Fantasy Morality

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Mnemosyne

I don't buy the idea that Turin's "fate" is external to him at all: as many things go wrong that are the result of his own actions (the sack of Nargothrond, which is a direct result of Turin's more open style of confrontation) as the result of the curse acting through chance (Beleg's knife slipping as he cuts Turin's bonds). The same goes for the rebellious Noldor: it is not the Doom of Mandos which made the Silmarils burn Maedhros and Maglor, but the evil of their own deeds in getting them.

Indeed, part of the beauty of CoH is that you simply don't know how much of the horrible things that happen are due to the curse, and how much of them are due to Turin himself. If you say it's all one or all the other, the work loses its nuance and subtlety. I don't think that the morality in Silm-era works is necessarily incompatible with that in LotR: the only difference between the two eras is the extent to which the gods got involved in others' affairs.

On this note, if one gives any credence to the idea that there is a unity in Tolkien's work, I think the final pages of The Hobbit sheds some light on the idea. Doesn't Gandalf say to Bilbo something to the effect of "Surely you'd disbelieve the ancient prophecies just because you had a hand in bringing them about?"

One of the fascinating things about fate/prophecies/doom is the question of whether the one fated/doomed/prophecied is free to end up there or determined... and it's a philosophical question that has been much considered in the western tradition, at least since Christianity got involved with its dual offerings of free will and prophecy.

Obviously, there's a vast difference in mood and outcome between The Hobbit and The Children of Húrin, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to say they have two different takes on fate/prophecy. The difference, as I see it, is chiefly that Bilbo/Dale get a happy prophecy, while Túrin/Nienor/et al get a tragic doom. The philosophical question is whether, the outcomes having been foreseen, those involved had a choice in getting there or not.