The Words of Hurin
and Morgoth
Man > Hurin
Thalion > The Words
Hurin was brought before Morgoth,
for Morgoth knew by his arts and his spies that Hurin had the
friendship of the King
of Gondolin; and he sought to daunt him with his eyes. But Hurin
could not yet be daunted, and he defied Morgoth. Therefore Morgoth had
him chained and set in slow torment; but after a while he came to
him,and offered him his choice to go free whither he would, or to
receive power and rank as the greatest of Morgoth's captains, if he
would but reveal where Turgon had his stronghold, and aught else that
he knew of the King's counsels. But Hurin the Steadfast mocked him
saying: "Blind you are Morgoth Bauglir, and blind shall ever be, seeing
only the dark. You know not what rules the hearts of Men, and if you
knew you could not give it. But a fool is he who accepts what Morgoth
offers. You will take first the price and then withhold the promise;
and I should get only death, if I told you what you ask."
Then Morgoth laughed, and he said: "Death you may
yet crave from me as a boon." Then he took Hurin to the
Haudh-en-Nirnaeth, and it was then new-built and the reek of death was
upon it; and Morgoth set Hurin upon its top and bade him look west
towards Hithlum, and think of his wife and his son and other kin. "For
they dwell now in my realm," said Morgoth, "and they are at my mercy."
"You have none," answered Hurin. "But you will not
come at Turgon through them; for they do not know his secrets."
Then wrath mastered Morgoth, and he said: "Yet I may
come at you, and all your accursed house; and you shall be broken on my
will, though you all be made of steel." And he took up a long sword
that lay there and broke it before the eyes of Hurin, and a splinter
wounded his face; but Hurin did not blench. Then Morgoth stretching out
his long arm towards Dor-Lomin cursed Hurin and Morwen and their
offspring, saying: "Behold! The shadow of my thought shall lie upon
them wherever they go, and my hate shall pursue them to the ends of the
world."
But Hurin said: "You speak in vain. For you cannot
see them, nor govern them from afar: not while you keep this shape, and
desire still to be a King visible upon earth."
Then Morgoth turned upon Hurin, and he said: "Fool,
little among Men, and they are the least of all that speak! Have you
seen the Valar, or measured the power of Manwe
and Varda?
Do you know the reach of their thought? Or do you think, perhaps, that
their thought is upon you, and that they may shield you from afar?"
" I know not," said Hurin. "Yet so it might be, if
they willed. For the Elder King shall not be dethroned while Arda
endures."
You say it," said Morgoth. "I am the Elder King:
Melkor, first and mightiest of the Valar, who was before the world, and
made it. The shadow of my purpose lies upon Arda, and all that is in it
bends slowly and surely to my will. But upon all whom you love my
thought shall weigh as a cloud of Doom, and it shall bring them down
into darkness and despair. Wherever they go, evil shall arise. Whenever
they speak, their words shall bring ill counsel. Whatsoever they do
shall turn against them. They shall die without hope, cursing both life
and death."
But Hurin answered: "Do you forget to whom you
speak? Such things you spoke long ago to our fathers; but we escaped
from your shadow. And now we have knowledge of you, for we have looked
upon the faces that have seen the light, and heard the voices that have
spoken with Manwe. Before Arda you were, but others also; and you did
not make it. Neither are you the most mighty; for you spent your
strength upon yourself and wasted it in your own emptiness. No more are
you now than an escaped thrall of the Valar. And their chain still
awaits you."
"You have learned the lessons of your masters by
rote," said Morgoth. "But such childish lore shall not help you, now
they are all fled away."
"This last I say to you, thrall Morgoth," said
Hurin, "and it comes not from the lore of the Eldar, but is put into my
heart this hour. You are not the Lord of Men, and shall not be, though
all Arda and Menel fall in your dominion. Beyond the Circles of the
World you shall not pursue those who refuse you."
"Beyond the Circles of the World I will not pursue
them," said Morgoth. "For beyond the Circles of the World there is
Nothing. But within them they shall not escape me, until they enter
into Nothing."
"You lie," said Hurin.
"You shall see and you shall confess that I do not
lie," said Morgoth. And taking Hurin back to Angband he set him in a
chair of stone upon a high place of Thangorodrim, from which he could
see afar the land of Hithlum in the west and the lands of Beleriand to
the south. There he was bound by the power of Morgoth; and Morgoth
standing beside him cursed him again and set his power upon him, so
that he could not move from that place, or die, until Morgoth should
release him.
"Sit now there," said Morgoth,"and look out upon the
lands where evil and despair shall come upon those whom you have
delivered to me. For you have dared to mock me, and have questioned the
power of Melkor, Master of the fates of Arda. Therefore with my eyes
you shall see, and with my ears you shall hear, and nothing shall be
hidden from you."
Reference: Unfinished Tales:
"Narn I Hin Hurin: The Words of Hurin and Morgoth"
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