The Children of Hurin

I recently finished reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin, edited by Christopher Tolkien, which I greatly enjoyed. The younger Tolkien put together the story from manuscripts that his father left.

The story is set in Middle-earth in the years long before the events of The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion tells the complete story of those times, but it is more of an overview or history. The Children of Hurin, however, is a tale with great detail. It is full of interesting characters, including Men, Elves, Dwarves, and a dragon. Certainly it can be read without knowing anything of the Silmarillion.

The story is a tragedy that centers around Turin, Hurin's eldest son, a heroic leader who finds many misfortunes due to his arrogance, rashness, anger, and pride. The other children are Turin's two sisters. Nienor has a major role, but she, like Turin, has inherited similar unfortunate traits from their parents, Hurin and Morwen. Turin and Nienor hate evil and act with great courage and love; they earn our admiration and affection.

But they make decisions based on strong emotions and misinformation. The promise of a bad ending grows; and there they travel, due to their faults and the deceptions of evil ones, unintentionally hurting many others as they go.