use of the word "hell" in HOME...

[Kainrath]

HOME XI page 275:
"Out of hell comes the thought!"
"And so does he," answered Avranc. "If indeed he is Hurin."


was the word "hell" ever used anywhere else in Tolkien's writings...?
for some reason it feels a little out of place here
for instance...maybe the word Udun, or Angband being used instead
especially since Avranc's comment IS true and Hurin did come from Angband/Hell
any thoughts....

 

[Ithrynluin]

It could be said that Angband is Middle-earth's hell. Since it means "Hell of Iron", the word 'hell' is used often in association with it. Here are a few examples:

The Silmarillion: Of the Return of the Noldor
and staying Fingon's hand he took him up, and bore him to the face of the rock where Maedhros hung. But Fingon could not release the hell-wrought bond upon his wrist, nor sever it, nor draw it from the stone. Again therefore in his pain Maedhros begged that he would slay him; but Fingon cut off his hand above the wrist, and Thorondor bore them back to Mithrim.

The Silmarillion: Of Beleriand and Its Realms
In the north of the world Melkor had in the ages past reared Ered Engrin, the Iron Mountains, as a fence to his citadel of Utumno; and they stood upon the borders of the regions of everlasting cold, in a great curve from east to west. Behind the walls of Ered Engrin in the west, where they bent back northwards, Melkor built another fortress, as a defence against assault that might come from Valinor; and when he came back to Middle-earth, as has been told, he took up his abode in the endless dungeons of Angband, the Hells of Iron, for in the War of the Powers the Valar, in their haste to overthrow him in his great stronghold of Utumno, did not wholly destroy Angband nor search out all its deep places. Beneath Ered Engrin he made a great tunnel, which issued south of the mountains; and there he made a mighty gate. But above this gate, and behind it even to the mountains, he piled the thunderous towers of Thangorodrim, that were made of the ash and slag of his subterranean furnaces, and the vast refuse of his tunnellings. They were black and desolate and exceedingly lofty; and smoke issued from their tops, dark and foul upon the northern sky. Before the gates of Angband filth and desolation spread southward for many miles over the wide plain of Ard-galen; but after the coming of the Sun rich grass arose there, and while Angband was besieged and its gates shut there were green things even among the pits and broken rocks before the doors of hell.

The Silmarillion: Of Beren and Luthien
Then King Felagund spoke before his people, recalling the deeds of Barahir, and his vow and he declared that it was laid upon him to aid the son of Barahir in his need, and he sought the help of his chieftains. Then Celegorm arose amid the throng, and drawing his sword he cried: 'Be he friend or foe, whether demon of Morgoth, of Elf, or child of Men, or any other living thing in Arda, neither law, nor love, nor league of hell, nor might of the Valar, nor any power of wizardry, shall defend him from the pursuing hate of Fëanor's sons, if he take or find a Silmaril and keep it. For the Silmarils we alone claim, until the world ends.'

And so on and so forth.

 

[Inderjit S]

'Udun' another word for Melkor's original fortress of Utumo meant 'hell'-and since it is a Sindarin word it could be 'translated' into meaning 'hell' in the 'Common Tongue'-the area on North-Western Mordor, between the Black Gates and Isenmouth was also called Udun (named I guess by the Elves) or 'hell'. Angband was also called hell several times, as ithrynluin states-though I do not think it had any similarity (theologically) with the Christian conception of 'hell' it would problably be Middle-Earth's equivalent-the dwelling places of 'Satan' (or Morgoth), later also used to name a portion of Mordor, which was perhaps worse than others-it would seem to be more heavily defended.