Article Is Continued After This...

Your Home A Living Canvas: Create Stunning Faux Finishes & Murals with Paint (Hardcover) tagged "home and garden" 9 times

---

The Children of Hurin:

After Lord of the Rings became such a great success (second - or was it third time around?) there was a rush to read everything Tolkien had ever written.

There is a lot more to the man and his writing than you could ever expect.

If you have not had the chance to explore the brilliance of his imagination - you too can have a second chance.

The Children of Hurin

by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien and Alan Lee
Published: 17 April, 2007
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Price: $13.90 USD

There are several reviews below plus you can add your own comments...

An Early Glimpse of Middle earth

The Children of Hurin is a tale dating from the very early years of J.R.R. Tolkien's mythical worlds. He began writing it as early as 1918 and continued to work on it off and on for the rest of his life. Other versions of the Tale have been included in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, but now we have the story as close to the way J.R.R. Tolkien intended it as his son Christopher could recreate.

The Children of Hurin takes place in Middle earth thousands of years before the events of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, specifically in Beleriand, a region that by the time of The War of the Ring had long since sunk beneath the Sea.

During the First Age Elves and Men (the Eldar and the Edain) were locked in combat with the Great Enemy Melkor/Morgoth, of whom Sauron in The Lord of the Rings was a mere servant.

At the Tale's beginning Morgoth has conquered the greater portion of Beleriand and now rules it from his fortress of Angband in the mountains of Thangorodrim. The Elvish kingdoms of Doriath, Nargothrond, and Gondolin are hidden and for the moment still safe.

The Edain have been less fortunate and are now scattered and largely demoralized. Hurin, the Heir of the House of Hador, seeks to rally Men to continue the struggle. Morgoth captures Hurin and places a curse on his family.

Article Continued Below...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best Prices On Related Items From eBay - right Now!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Article Continued...

Hurin's children Turin and Nienor must deal with the curse and its consequences for the rest of their lives.

This is a dark story full of tragedy, deceit, and violence. Tolkien's models were the Germanic sagas, but there are also elements of Greek drama, in particular in the role Fate plays in the lives of so many characters. There are also many elements readers of Tolkien's later works will recognize: dragon-guarded treasures, swords and other talismans with unknown powers to be reckoned with,and proud men and women who meet their destinies with grim determination.

Although the story is complete in itself, there are hints of more Tales to come, and it is to be hoped that Christopher Tolkien will provide the full "Fall of Gondolin" among other stories still left to be completely told.

An additional pleasure are the very fine but sombre paintings Alan Lee has provided to illustrate The Children of Hurin. They perfectly match the mood of the story and greatly enhance it.

The Return of Tolkien

As an avid Tolkien reader I am glad to have this book. I remember when I read The Silmarilian and I read the Tale of Turin Tumbar, such a sad tale was it that I had to take a break from reading for a few days. In this new revised edition it seems easier to understand (esspecially with the fold out map in the back) and more complete than it did in the Silmarilian. One thing I like about this is that the reader doesn't have to read The Silmarilian in order to understand what is happening, although it would help to kinda understand the backstory and some of the people who are mintioned like Beren the One Hand and Luthien. This book is a must have of any real Tolkien lover!

Reminder of why I fell in love with the Silmarillion, Hobbit and LotR

MUST BUY! I just got done reading it, it reminded me again of why I love reading Tolkien's works so much. The Tale of the Children of Hurin is the story of, surprise surprise, the Children of Hurin - Turin and Nienor. It covers in greater detail and length the story of Turin son of Hurin, the Black Sword, slayer of Glaurung the Dragon. It has illustrations from Alan Lee (about 10 or so) as well as comments and notes at the end. Wonderful, wonderful work!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Invitation: Thanks for your visit, but after all the hard work (mostly unpaid) we put into this site - if nothing else - we would certainly welcome your comments on this article.

You can use the form below...

If you found this information really useful - please consider making a small donation into our 'Tip Jar' It would be much appreciated...