sword Anglachel, and Thingol's wife Melian gave him Lembas. Beleg returned to Túrin that winter, healing those of the band that had become sick with cold. Beleg brought with him the Dragon-helm, after Turin agreed to take the Dragon-helm, the area around Amon Rûdh became known as Dor-Cúarthol, "The Land of Bow and Helm" (since Beleg was known as a mighty bowman). There Túrin took the name Gorthol, "The Dread Helm". Many warriors joined them, and much of the West of Beleriand was freed from evil for a while.

Eventually, Túrin was betrayed by Mîm the dwarf. He was captured at the top of Amon Rûdh and all his men were slain about him. Beleg survived and rescued Túrin from the orcs in Taur-nu-Fuin with the help of Gwindor, an escaped slave of Morgoth, but Túrin accidentally killed Beleg with Beleg's sword Anglachel. Beleg, who was trying to cut Túrins bonds, was mistaken by Túrin as one of the orcs tormenting him. Thus, he roared in fear and killed Beleg and awoke the camp, Gwindor and Túrin then fled. Gwindor led Túrin whose mind was lost in a silent sadness, to the Pools of Ivrin, where he then cried and his madness was cured.

Leader of Nargothrond


Gwindor then led Túrin to Nargothrond, where once he had lived. In Nargothrond, Túrin and hid his name, calling himself by the alias Agarwaen son of Úmarth (Sindarin for "Bloodstained son of Ill-fate"), while hopeing to hide his identity and escape Morgoth's curse upon his kin. He had Anglachel reforged and named it Gurthang, "Iron of Death". Finduilas, daughter of Orodreth, fell in love with him, but he avoided her because she had previously been the beloved of his friend Gwindor. Túrin declined to tell her his name, so that she called him Thurin (the secret). He was also called Adanedhel (Man-Elf) because he was so like an elf, though he was human. Gwindor later revealed Túrin's true identity to Finduilas when anger and sadness over took him and it eventually reached Finduilas' father, King Orodreth.

The revelation of his identity resulted in Túrin becoming a chief counsellor of Orodreth, and was extremely influential in Nargothrond. He encouraged the Nargothrondrim to abandon their practice of secrecy, and they built a great bridge before the gates. Because of his prowess with Gurthang, he himself became known as the Mormegil (Black Sword), or the Black Sword of Nargothrond. In FA 495, with Orodreth now deep in the council of Túrin, the Elves of Nargothrond marched out from their secret city with an army of some thousands of elves to confront the enemy massing beneath the Ered Wethrin (Mountains of Shadow) and in the Pass of Sirion. They were overwhelmed and driven into the Plain of Tumhalad and utterly defeated in the Battle of Tumhalad. Only Túrin, who wore the Dragon Helm of Dor-lómin was able to survive the hot fiery blasts of Glaurung and escaped. There was a desperate attempt to destroy the bridge Túrin has ordered to be built for swifter actions of the army, alas it was too well made and the enemy arrived and Glaurung the father of dragons destroyed the gate and the sacking of the once mighty Nargothrond, began.

The Dragon's Deceit


Túrin was caught by the powerful gaze of Glaurung at the smashed gate of the city, and stood by idly as Finduilas and hundreds of captives was dragged away, Finduilas called to him, once her cries were drowed out in the distance Túrin was released from  Glaurung's spell of which deceived Túrin  into believing Morwen and Nienor were suffering in Dor-lómin, and Túrin abandoned Finduilas to seek out his kin. In actuality, Morwen and Nienor were safely in Doriath, as Túrin's own efforts had made the way passable.

Once in Dor-lómin, Túrin found his old home empty. He went to the halls of the Easterling lord Brodda, who had taken Húrin's kinswoman Aerin as a wife and many a time beaten her and enslaved Túrin's people, Brodda had also taken Húrin's lands and possessions to which also rightfully belonged to Túrin. From Aerin, Túrin learned that Morwen had left, and in his rage, he held Brodda up like a dog and threw him in a group of men breaking his neck killing Brodda, thereby also sealing Aerin's fate and. As Túrin left again, Aerin burnt herself alive in Brodda's halls, and the remainder of the House of Hador now was persecuted even with more cruelly.

Túrin next tried to find Finduilas, but by the time, he picked up the Orc's trail he came too late: the woodsmen of Brethil informed him she had been killed as they had tried to rescue the prisoners of Nargothrond. Túrin collapsed on the mound she was buried in, and was brought to Brethil.

In Brethil Túrin again took up his life, now calling himself Turambar (Master of Doom) in an act of bravado, deciding that his curse was now finally over. One night in the middle of a fierce storm he and his men found a naked young woman on Finduilas's grave, and called her Níniel " Maiden of tears" for see cried for she knew nothing. Túrin years later took her as his wife. Túrin did not know that this was indeed his sister, whose memory had been erased by Glaurung. Brandir, out of jealousy or forecast, told Niniel that a shadow was cast above Túrin, and that instead of being Master of Shadow, the Shadow would inevitably master him.

