Often Beleg Strongbow came to Menegroth to seek him, and led him far afield, teaching him woodcraft and archery and (which he liked more) the handling of swords; but in crafts of making he had less skill, for he was slow to learn his own strength, and often marred what he made with some sudden stroke. In other matters also it seemed that fortune was unfriendly to him, so that often what he designed went awry, and what he desired he did not gain; neither did he win friendship easily, for he was not merry, and laughed seldom, and a shadow lay on his youth. Nonetheless he was held in love and esteem by those who knew him well, and he had honour as the fosterling of the King.
–J.R.R. Tolkien, The Children of Húrin, “Túrin in Doriath”
The story of “The Children of Hurin” has made the strongest impression on me since my first encounter with the Silmarillion, it was the story that was the first thing I began to illustrate in Tolkien’s Legendarium .
Perhaps by now I can already discern a pattern to what captures my attention and makes me create around the theme: - a terrible injustice in the face of which the characters show firmness and fortitude… As one of my artist friends said, “an impression is like a wound and you try to heal it with a painting”. The Children of Hurin is along with Atrabeth another such non-healing wound, I hope to return to this subject in the near future)
