The Children of Hurin
I have often wondered how J.R.R. Tolkien’s Catholic and pagan sensibilities merged and emerged in his epic stories. It’s a good illustration of how religion becomes relevant through our DNA and collective unconscious. Each influences the stories and values of the other.
The story of Hurin of Dor-lomin, his son Turin, and their doomed struggle against Morgorth, Sauron’s lord and master, is told in “The Children of Hurin” a pastiche of the elder Tolkin’s unfinished novels and lays put together by his son, Christopher. Since Christopher is 81, this is probably the last Tolkien novel.
The tale has roots of inspiration from the Finish epic, “Kalevala,” the hero Sigurd from the Norse “Volsunga” saga, a malevolent Satan-like figure, a wingless dragon, and a hero reminiscent of a wandering grail knight. Like David of Israel, Turin struggles without and within with sex, violence, arrogance and loss. His own temperament only makes things worse. (I can relate to that!) But, it’s what also makes us interesting.
