[ Daily Tolkien ] A Tolkien Virgin: Of the Ruin of Doriath

Tolkien Online ^ | February 29, 2000 | Mark-Edmond

[JameRetief]

A Tolkien Virgin: Of the Ruin of Doriath
by Mark-Edmond

The Journey Continues

Well, you know, I actually really liked this chapter. I was expecting Morgoth's minions to do the destroying, so that it was Dwarves and then Elves that did it was a pleasant surprise. Tolkien is incredibly creative with how he ties the last however many chapters together as Doriath meets its end. The Nauglamir with the Silmaril set within it was pretty brilliant--how it was made possible is almost mind boggling when you trace the chain of events that led up to it. And, so incredibly fitting that it should end up in the hands of Beren and Luthien while they lived. I had thought we'd heard the last of them a couple chapters back, so this was really a pleasant surprise for them to pop up and stick it to the Dwarves. Actually, the chapter kind of reads like one of the cartoons where one of the characters is running with a prized object of some kind and "yoink!" someone nabs it from him, then "snatch!" someone else grabs it from them, and on and on the object goes bouncing from one character to the next.

On a side note, with all the kings and princes of the Noldor that have been killed to this point I was startled that all 7 of Feanor's sons were still around. Well...not any more, but still, I hadn't noticed that. Now they're down to 4 and I can't help but wonder how fate is going to catch up with the rest of them.

Loose ends tied up: Mim gets it at the hands of Hurin--the last of his kind; Morwen and Hurin meet before she dies (and not long before he does);

A couple images I love in this chapter: I like that Tol Morwen remains even after Beleriand sinks beneath the sea. Also, I hadn't thought of Beren and Luthien's children as descended from three races (Elf, Maiar, and Man) which I thought was really cool.

Something I didn't like (there had to be something): I don't like Melian's course of action. It's like, "Aw, Thingol is dead. That's it, I'm outta here." She just ditches all of Doriath as soon as Thingol dies...a crappy thing to do if there ever was one. I mean, she was the queen of all of Doriath (all of Belariand technically, right?), those were her people she left to get slaughtered, not just Thingol's.

The way Thingol dies is almost comic. He's going on about how great he is having lived countless years and on and on, and the Dwarves jump him and its over. No great fight with Thingol fighting bravely and taking a couple Dwarves with him, he just gets taken out--just like that.

So, where does the story go from here? Does Gondolin get wiped or do we follow the Nauglamir for a while longer? It's gotta be something tragic.

Author: Mark-Edmond
Published on: February 29, 2000

The next Tolkien Virgin article continues with The Silmarillion: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin

[JameRetief]

The Daily Tolkien articles by various authors	The Tolkien Virgin articles by Mark-Edmond
ARTICLES 01-10	ARTICLES 01-10
ARTICLES 11-20	ARTICLES 11-20
ARTICLES 21-30	21) Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
ARTICLES 31-40	22) Of Turin Turambar
ARTICLES 41-50	23) Of the Ruin of Doriath
51) And Now for the Other Love Story
52) Kryptic Tales of Middle-earth
53) The People of Eriador in the later Third Age
54) The Wild, Wild, Wood-elf West
55) The Middle-earth Mysteries
56) Relations between the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor
57) Resurrecting Dale, City of A Thousand Untold Stories

[JameRetief]

Your Tolkien Virgin Ping!

Read along with a Tolkien Virgin as he discovers and comments on the history of Middle Earth as he reads it for the first time.  These articles start with The Silmarillion, journeys through The Hobbit, and finishes with the epic Lord Of The Rings.  At the pace of 2 articles per week (Mondays and Fridays) the articles will wrap up about the same time that the final movie of the Lord Of The Rings story is released. 

If anyone would like for me to ping them directly when I post the Tolkien Virgin articles or my Daily Tolkien articles let me know. I hope that you enjoy them!

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

[ksen]

He's going on about how great he is having lived countless years and on and on, and the Dwarves jump him and its over.

Rack up one for the dwarves.

[Restorer]

Rack up one for the dwarves.

Not that it did them a whole lot of good.