Dragon Slayer
Túrin's happiness ended when Glaurung came near Brethil burning miles and miles of forest so his body can get to were the woodsmen lived. Túrin with two others set out to kill the dragon, but he was the only one to reach the drake. With his black sword, he went under a ravine and stabed the dragons belly killing Glaurung at Cabed-en-Aras, but was hurt and fell in a swoon. As Níniel came to search for him, Glaurung with his last words revealed to her she was his sister. Horrified, Nienor Níniel killed herself by leaping into the ravines of the river.

Suicide


When Túrin awoke he was told by Brandir the Lame, lord of the Haladin of Brethil what had happened, he killed Brandir in anger in front of many people, refusing to believe the truth. When he learned from Mablung of Doriath who had come to seek him that Brandir was telling truth and that he had wrongfully slew him, he could no longer live with the pains and misfortunes of his life and decided to take his life. Just before his death, he revealed that he had been blind since childhood; the plague that had killed his sister took his sight.

Then, Turin said to Gurthang: "Hail Gurthang, iron of death, thou alone now remainest! But what lord or loyalty dost thou know, save the hand that wieldeth thee? From no blood wilt thou shrink! Wilt thou take Tùrin Turambar? Wilt thou slay me swiftly?"



And from the blade rang a cold voice in answer: "Yea, I will drink thy blood, that may I forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay thee swiftly." Then Tùrin set the hilts upon the ground, and cast himself upon the point of Gurthang, and the black blade took his life. Túrin and several of the others connected to his story are some of the few people in the Middle-earth legendarium to have committed suicide.

An alternate interpretation of Túrin's revelation mirrors that of his father's in the Silmarillion, that all that he had seen was twisted by the malice and might of Morgoth, and so as if blind, he stumbled through life.

Túrin was buried near Finduilas' grave, in a high mound where he had fallen, and the shards of Gurthang were set beside him.

'And thereon the Elves carved in the Runes of Doriath: TÚRIN TURAMBAR DAGNIR GLAURUNGA

(Túrin, Master of Fate, Slayer of Glaurung).

and beneath they wrote also:

NIËNOR NÍNIEL

Aftermath
After Húrin, Túrin's father, was released from Angband, he and his wife Morwen met at the gravesite of their children for the first and last time, and Morwen died when the sun set holding Húrin's hand and was also buried there. The mound they were buried beneath survived the War of Wrath and Tol Morwen was the westernmost isle off the coast of Lindon in the Second and Third Ages.

Whether the tragedies in Túrin's life were the result of Morgoth's curse or of his own arrogance, or some combination of the two, are a subject of some debate among fans and scholars.

Legacy
The second prophecy of Mandos (later removed from the Silmarillion by Christopher Tolkien) states that at the End of Time Morgoth would wage a final battle against the Valar, the Final Battle, and that Túrin Turambar reincarnated would plunge Gurthang into Morgoth's heart and defeat him once and for all, exterminating evil forever, and avenging the Children of Húrin.

The supposed resemblance of Túrin to figures from medieval tales can be confirmed by part of a letter Tolkien wrote to Milton Waldman, a publisher, concerning the publication of his works.

Etymology
The name Túrin means "he who desires mastery", from the Sindarin words tûr ("power, mastery, lord") and ind (desire, heart"). In Quenya, his name becomes Turindo, from tur ("master") and indo ("mood").

Turambar means "Master of Doom", from the Quenya tur ("master") and ambar ("doom").

Other names

 * Adanedhel, "Man-Elf"
 * Agarwaen, son of Úmarth, "Bloodstained, son of Ill-fate"
 * Gorthol, "The Dread Helm"
 * Mormegil, "Black Sword"
 * Neithan, "The Wronged"
 * Thurin, "The Secret"

Behind the Scenes

 * There is the Children of Húrin, the tragic tale of Túrin Turambar and his sister Níniel of which Túrin is the hero: a figure that might be said (by people who like that sort of thing, though it is not very useful) to be derived from elements in Sigurd the Volsung, Oedipus, and the Finnish Kullervo.

Túrin was a first cousin of Tuor, who was the father of Eärendil. There are many parallels between the circumstances of their lives (both lost their fathers in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, were raised in part by Elves, spent time as outlaws and as prisoners, and were war-leaders in the greatest Ñoldorin fortresses, but the outcome of Tuor's life was quite different. Even Túrin's coloring was dark, enhancing his resemblance to the Ñoldorin Elves but further setting him apart from his fair-haired cousin. The two never actually met, but Tuor did once see his cousin in passing (not an everyday occurrence in the wilds of Beleriand).

Túrin also resembles Sigmund, the father of Sigurd in the Volsung saga, in the incestuous relationship he has with his sister, which is a parallel to the marriage of Túrin and Nienor. In Richard Wagner's opera, Die Walküre (also drawn in part from the Volsung myths), Siegmund and Sieglinde are parallels of Turin and Nienor (one interesting resemblance of Túrin to Siegmund is that in the first act of Die Walkure, Siegmund tells Hunding is name is Wehwalt(woeful), just as Túrin tells the elves of Nargothrond his name is Agarwaen (blood-stained).) Kullervo in Kalevala also lost his family in a war. Later on he finds his family members again. He seduces his sister and afterwards the sister jumps into a river, like Nienor in Teiglin. Afterwards, he commits suicide exactly like Túrin did. Kullervo asks for his sword to kill him, and the sword replies just as Gurthang did. Then Kullervo throws himself onto the sword and dies.