Turin the Hopeless?

[davem]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Obviously, the mood and tone are different. As to message, it is a mistake to glory in Turin's Nordic zeal, which leads him lockstep into all of his tragedies. Turin is to be pitied. One pities fools who cannot learn from past mistakes. Turin may be a heroic fool, but he brings his tragedy upon himself. Morgoth brought his curse to bear upon him, but the story reveals that Turin could have overcome it. No, Turin was responsible for his own downfall. Morgoth is of course responsible for all the evil he brought to bear upon Turin and his family. But that does not excuse Turin his murders, his wasting of many others' lives, his rejection of all beneficence that requires a shred of humility. Turin is not someone to be admired, except perhaps for his courage; but even that is flawed since he flees from his own name and thereby causes his own doom. What one sows, so he reaps.

Yes, & he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. It is, as I argued, Turin's flaws that makes it possible for us to relate to him as we do. Its his defiance, & refusal to be broken - the fact that he always comes back fighting - that endears him to us, for all the wrong he does. We root for Turin all through, because we want him to win, & that's why we're so affected by his death. We also know that Turin is a victim. He's a victim of his own pride & bloody mindedness as much as he's a victim of Morgoth, but a victim nonetheless.

This is what is so powerful about the work. Yes, Turin murders innocent people (directly & indirectly), & wrecks the lives & hopes of those around him. He also brings peace & stability to the land, thwarts Morgoth's plans, & kills, through an act of supreme courage, his most devastating 'weapon'.

And thoughout it all, in Turin the thug, the murderer, the walking disaster, the hero, we see Turin the boy, asking Labadal 'What is Fate?', & being sent away from the mother he loves, the mother he will never see again.

Turin is of his time (& as I argue, of our time too). He lives in a world which has lost hope in itself, a world in which no-one has any simple answers to the essential questions. Its not a world in which some kindly counsellor is going to sit him down & tell him 'Your father was meant to have the Helm of Hador, & so you, too, were meant to have it, & that may be an encouraging thought' - because in the world of CoH things don't work that way. There is no Shire. There are isolated, embattled islands of temporary safety. People exist on the edge of death - their own & that of those they love, & there's no Gandalf or Aragorn to teach & guide them. In place of a wise counsellor like Gandalf, who can tell Frodo what's happening, why its happening, what he should do, & be there to help him do it, Turin has Labadal, a broken old man, who can tell him precisely nothing, answer none of his questions, & offer him no protection at all.

And here's a good statement of the Catholic position http://anamchara.blogs.com/