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The One Ring Forums:
Tolkien Topics: Reading Room:
CoH: Turin in Nargothrond - A bit of backstory:
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Altaira
Superuser
Aug 6 2007, 6:50pm
Views: 1516
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CoH: Turin in Nargothrond - A bit of backstory
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Welcome to the discussion of the Chapter: Turin in Nargothrond.
By show of hands, how many of you were like me during the reading of this chapter and found yourselves flipping back to the maps to jog your memories as to exactly where Nargothrond is/was and to the family trees to find out exactly who Orodreth is/was? *peers through screen* Ha! I thought so. So, I thought it might be useful to begin the discussion of this chapter with a little ‘retrospective,’ if you will, of Nargothrond and Orodreth, and how they fit into the story of Middle-earth thus far. (Note: my sources are partially from The Encyclopedia of Arda, but mostly from flipping back and forth between the indices and text of Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion).
Nargothrond was founded by Finrod approximately 100 years into the First Age, after he and his sister Galadriel visited Thingol in Doriath:
“Then Finrod was filled with wonder at the strength and majesty of Menegroth, its treasuries and armories and its many-pillared halls of stone.” -- The Silmarillion
Being sympathetic (and probably flattered), Thingol had his guides show Finrod to the gorge in the river Narog, where Finrod built the stronghold of Nargothrond (Galadriel stayed behind in Doriath, being enamored of a certain elf who lived there named Celeborn ). Finrod’s ‘nickname,’ “Felagund” means “Hewer of Caves” in the tongue of the Dwarves who helped build it. Coincidentally, those same Dwarves made the Nauglamir (Necklace of the Dwarves) in Nargothrond which, years later, turned out to be Thingol’s undoing. Also coincidentally (that is, if you believe in coincidence in Tolkien’s tales) different Dwarves, the Petty Dwarves of Mim, were kicked out those very caves to make way for Finrod’s people. Hold a grudge much? 
Finrod ruled Nargothrond for over 400 years until a certain human, named Beren, found his way there. Because Beren’s father, Barahir had helped Finrod out of a tight fix, Finrod felt compelled to keep his vow of aid to Barahir and help Beren out of his tight fix of trying to wrest a Silmaril from Morgoth. Finrod left with Beren never to return, leaving his crown to his brother, Orodreth.
Those who have read The Silmarillion will recall that two of the sons of Feanor, Celegorm and Curufin, usurped the rule from Orodreth for a short time, and even kidnapped and kept Luthien captive there until her rescue by the dog Huan. But after Finrod’s death in the dungeons of Sauron, Celegorm and Curufin were exiled and Orodreth restored to his rule.
Much like Turgon and Gondolin, the people of Nargothrond chose to try to keep themselves and their abode hidden from Morgoth, striking Morgoth’s forces via small, stealthy forays rather than marching out in force. Then, another human, named Turin showed up, and…. well, we’ll have to wait to the next chapter to find out all the dirty details, but suffice it to say that poor Orodreth’s reign over Nargothrond was short-lived (just over 30 years).
In the family tree in the Geneologies section, you can see that in addition to being the brother of Finrod and the uncle of Galadriel, Orodreth was the father of the ill-fated Finduilas. But, there, I’m getting ahead of myself again.
So, there you have it. Nargothrond had quite a colorful and eventful history up to where it and our tale cross paths; and it's about to get a lot more eventful!
A few questions, then I’ll leave you with a few pictures before we start the discussion of the chapter proper.
1) Does the ‘missing’ backstory of Nargothrond hinder the story as presented (being an excerpt of the larger history of Elves and Men and Middle-earth), or does it simply give the reader a sense of a larger history surrounding the current events that Tolkien is so well known for?
2) In general, is enough material presented in The Children of Hurin, in the form of maps and geneologies, to make sufficient sense of all the locations and ‘relations’ discussed?
Below is a map showing the location of Nargothrond (courtesy of The Encyclopedia of Arda)
If you look at the fold-out map in the book, you can see that Nargothrond is located west of Doriath and well southwest of Gondolin. What I like about this small map is that you can clearly see Amon Rudh to the east, where Turin escaped of late.
Below are two renditions of Nargothrond, one by Felix Sotomayor (courtesy of Rolozo Tolkien) and one by J.R.R. Tolkien himself (courtesy of tolkiengateway.net)
http://img-fan.theonering.net/rolozo/images/sotomayor/Nargothrond.jpg
Nargothrond; Felix Sotomayor
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Image:J.R.R._Tolkien_-_Nargothrond_%28II%29_%28Colored_by_H.E._Riddett%29.jpg
Nargothrond; J.R.R. Tolkien
3) Which picture of Nargothrond do you prefer and why?
Koru: Maori symbol representing a fern frond as it opens. The koru reaches towards the light, striving for perfection, encouraging new, positive beginnings.
"All we have to decide is what to do with the boards that are given to us"
"I take a moment to fervently hope that the camaradarie and just plain old fun I found at TORn will never end" -- LOTR_nutcase
TORn Calendar
(This post was edited by Altaira on Aug 6 2007, 6:54pm)
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Edit Log:
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Post edited by Altaira
(Deleted) on Aug 6 2007, 6:50pm
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Post edited by Altaira
(Deleted) on Aug 6 2007, 6:51pm
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Post edited by Altaira
(Deleted) on Aug 6 2007, 6:54pm
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