The Children of Húrin by J. R. R. Tolkien

The Children of Húrin is an epic high fantasy novel which forms the completion of a tale by J. R. R. Tolkien. He wrote the original version of the story in late 1910s, revised it several times later, but did not complete it before his death in 1973. His son, Christopher Tolkien, edited the manuscripts to form a consistent narrative, and published it in 2007 as an independent work.So may be that’s why the language used in the novel is too difficult to understand.Though the story is amusing but to persist till the very end was indeed a very laborious task.While I kept on forgetting the names of the characters,places(happening with me the very firt time) etc,reading this novel became really tricky.The story goes on like this –

The story begins with the coming of Húrin and his brother Huor to the hidden city of Gondolin. Whereupon dwelling there for a year, they swore an oath not to reveal its location to any beings and were permitted swift passage to Dor-lómin. Therein Húrin married Morwen Edhelwen, and two children were born unto them, a son Túrin and a fair maiden daughter Lalaith. The book continues with the story of Túrin’s upraising, Lalaith’s early death and Húrin’s departure to war.

In the disastrous defeat of the Battle of Unnumbered Tears Húrin was captured alive. Morgoth personally tormented him, trying to force from him the location of Gondolin, but despite his efforts, Húrin defied and even scorned Morgoth. For this, Morgoth placed a curse on him and his family whereby evil things would befall them.

At Morgoth’s command the allied Easterlings overran Hithlum and Dor-lómin. Morwen, fearing her son’s capture, sent Túrin to the realm of Doriath for safety. Shortly afterwards, Morwen gave birth to a second daughter, Nienor. In Doriath, Túrin was taken as foster-son by King Thingol and became a mighty warrior, befriending Beleg Strongbow as one of the march-wardens. However, after several years Túrin accidentally caused the death of one of Thingol’s advisers, an elf Saeros, who had harassed Túrin earlier. Believing himself to be a criminal in the eyes of Thingol, Túrin fled Doriath and entered the wilderness.

Túrin joined a band of outlaws, the Gaurwaith, and soon became their leader. Meanwhile, Thingol learned of the circumstances of Saeros’s death and pardoned Túrin for the act, sending the Elf Beleg out to search for him. After a year, he succeeded in tracking down the band, and after being briefly tortured by the lawless gang in Túrin’s absence, was set free and was able to deliver to Turin the message of the king’s pardon. However Túrin refused to return to Doriath. Beleg then departed in order to participate in battles upon the north-marches of Doriath.

Some time after Túrin and his men captured Mîm the Petty-dwarf, who ransomed his life by leading the band to the caves in the hill of Amon Rûdh where he made his home. The outlaws entrenched themselves in the caves, and soon Beleg returned and joined them. The band gradually became more daring and successful in their warfare against Morgoth’s troops, and Túrin and Beleg even established the realm of Dor-Cúarthol. However, after a couple of years Mîm, because he hated the Elves and was jealous by the attention Túrin paid to Beleg, betrayed the outlaws, revealing the band’s headquarters to Morgoth’s forces. The outlaws were overrun, Túrin was captured, but Beleg escaped.

Beleg followed the company of Orcs, meeting a mutilated elf, Gwindor of Nargothrond, along the way. They found Túrin sleeping and released him from his bonds, but Túrin, thinking that an Orc had come to torment him, slew Beleg before realising his tragic error. Gwindor led Túrin to Eithel Sirion, where Túrin regained his senses, and later to Nargothrond. There Túrin gained favour with King Orodreth and earned the love of his daughter Finduilas. After leading the Elves to considerable victories, he became the chief counsellor of Orodreth and virtually commander of all the forces in Nargothrond.

Messengers send from Círdan warned Túrin to hide Nargothrond from Morgoth, but Túrin believed that Nargothrond was strong enough to withstand assault. However, after five years Morgoth sent a great force of Orcs under the command of a dragon Glaurung and defeated the army of Nargothrond on the field of Tumhalad, where both Gwindor and Orodreth were killed. Morgoth’s forces sacked Nargothrond and captured its populace, and in an attempt to prevent this, Túrin encountered Glaurung. The dragon enchanted and tricked him into returning to Dor-lómin to seek out his mother and sister instead of rescuing Finduilas and other prisoners, what, according to the last words of Gwindor, was the only way to avoid his doom.

