u/lirio_lorien

In the footnotes to the Narn i Hîn Húrin (UT, footnote 28), Christopher writes: “It was indeed my father’s intention to alter the narrative so that Túrin slew himself not at Cabed-en-Aras but on the mound of Finduilas at the Crossings of Teiglin, but this never received written form.”

This raises some interesting questions for me, namely:

Why did Tolkien want to make this change?

How would he have reworked the later narrative to accommodate this - e.g. Túrin’s final words, the location of the Stone of the Hapless?

What are the implications of this for Túrin and his relationship with Finduilas? Why would his final resting place be at her grave? 

I don't really have the answers, but it did lead me to revisit the narrative that we do have around Haudh-en-Elleth:

Firstly, Túrin had already attempted suicide there before, in the Silmarillion: “Túrin bade them lead him thither, and there he fell down into a darkness of grief that was near death.” And in UT: “Túrin stood as one mortally stricken… There he laid himself down, and a darkness fell on him, so that they thought that he was dead.” This parallels closely what his relative Rían did at Haudh-en-Ndengin: she goes to seek her beloved, learns that he has been slain, “and going to the Haudh-en-Ndengin she laid herself down upon it and died.” In Túrin's case, the men of Brethil carry him away before he can die from exposure and his grief, and he is nursed back to health in the house of Brandir.

After he somewhat recovers, he guards the grave of Finduilas, no doubt haunted by her: “Nonetheless he would not wholly leave deeds of war; for he could not endure that the Orcs should come to the Crossings of Teiglin or draw nigh to Haudh-en-Elleth, and he made that a place of dread for them, so that they shunned it.” He seems to be trying to do what he failed to during her life and protect her body from the Orcs, dead as she is.

On one such errand, in the Silmarillion, he is stricken when he thinks he sees her there: “And seeing in a flare of lightning the body as it seemed of a slain maiden lying upon the mound of Finduilas he was stricken to the heart.” And in UT: “Then Turambar who lead the men started back and covered his eyes, and trembled; for it seemed that he saw the wraith of a slain maiden that lay upon the grave of Finduilas.”

In UT, he seems to be reverential and superstitious towards the place, perhaps because of Gwindor’s warning: “he said to himself ‘Haudh-en-Elleth! From the green mound she came. Is that a sign, and how shall I read it?’” and: “He wondered, and mused in his mind: ‘Or can it be that one so evil and fell shuns the Crossings, even as the Orcs? Haudh-en-Elleth! Does Finduilas still lie between me and my doom?’”

Finally, he returns there when his life has completely unravelled: “Therefore he rose and went to the Crossings of Teiglin, and as he passed by Haudh-en-Elleth he cried: ‘Bitterly have I paid, O Finduilas! that ever I gave heed to the Dragon. Send me now counsel!’”

Some of his last words address his resting place: "'Cabed-en-Aras, Cabed Naeramarth!' he cried. 'I will not defile your waters where Níniel was washed. For all my deeds have been ill, and the latest the worst.'" I think it would be strange that he would be unwilling to defile the Teiglin with his body but then willing to defile Haudh-en-Elleth with it - a place which he seems to view as sacred.

Personally I do think that I prefer the concept of him killing himself at Cabed-en-Aras but it is of course possible that Tolkien would have rewritten it to work even better at Haudh-en-Elleth. I just don’t know how. And I’m still curious as to the why. 

Is it meant to be MAYdhros (as in may) or MYdhros (as in my)? I've heard people say it both ways. I've also heard Maeglin pronounced both ways, although MAYglin seems to be the more common one.

Is it possible that they are pronounced differently given that they were originally Meglin and Maidros? Can Sindarin, like English, be inconsistent in its pronunciation?

Would this also apply to Aerin or Nirnaeth?

>"Christopher Tolkien sort of edited and published other Tolkien books - the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, I mean there's a lot more Tolkien writing, which would actually make great movies - that were subsequently edited by Christopher but he just absolutely would not let any, the mere idea of film happen so those rights have never been available

>But Christopher passed away recently, I suppose 2 or 3 years ago now and the younger Tolkiens, this next generation, are now running the estate and they're much more open to talking

>So a combination of Warner’s and us have been talking to some of the younger Tolkien members who are now part of the board about the possibility of actually licensing the rights to some of the other books. It would be nice to get away from the appendices and get something a bit more meaty."

Personally I feel quite depressed by the development but I am wondering if anyone is optimistic?

In CoH, Glaurung taunts Turin with titles like "slayer of your friend, thief of love".

He isn't omniscient as he initially doesn't know who Nienor is when he meets her. So how would he know about Beleg - whose death only Gwindor witnessed, or the situation with Finduilas - which is known to only her and Gwindor. It's not even clear whether Turin himself has realized by this point that Finduilas loves him, and this information is certainly not known widely.

So how would Glaurung know this? Was it a mind reading spell? If Glaurung can indeed read minds then surely Morgoth could have just used him to figure out the location of Gondolin very easily?