Is the Lack of Action a Problem in "Wanderings of Húrin"?

Wanderings of Húrin: "Too much speech;too little action"-do you agree?

This is the critisicm that Prof. Clyde Kilby levelled at the Wanderings of Húrin (HoME 11). Do you think so? Like C.T I found it to be engaging and interesting. But I wish he had written about Húrin's actions in Doriath and more fully in Nargothrond.

*Note it is meant to read to much sPeech, not sOeech. Can a mod correct this?

I think it was very good, all the new information about the house of Haleth was very interesting and I found it very interesting to read about the Moot. But of course I wish that he had written about what Húrin did in Nargothrond and Doriath.

Clyde who?

I enjoyed it, but found it somewhat 'choppy', meaning it was all cut up, but I guess that's the case with the more 'unfinished tales'......
Plus, those constant footnotes can drive you insane.

It also seemed in need of revision.

I thought that the whole opening premise upon which Hurin was upset with the Haladin to begin with needed a little more working up to be more believable too.

But, I guess that was part of the point JRRT was trying to get across:

Morgoth had so distorted Hurin's point of view that he wasn't seeing anything in it's true light......

I did read it quickly though because the book had to go back to the library....
I'd waited weeks for it to arrive from out of town & was away part of the time I finally got it in to my library.

Now I have it - just got volumes 10, 11 & 12 from Amazon - & I plan on reading 10 & 11 more thoroughly after browsing through #12.

BTW, I agree, I would've liked to read more on Nargothrond & Doriath, but let's be honest: We could say that about EVERY aspect of Tolkien's writings on Middle-earth.

Most interesting revelation to me:

There was a large group of Men following Hurin. In The Sil, we get the impression he's alone.

Bucky said:

There was a large group of Men following Hurin. In The Sil, we get the impression he's alone.

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I think it's mentioned, just vaguely.

This is an old topic, but relevant to my own recent readings of Tolkien, my own kind of homemade, making-it-up-as-I go version of an expanded version of The Silmarillion.

I was excited about it at first, the way it kicks off. Doing a comparative reading between material from TBoLT volume II and versions of Hurin's journeys shown in The Shaping of Middle-earth, I thought it was interesting to see how different versions have Hurin pick up a following in his wanderings.

Reading Wanderings right after the full version of The Children of Hurin, I was very excited to see the return of Asgon and the other outlaws of Dor-Lomin join with Hurin. Nice bit of continuity there. In retrospect it makes the version where wild elves join Hurin seem random and much more unlikely, it doesn't flow organically or logically.

There were three hiccups that caused me to stumble a little. The story is disrupted early on by the interruption of a sort of continuation of the Grey Annals.

The next major trouble spot spot for me is where Hurin separates from his companions for Dor-Lomin, and the story follows Asgon and the other outlaws as they are captured by the Men of Brethil. And it's all new characters, only one I know from before, names of the other outlaws being introduced, and no familiar faces among the people of Brethil (after Turin's effect on the previous leadership). I got seriously lost here, with the main anchor character, Hurin, "off-screen" as it were; I rather desperately scrambled to jot down an on-the-fly Dramatis Personae of all the characters and their roles and allegiances. After which I was fine When Hurin returned I was well prepared with the character notes. I didn't expect the story to stretch that far with new characters and situations.

The final major concern was worry and disappointment that the story was headed in the direction of a courtroom drama. It had the fantasy/Tolkien spin, but it was still a concern; it seemed like such a mundane prospect. Stephen King's Eye of the Dragon disappointed me in a similar way for the genre mash-up it turned out to be. I was relieved when the story seemed to shake itself out of the courtroom drama trappings and moved on to more interesting stuff.

The view of the society that populates the forest of Brethil is a curious one; I found myself wondering how much of the imagery this story evoked in my mind could retroactively be applied to images and scenery in The Children of Hurin when Turin integrates among the Men of Brethil. Did Turin participate in a moot as depicted here, did he argue strategy in the same Chieftain's hall that Wanderings sees burned down?

In the end I was happy to read this within the larger The Silmarillion context. It was a bit of a struggle, but I feel like it ended up satisfying for the most part.

Old topic but new for me

I always find everything related to Hurin, and the children of Hurin too depressing. It's literally the only part I didn't like in the Silmarillion.

There are many tragic events in the Silmarillion, but most of them have a purpose, and a positive outcome.

Yeah, Barahir and his companions were killed, very sad, but thanks to that Finrod helped Beren stay alive long enough to be rescued by Luthien and get the silmaril.

All Tuor's family members were killed, but then Tuor will get to Gondolin, marry Idril and have Earendil, and possibly reached Valinor and became immortal.

But with Hurin and his children, it was just tragedy, it doesn't end well for anyone, and it doesn't result in a significant positive outcome.

Having said that. I don't think Tolkien ever intended to publish the wandering of Hurin as is. He wrote all the background story in Brethil but that wasn't central to the Silmarillion.

Hurin did 2 things with significant impact when he was released from Angband.

1) Revealed (unintentionally) to Morgoth that approximate location of Gondolin, that ultimately will lead to the destruction of Gondolin but also to Earendil reaching the mouth of Sirion and we know what happened.

2), He gave the Nauglamir to Thingol, that resulted in Thingol quarrying with the dwarves and getting killed, eventually leading to the destruction of Doriath, but Elwing escaped with the Silmaril.

The story of Hurin in Brethil is not significant or influential in the general narrative, it's just an account of one of the most important heroes of the first age last years.

And yes, it's not an epic tale, more another tragedy.

Ricardo said:

Old topic but new for me

I always find everything related to Hurin, and the children of Hurin too depressing. It's literally the only part I didn't like in the Silmarillion.

There are many tragic events in the Silmarillion, but most of them have a purpose, and a positive outcome.

Yeah, Barahir and his companions were killed, very sad, but thanks to that Finrod helped Beren stay alive long enough to be rescued by Luthien and get the silmaril.

All Tuor's family members were killed, but then Tuor will get to Gondolin, marry Idril and have Earendil, and possibly reached Valinor and became immortal.

But with Hurin and his children, it was just tragedy, it doesn't end well for anyone, and it doesn't result in a significant positive outcome.

Having said that. I don't think Tolkien ever intended to publish the wandering of Hurin as is. He wrote all the background story in Brethil but that wasn't central to the Silmarillion.

Hurin did 2 things with significant impact when he was released from Angband.

1) Revealed (unintentionally) to Morgoth that approximate location of Gondolin, that ultimately will lead to the destruction of Gondolin but also to Earendil reaching the mouth of Sirion and we know what happened.

2), He gave the Nauglamir to Thingol, that resulted in Thingol quarrying with the dwarves and getting killed, eventually leading to the destruction of Doriath, but Elwing escaped with the Silmaril.

The story of Hurin in Brethil is not significant or influential in the general narrative, it's just an account of one of the most important heroes of the first age last years.

And yes, it's not an epic tale, more another tragedy.

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Not to justify his actions but being forced to watch from afar all the tragedy that befell upon your kin, kinda make you wanna see the whole world burn. 🔥 🌎 🔥

Frandîr said:

Not to justify his actions but being forced to watch from afar all the tragedy that befell upon your kin, kinda make you wanna see the whole world burn. 🔥 🌎 🔥

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I 100% agreed, and I have great admiration for Hurin and Turin, it's just too sad and unlike other stories with no positive outcome, just tragedy.