When Túrin returned to Dor-lómin, he learned that Morwen and Nienor had already fled for Doriath. In a rage Túrin incited a fight and had to flee once more. He tracked Finduilas’s captors to the forest of Brethil, only to learn that she had been murdered by the orcs when the woodmen had attempted to rescue her. Almost broken by his grief, Túrin sought sanctuary among the Folk of Haleth, who maintained a tenacious resistance against the forces of Morgoth. In Brethil Túrin renamed himself Turambar, or “Master of Doom” in High-elven, and gradually overruled the Chieftain Brandir.

Meanwhile Morwen and Nienor heard rumours of Túrin’s deeds at Nargothrond and attempted to find him. They were attacked by Glaurung, who enchanted Nienor so that she forgot everything, while Morwen was lost. Eventually Nienor reached Brethil, where she was met by Turambar, who had never seen her; not realising their kinship, they fell in love and married, despite the counsels of Brandir.

After some time Glaurung came to exterminate the Men of Brethil, but Turambar killed the dragon by stabbing him from beneath while he was crossing the ravine of Cabed-en-Aras. However, as Turambar pulled out his sword, Glaurung’s poisonous blood scorched his hand, knocking him unconscious. The pregnant Nienor found Turambar lying unconscious, and the dying Glaurung returned memory to her. Realising in horror that her husband was also her brother, she threw herself off the nearby cliff into the river Taeglin, and was washed away. When Turambar woke and heard from Brandir that Nienor was dead, he killed him in wrath, believing that Brandir had lied in envy at Nienor’s love and fearing the fulfilment of his own doom. However, after Túrin had learned all the truth from Mablung, he threw himself upon his sword Gurthang.

The main part of the narrative ends with the burial of Túrin. Appended to this is an extract from The Wanderings of Húrin, the next tale of Tolkien’s legendarium. This recounts how Húrin was at last released by Morgoth and came to the mound of his children. There he found Morwen, who had also managed to find the place, but now died in the arms of her husband with the following sunset.

 

 

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

I am really very sorry but I find myself unable to comprehend why an acomplished writer like Paulo Coelho Deides to write Veronika……..After reading  “The Alchemist “,I wasn’t expecting this atleast from Paulo.The plot of the story is very normal. A yaung gal who is fed up of her very normal life tries commiting suicide.She ended up in a mental asylum getting treated for a fictitious heart alment & there the actual story begins……

Plot summary

Veronika, who leads a seemingly perfect life, lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She decides to commit a premeditated suicide by ingesting too many sleeping pills. While she waits for her death, she decides to read a magazine.

After seeing an article in the magazine which wittily asks “Where is Slovenia?,” she decides to write a letter to the press justifying her suicide, the idea being to make the press believe that she has killed herself because people don’t even know where Slovenia is. Her plan fails and she wakes up in Villete, a mental hospital in Slovenia, where she is told she has a week to live.

Her presence there affects all of the mental hospital’s patients, especially Zedka, who has clinical depression; Mari, who suffers from panic attacks; and Eduard, who has schizophrenia, and with whom Veronika falls in love. During her internment in Villete she realises that she has nothing to lose and can therefore do what she wants, say what she wants and be who she wants without having to worry about what others think of her; as a madwoman, she is unlikely to be criticized. Because of this newfound freedom Veronika experiences all the things she never allowed herself to experience including hatred, love and even sexual awakening.

In the meantime, Vilette’s head psychiatrist attempts a fascinating but provocative experiment. Can you “shock” someone into wanting to live by convincing her that death is imminent? Like a doctor applying defibrillator paddles to a heart attack victim, Dr. Igor’s “prognosis” jump-starts Veronika’s new appreciation of the world around her.