J.R.R. Tolkien Epic Reads discussion

This thread is for the last 6 chapters and the appendix (and also genealogy, if any. Aside appendix my copy has the genealogy, makes it easier to read the book).

Finished reading the last 6 chapters and the appendix last night. But I honestly don't have much things to say :D

My only notes is the one about the curse from chapter 14 where Mablung said "Truly, it is by lack of counsel not of courage that Húrin's kin bring woe to others! Even so with Túrin; yet not so with his fathers. But now they are all fey, and I like it not.[...]"

As I said in other chapters thread the curse remind me of Fëanor and his kin and their curse. And also if it can be broken. If it can, how? I don't think I've read lots of story about curse before (other than the curse in fairy tales), so I don't know much about it. But at some point I like to think that it is indeed can be broken if the cursed ones do different things what they meant to do. So they will have different outcome.

I mostly enjoy about Glaurung, chapter 16 & 17. I think it's better than what it is told in TS, as here is more descriptive. And I still love the idea that even in his last breath, Glaurung can hurt our characters badly. So wicked!!!!

And another 'what-if' moment I get is from the appendix. It says that Tuor, Túrin's cousin, saw Túrin and didn't know that Nargothrond has fallen and it is his cousin. What if he knew that it is his cousin? Will Túrin have different ending? I don't think so, not only because of the curse but also because his personalities, his pride and stubborn and all of that. But now I kind of want to read more Tuor (and Idril) story :)

And about the whole appendix, as much as it adds to the story I find it's quite confusing as Christopher Tolkien compares CoH to Unfinished Tales while I never read UT before. I don't think I will though. At least not until I reread both TS and CoH again :D But I do happy knowing that CoH is in full novel format instead in prose, like what Tolkien meant to be at first.

Okay, I'll share my thoughts first and then respond to Rachmi:)

Suffice it to say I was really really really glad to finish this book. I kept hoping I would enjoy it, but I never did. A few paragraphs in the whole book were good. If I was not a moderator, of this group I would not have finished it. Life is too short and there are too many great books to read.

In chapter 13: There was the briefest hope that Turin might really transform ... but no. He kept on the same old tired treadmill. It made me think of adrenaline junkies. When you live a life that is high drama, which war and bloody battles would be included, you get addicted to the adrenaline. Without that rush, life seems dull and boring unless you can pass through the physiological changes for your nervous system to downgrade/reset. So Turin makes me think of an adrenaline junkie who just can't live without the rush of battle.

Chapter 14. Morwen. Morwen. Morwen. She is just like Turin, full of pride, etc. She raised Turin. So. Did the curse extend to her? Or was this just a family trait?

I did love Glauring! I guess I feel about Glauring the way Rachmi feels about Morgoth. It was truly cool the way he spelled Nienor and then it was crushing how with his last breath he destroyed her emotionally. Bad Dragon! That was really wicked.

By the time we finally reached Turin's death it felt really anti-climatic/who cares/is this book finished yet.

Again, for me, the last scene where Hurin meets Morwen did not have the emotional impact it did in TS.

Rachmi, I think a curse would be whatever the author wants it to be, or however the author writes it. Tolkien wrote this so that Turin was never freed from the curse. It just felt nihilistic to me. It made the curse more powerful than Turin. So I suppose in this story, Tolkien believed/wanted Morgoth to be more powerful than Turin.

But, yes, for me, Glauring was the slam-dunk star of CoH. And with regards to Glauring, those are the few passages where I appreciated the additional detail in CoH.

I did not read the appendix, so I have no desire to read the Tuor and Idril story:) I also have not read Unfinished Tales. From here on out I am The Hobbit and LotR only!!!!!

By the end of the book, I get to see that I like CoH better as a chapter (in TS) than as a book. I think you feel it that way? Because it is more enjoyable to read for me in TS than here in its own book.

I never thought of Túrin as you thought of him, as an adrenaline junkie but I think you can be right. He is an adrenaline junkie. He keeps searching something to fight and such. After all, there are these kind of people in our real world, right?

Rachmi wrote: "By the end of the book, I get to see that I like CoH better as a chapter (in TS) than as a book. I think you feel it that way? Because it is more enjoyable to read for me in TS than here in its own..."

YES!!!!

And, yes, I think some/many? of the people who go to war today, have the some problem/curse as Turin. They cannot stop fighting, quell their bloodlust:( Normal, everyday, peaceful life becomes too boring, or too unreal to them after the horrors of war. Quite the timeless tragedy.

Okay, in that respect, maybe I can give CoH more credit.