Blind Read Through: J.R.R. Tolkien; The Silmarillion, Of Túrin Turambar Part 2

“And now there came another dwarft bearing light to greet him, and they spoke together, and passed swiftly down into the darkness of the cave; but Túrin followed after, and came at length to a chamber far within, lit by dim lamps hanging upon chains. There he found Mîm kneeling at a stone couch beside the wall, and he tore his beard, and wailed, crying one name unceasingly; and on the couch there lay a third. But Túrin entering stood beside Mîm, and offered him aid. Then Mîm looked up at him, and said: ‘You can give no aid. For this is Khîm, my son; and he is dead, pierces by an arrow. He died at sunset. Ibun my son has told me.”

Welcome back to another Blind Read! This week we continue our journey with Túrin as he navigates his trials and tribulations. Last week we read that Tolkien called this story “The Tale of Grief,” and we traverse this story; we’ll see why!

We jump in right where we left off. Túrin leads a band of Outlaws and Beleg Strongbow, picking up the mighty sword Anglachel and some lembas bread and going back out into the wilds to watch over Túrin.

Túrin, however, told Beleg that if he were to find him again, it would be on the slopes of Amon Rûdh, an isolated mountain peak just east of Doriath. So it’s either divine providence or sheer luck that the group of Outlaws would come across three dwarves. So naturally, being outlaws, they attacked the group (I’m assuming to rob them, but it’s not clear. Dwarves were known for their smithing and the gems they mine from the mountain cores) and captured one of them.

This dwarf, named Mîm, pleaded with Túrin “and offered as ransom to lead them to his hidden halls which none might find without his aid.”

And where is this home? “High above the land lies the house of Mîm, upon the great hill; Amon Rûdh is that hill called now, since the Elves changed all the names.”

On the journey to the peak, Tolkien gives us a little taste of what to expect on this journey. One of the Outlaws sees a red flower, seregon, on the ridge, and with the sun shining through it, he says, “There is blood upon the hill-top.”

He thinks this because of how the sun reflected off this flower. Still, in the Quenya tongue, sereg means blood, indicating that whatever happens here won’t be a happy-go-lucky experience.

The trouble starts immediately once the group gets into Mîm’s cave, as we get the quote that begins this essay. It was Túrin who killed Khîm with an arrow. It was Mîm’s clan the outlaws attacked below the peak.  

Túrin is apologetic but stands tall. He owns the fact that he applied the killing blow, and because of Dwarven mentalities, Mîm respects him, saying, “You speak like a dwarf-lord of old.“

Túrin learned of Mîm and his people, who were known as the Noegyth Nibin, or the Petty Dwarves. They were outcasts from the Blue Mountains, and they came into Beleriand first, before even the Noldor made their dangerous trip across the sea to this land. As a result, they lost their crafting abilities and “became diminished in stature.” Orcs and Noldor hunted them and considered all creatures of Beleriand enemies, so “they took to lives of stealth, walking with bowed shoulders and furtive steps.”

They were the Dwarves who dug the tunnels which became Nargothrond, but the Noldor pushed them out, and they came here to Amon Rûdh, the Bald Hill, where they made their home.

Living on the hill was difficult, especially since it was “said that the winters worsened in Beleriand as the power of Angband grew.” But Túrin lived there with Mîm and the remaining dwarves and outlaws. Eventually, while holed up in the hill, a figure appeared from the terrible cold no one else dared traverse.  

“suddenly among them a man, as it seemed, of great bulk and girth, cloaked and hooded in white; and he walked up to the fire without a word. And when men sprang up in fear, he laughed, and threw back his hood…and in the light of the fire Túrin looked again on the face of Beleg Cúthalion.”

Beleg again tried to coax Túrin to return with him to Doriath, even bringing “out of Dimbar the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin” to pull at his heartstrings. But Túrin remained steadfast, so Beleg stayed with him. “Those that were hurt or sick he tended and gave them lembas of Melian,” but despite his care, it is evident that he was only there for Túrin, and “hatred of Mîm for the Elf that had come into Bar-en-Danwedh grew ever greater, and he sat with Ibun, his son in the deepest shadows of his house.”

Spring had finally come to Beleriand, but Angband’s reach had grown, and many had lost hope, but “Túrin put on again the Helm of Hador; and far and wide in Beleriand, the whisper went, under wood and over stream and through the passes of the hills, saying that the Helm and Bow that had fallen in Dimbar had arisen again beyond hope. Then many who went leaderless, dispossessed but undaunted, retook heart, and came to seek the Two Captains.” Dor-Cúarthol, the Land of Bow and Helm, and Túrin who “named himself anew” as Gorthol, the Dread Helm.

Their deeds were known far and wide, but finally, Morgoth took notice and realized that Gorthol was Túrin, “Then Morgoth laughed.“

A raiding party of Orcs took Mîm and Ibun captive while they were gathering roots, and Mîm led those Orcs back to his home with a promise that they would not harm Gorthol (Túrin).

“Thus was Bar-en-Danwedh betrayed, for the Orcs came upon it by night at unawares, guided by Mîm. There many of Túrin’s company were slain as they slept; but some fleeing by an inner stair came out upon the hill-top, and there they fought until they fell, and thier blood flowed out upon the seregon that mantled the stone. But a net was cast over Túrin as he fought, and was enmeshed in it, and overcome, and led away.“

Beleg found Mîm after the battle, the dwarf finding Anglachel on the ground and brandishing it at the giant Elf. But Mîm was no match for the large ranger, and Beleg took the sword back from the diminutive dwarf. Then, as Mîm fled, Beleg called after him:

“The vengeance of the house of Hador will find you yet!“

Beleg knew that Túrin had been captured and taken to Angband, so he healed himself from battle and set off to help his friend in the shadow of the bloody seregon on the hilltop.

Join me next week as we continue the tale of Túrin Turambar!