Hurin and despair - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Morwen Tindomerel · 05-19-2003, 09:01 AM

Oddly enough I have never seen fatalism in the Narn. What I see, and what I think Tolkien *intended* for the reader to see, is how good people could be manipulated, (*not* controlled) by evil.

The decisions and choices were *always* in the hands of Hurin, Morwen and their Children. They were not foredoomed to make the wrong decisions the chose to do so through lack of thought and self-mastery.

Tolkien, through Manthor, states in so many words that the 'curse' worked by encouraging the fault and flaws of the victims. But because Men are the masters of their own fates, and their own wills, and their own hands, (proven again by Hurin's defiance) the curse can be overcome - it just wasn't.

[ May 19, 2003: Message edited by: Morwen Tindomerel ]

05-19-2003, 09:01 AM	#11
Morwen Tindomerel Wight Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Minas Anor or Annuminas the Golden Posts: 187	Oddly enough I have never seen fatalism in the Narn. What I see, and what I think Tolkien intended for the reader to see, is how good people could be manipulated, (not controlled) by evil. The decisions and choices were always in the hands of Hurin, Morwen and their Children. They were not foredoomed to make the wrong decisions the chose to do so through lack of thought and self-mastery. Tolkien, through Manthor, states in so many words that the 'curse' worked by encouraging the fault and flaws of the victims. But because Men are the masters of their own fates, and their own wills, and their own hands, (proven again by Hurin's defiance) the curse can be overcome - it just wasn't. [ May 19, 2003: Message edited by: Morwen Tindomerel ]