The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

[davem]

Kuruhuhuaran I wouldn’t disagree with any of those points regarding Turin’s pride. But Tolkien seems slightly ambivalent as regards ofermod. Clearly, his (concious?/official?) position, is condemnatory, but some of his greatest heroes clearly display ofermod. Feanor,greatest of the Noldor is a prime example of this overweening pride - & would he have achieved as much as he did were he not so supremely self assured?

Turin does bring disaster on others, no doubt, but he is remembered, held up as a hero & elf friend by those in later ages, & he, not one of those ‘others’, will be the one who faces down & defeats Morgoth in the Great Wrack. Turin is, for all his faults, a great hero. He is a tragic hero, not a villain. Much the same could be said of Feanor - for all the disaster he initiates, he is never seen simply as a ‘bad guy’. He is usually referred to as the greatest of the Noldor, Morgoth’s first & most implacable foe.

My point is that Tolkien doesn’t see ofermod as simply a trait of villains - though we do find it in villains - Saruman a prime example. It is also a flaw in some of his greatest heroes, & in their cases it is a tragic flaw, but it is essential to their greatness - they would not be great without it - or not as great. In the essay on Maldon Tolkien never goes so far as to present Beortnoth as a ‘villain’. Beortnoth is a flawed hero, as is Turin, Feanor & Boromir.

In other words, this particular form of pride is not the prerogative of villains. It is not, either, a fluke, a one off event. Turin is the hero he is because of the ofermod which is so much a part of his character. He ‘suffers’ from it from childhood - he is born Lord of Dor Lomin, & all through his childhood he is made aware of this, particularly by his mother. He kills Brodda as much because Brodda is a usurper as because of the offences he has committed against Turin’s family & people. Without his ofermod he would have probably become a slave himself. Whatever Turin achieves in life - & it wasn’t all bad - he brought periods of peace as a result of his actions - was a direct result of his pride & refusal to submit.

So, I submit (your honour ) that Tolkien wasn’t as unambiguous in his condemnation of ofermod as he’d like us to think. It is in the nature of the hero to suffer from this ‘fault’ - especially in the ‘heroic age’ of the Elder Days. It obviously has less place in the Third Age, when lessons have been learned, & wisdom gained. Yet, heroes are heroes, & they are necessary sometimes - for all their faults. Turin is presented as ‘mistaken’, or overconfident, cocky, as much or more so than he is presented as foolish or callous.