Quote:
Originally Posted by Belegorn
Regarding Hurin's feat, I don't want to overstate it because Morgoth did want him taken alive, "they took him at last alive, by the command of Morgoth" [Sil, p. 238] So I would say he killed alot of those orcs/trolls because they were not necessarily bent on killing him. I think this impetus was shown with the orcs hands/arms still grasping him even though they were no longer attached to the Orcs bodies.
"the Orcs GRAPPLED him with their hands, which CLUNG TO HIM STILL though he HEWED OFF their ARMS" [p. 238]
Feanor himself, whether from Valinor or not was said the be the greatest of the Children of Iluvatar.
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## The "omniscient" readers share the knowledge of Arda available to Tolkien, & can know Morgoth wanted Hurin taken alive - but did Hurin know this ? I don't think his heroism is diminished by fighting against enemies who (for their own self-preservation, if they survived) could not afford to kill him. Humanly speaking, he may have been in pretty much the same sort of fix as Isildur at the Gladden Fields: the only significant difference I can see is, that the orcs who killed Isildur's company wanted to do so, even if those orcs were unaware of what made them so ferocious. The will of the Ring, the will of the orcs, & the wills of Isildur & his company, are all different wills, but all are means of developing events.
If it was intended by Eru that Isildur should be killed, now that he had the Ring, that would not make the human activity of Isildur in trying to fight off the attack any less courageous. The intentions of the Valar may operate at a different level from those of beings in Arda. Maybe that is applicable here: the action of Hurin is still heroic, and undiminished by Morgoth's will that he be taken alive.
I know I'm making metaphysical & theological assumptions
