Was Huan a traitor?

[Galadriel55]

I hear what you are saying, and I like the comparison with Beregond. However, Beregond didn't renounce Denethor completely, no matter how much he disagreed with him.
Moreover, if you swear a fealty to someone, you can't just say oh no I don't like serving you any more. Isn't part of fealty that only your master can free you from it, like in Pippin's oath to Denethor?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I hear what you are saying, and I like the comparison with Beregond. However, Beregond didn't renounce Denethor completely, no matter how much he disagreed with him.
Moreover, if you swear a fealty to someone, you can't just say oh no I don't like serving you any more. Isn't part of fealty that only your master can free you from it, like in Pippin's oath to Denethor?

Was Huan a "sworn" vassal of Celegorm, or a willing servant?

....Oromë had given [Huan] to Celegorm long ago in Valinor, and there he had followed the horn of his master, before evil came. Huan followed Celegorm into exile, and was faithful; and thus he too came under the doom of woe set upon the Noldor....

Of Beren and Lúthien

That suggests that Huan had made there a choice, whether to follow Celegorm to Middle-earth and come under the Ban, or to renounce service and friendship and stay in Valinor.

Since Huan was punished for his loyalty to Celegorm there by being put under the Doom of the Noldor, it would seem he was indeed at liberty to choose where his loyalties lay. I see the situation with Beren and Lúthien as being similar.
Though Huan felt love and loyalty toward Celegorm, and followed him as long as he was able, he apparently knew when enough was enough, and recognised the time when blind loyalty to a master with an evil purpose was not the way for him.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I hear what you are saying, and I like the comparison with Beregond. However, Beregond didn't renounce Denethor completely, no matter how much he disagreed with him.

But the moral failings of Denethor is on a wholly different level to the moral failings of Celegorm, wouldn't you say? The failing of Denethor really was losing hope, he saw the vast armies of Sauron in his Palantir and realised that while they just might win this one battle they would surely lose the war (save a miracle). In a moment of despair and madness he decided that it would be better if he and his son and heir died together in freedom and in their own house, than later, at the hands of their enemy. He also thought that hope already had passed for Faramir. I don't think Beregond doubted that Denethor always had the best of intentions for his people and that he really did try his best to guard them, though he ultimately failed.
Edit: And pride (as always), he felt that everything depended on him and on Gondor, and if they failed, all must be lost.

Celegorm on the other hand was calculating, ruthless and callous in his dealings with Beren and Luthien. His motivation wasn't a great love for Luthien (though he did fancy her no doubt) but rather a personal hunger for power and riches with (as I believe) the Oath only as a secondary motive (that is, enhancing his chances of winning the Silmarils back). With Luthien by his side, and the realm of Nargothrond under his (and his brother's) control in the absence of Felagund he felt that he could forge, or force, a powerful alliance with Thingol and Doriath and thus become a mighty Elf in Middle Earth. And he was obviously willing to get rid of those hindering him, one way or another.

[Pitchwife]

Nice topic!

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Love and loyalty are different things. You can have loyalty without love, but not the oposite way.

I'd rather say there's loyalty born of duty, and loyalty born of love, and when both are in conflict, the latter tends to beat the former - as in Beregond, who I think felt bound by loyalty to both Denethor and Faramir, but defied Denethor (whom he was duty-bound to obey as a sworn Guard of the Citadel) to save Faramir (whom he loved).
[EXCURSUS] These are human distinctions, however, and I don't think a dog would get what we're talking about here - for them, love and loyalty tend to be the same thing, but in both their master comes first. I don't see a dog turning against its master and siding with another person in a direct conflict, no matter how fond they may be of that person otherwise. (E.g. our three dogs, who were raised and trained mostly by my wife before we moved together, love me dearly and would try to protect me against any danger, but in a romp between the two of us, I'll be outnumbered 4:1.) So I guess by purely canine standards, Huan would indeed be considered a traitor - but then again, as has been said, he was a most unusual dog in more respects than just his gift of speech. [/EXCURSUS]

As for Huan's impatience, I don't know - isn't it basically a hound's job description to flush the quarry out of its cover, and in some cases even kill it himself? I wouldn't see it as his fault that Carcharoth was too cunning for him and circumvented him.