April Tolkien Challenge; Day 8

Gurthang

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Anglachel was the earlier name of the blade, before it got reforged into Gurthang; the sword Túrin Turumbar would hold for the rest of his life. It was made by the dark elf Ëor, and remade by the smiths of Nargothrond. Beleg Cúthalion, chief warden of the elven king Thingol, held Anglachel before he was killed by Túrin, who was unaware the elf had been his friend. Gwindor, another friend, kept the sword with him until Túrin came back to his senses.

As the sword got reforged, Túrin named it Gurthang, which roughly translates to “Iron of Death”. After the naming of the blade, Túrin became known as Mormegil; the “Black Sword”.

The next big moment of the blade, was when Túrin used it to slay the dragon Glaurung. Upon discovering that his wife, Nienor Níniel, was also his sister, and that she had killed herself, the man fell into a state of panic and despair. In his pain, he used Gurthang to slay himself. With the death of his master, Gurthang shattered to the floor, the shards to be buried with Túrin and Nienor underneath the Stone of Hapless.

“Hail Gurthang! No lord or loyalty dost thou know, save the hand that wieldeth thee. From no blood wilt thou shrink. Wilt thou therefore take Túrin Turambar, wilt thou slay me swiftly?” Túrin had asked his blade, to which it responded with “Yea, I will drink thy blood gladly, that so I may forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay thee swiftly.”

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Sources:
-One Wiki To Rule Them All, Gurthang
-One Wiki To Rule Them All, Beleg Cúthalion
-The Encyclopedia of Arda, Gurthang
-Children of Húrin, JRR Tolkien
-The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien

You have to talk to real, living, breathing people here. No, I’m not calling you “Bloodstained”, what are you, seventy-five?

- Gwindor “had enough of this teenage angst” Guilinion, to Túrin “Edgelord” Húrinion, The Children of Húrin

- Beren, to Túrin, comparing notes on their respective elvish love interests in the afterlife, the Silmarillion, Of Túrin Turambar

My real curse is that every woman I see takes one look and falls instantly in love.

- Túrin, to Brandir, the Silmarillion, Of Túrin Turambar

“Stay with me!”

helyannis:

“Stay with me!”

Lass uns zieh’n, Seelenbruder!
Mit dem Winde singen wir das Lied der Zeit.
Lass uns zieh’n, Seelenbruder!
Mit den Wolken lass uns fliegen hoch und weit.
Seelenbruder, sing mit mir das Lied der Zeit.

I’m always taking pictures of locations and saying “I should use this for drawing practice!” and then I never do, but this time I did and I’m very proud of myself for actually sticking to the reference picture for at least 75% of this one.

warrioreowynofrohan:

On Aerin and Túrin

I’ve been storing up a rant on this subject for a while, and International Women’s Day seems like a good time for it.

Aerin stands out to me in part because of books I read as part of a university course about different forms of resistance among slaves and subject peoples. There’s a temptation, when talking about conditions like slavery, to regard any actions other than escape or violent rebellion as inaction, and disregard or overlook the smaller daily rebellions that can happen beneath the surface. Aerin’s rebellions are of this latter type; although she has very little power and is in a terible situation, taken in forced marriage by an occupier, she still uses the little leeway that she has to protect and shelter and help her people; even people like Sador, who are of no use or value to the slavemasters. She is showing exceptional courage and resilience under dreadful conditions.

And then Túrin shows up and breaks everything. It’s easy enough to understand his actions - who doesn’t love a good revolution against oppression? It’s impressive, it’s cinematic, it’s emotionally satisfying - all the things that quiet, careful, piecemeal resistance isn’t. What makes it harder to sympathize with him is that he’s only just showed up, knowing nothing about the situation, and is acting on impulse out of his own emotions without any thought for the consequences of his actions.

And then, when Aerin calls him on this, he calls her ‘fainthearted’.

She’s been little better than a slave for some twenty years, and has despite that risked her life and safety to help others. She had no defenses or weapons, and yet she founds ways to resist, and suffered for it, and yet kept resisting. He was raised in safety and ran away from his home - and stayed away - out of arrogance and stubbornness. And while he’s often been in danger, he’s rarely been defenseless. She has a courage Túrin can’t even comprehend.

And he calls her‘fainthearted’.

This is why I love the rebuke he recieves from one of Aerin’s men. “Many a man of arms misreads patience and quiet. She did much good among us at much cost. Her heart was not faint, and patience will break at the last.”

It’s narratively fitting that Túrin’s actions lead to the death of Sador, the servant he befriended as a child. Their friendship displayed off one of Túrin’s better qualities in his youth: his attachment to and compassion for the weak. It’s something he progressively loses over the course of his life, with his disregard of Gwindor, his dismissal of Aerin, and his killing of Brandir all being stages in that downward spiral. In all three cases, he treats the ability to swing a sword as the most important thing a person can do, and behaves disdainfully towards people who lack the ability to fight their enemies directly. He does this even when his own attempts at direct combat have repeatedly brought nothing but suffering. It’s his single most unsympathetic trait.