History Headscratchers / TheSilmarillion

* A very minor headscratcher, but did brothers Húrin and Huor at some point both agree to give their sons their own names with the H changed to a T, or was it just co-incidence?

* I've always been bothered by the Valar's characterization. For all that they're supposed to be lords and protectors of Arda, they don't exactly do the best job of it. I'm willing to glance over their original effort to capture Morgoth (they nearly destroyed the earth that time), but every other time they're most needed, they're either nowhere to be found, or fail utterly. They can't see through Ungoliant's darkness (they shouldn't need to; they're demigods -- just lift up into the atmosphere and fly over the cloud if you have to). And while Feanor was hardly a saint himself, he's the only one who ever points out that they failed to keep Valinor safe from her rampage. Then there was the War of Wrath -- it took hundreds of years for them to send help across to Middle-earth, and they basically let Sauron go (look how that turned out). ''Then'' they refuse to even speak to Tar-Palantir, even when he truly repents of his people's sins, which borders on outright hypocrisy -- especially when you consider that any of his followers who weren't lucky enough to flee on the nine ships went down with the King's Men. In other words: the good suffer for the sins of the evil. (Admittedly that was Eru's doing, but the Valar never took action against Sauron or the King's Men in the first place.) It isn't until the Second Age (I think?) that they bothered to send the Istari to Middle-earth, which might have been of more help if they'd sent them a few thousand years sooner. And of course, the elephant in the room -- they're never punished for their actions (or lack thereof).

** Maybe call it curse and author's foreshadowing combined. Here's the text: "... and here may you yet die the same death as I." Here being the "precipice of black rock upon the north side of the hill" on which Gndolin was built. Near which all present were standing. But he says 'may,' not 'will.' Hence a curse, and then Eol is cast down it. Yes Tuor later throws Maeglin down that same hill, but it is not specified that it is exactly at the same place.

* On the subject of curses, were Eol's dying words about Maeglin being thrown from the same cliff he was about to get chucked off a foretelling or a curse?

** Morgoth is rapidly loosing power throughout the First Age and messing with Fate is something that should not be possible in the first place. Him giving bad luck to Hùrin's family may have cost him a great deal of power (he is [[EvilIsPetty mean like that]]) and trying to extend it to all his ennemies (that's a loooooong list) who probably be beyond his scope.

** Because they were invited as trusted guests and had free rein in the forges and treasure chambers. They killed Thingol when he was alone and defenceless. The Gridle of Melian doesn't restrict people's movements within Doriath or prevent them from leaving. Melian is not omnipotent or omniscient and she can't guard her husband every minute.

** Morgoth is strong evil, but still only a Vala of lesser stature than the One (even if by a relatively small margin). His curse is more indirect than anything else—the Orc raids that separated the family, Glaurung sacking Dorthonion and keeping the pressure on Turin, and so on. This is less of a directed spiritual/magical influence, and has more to do with Morgoth putting the effort of his military forces, his dragon-breeding, and his inexorable will on the Children of Húrin. Plus, at this point, Morgoth was permanently crippled by Fingolfin; he wasn't going to get directly involved in the war again.

** It's mentioned in the earlier sections of the text that the Helcaraxë is not exactly an easy trip. It's bitterly cold, lacks food(which they would thus have to take with them and baggage trains across fields of snow and ice are far more difficult to handle than supply ships amongst a convoy), it is effectively a constantly shifting glacier making any kind of reliable pre-planned route almost impossible, the terrain is constantly shifting and is implied to a be under regular, if not perpetual assault from snowstorms. The oversea journey, especially angelically enhanced for ease of passage was both faster and easier with much less risk of casualties along the way.

** Morgoth is strong evil, but still only a Valar of lesser stature than the One (even if by a relatively small margin). His curse is more indirect than anything else—the Orc raids that separated the family, Glaurung sacking Dorthonion and keeping the pressure on Turin, and so on. This is less of a directed spiritual/magical influence, and has more to do with Morgoth putting the effort of his military forces, his dragon-breeding, and his inexorable will on the Children of Húrin. Plus, at this point, Morgoth was permanently crippled by Fingolfin; he wasn't going to get directly involved in the war again.

* Maybe I missed something in the story, but something's been bothering me about Morgoth's curse on the Children of Hurin; if such a curse was easy to place on one family, then why the hell didn't Morgoth place a curse on all of his enemies? The Noldor? Every Man opposed to him? He could've defeated all of them in one fell swoop. Of course the simple answer is the already-known theory that there was no curse and all the misfortune that befell Turin was due to his own poor choices and jerkass-ery, but if that was the case then why make such a big deal about the supposed "curse" in the first place?

* Eru isn't opposed to the Ainur having their own ideas of what to create, as we see from Aule and Yavanna creating the Dwarves and Ents respectively; the problem with Morgoth's initial desires was that he wanted to screw up what everyone else was doing in favour of his own design. So what might have happened if, instead of looking for the Secret Fire out on his own, he'd just gone and asked Eru, "Hey, dad, can I have the power to create a universe like you want to do?" Would Eru have let him do his own thing if he'd just asked and not forced anyone else to go along with it?

** You can't cut off a giant region like Beleriand from all travel, no matter how strong forces you possess, and the elves were already stretched thin against Morgoth's forces. Not to mention that Ungoliant can cross even highest mountain peaks with ease and has proven herself incredibly formidable in battle. Better to just let her pass, as long as she's not trying to settle in your home, than to risk facing her head on. Not to mention that she could have first gone to east and traversed around the elvish territories entirely, if she felt like it.

* After producing her offspring in the Ered Gorgoroth, how was Ungoliant able to escape into the South? Those mountains are smack-dab in the middle of Beleriand and surrounded on all sides by lands owned by Elves, Dwarves, Men, and the servants of Morgoth. Surely someone would notice a giant, light-devouring demonic spider (or if she's using her Unlight, an impenetrable black cloud) passing through their territory, especially when those lands are going to be on high-alert due to the war.

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** I know its mentioned somewhere that during the journey, many elves died along the way from being crushed beneath suddenly shifting ice. which made me picture it less as a glacier and more a densely pack group of icebergs, all constantly moving about. Its a mark of Fingolfins leadership that he brought as much of his host across as he did.

** It's mentioned in the earlier sections of the text that the Helcaraxë is not exactly an easy trip. It's bitterly cold, lacks food(which they would thus have to take with them and baggage trains across fields of snow and ice are far more difficult to handle than supply ships amongst a convoy), it is effectively a constantly shifting glacier making any kind of reliable pre-planned route almost impossible, the terrain is constantly shifting and is implied to a be under regular, if not perpetual assault from snowstorms. The oversea journey, especially angelically enhanced for ease of passage was both faster and easier with much less risk of casualties along the way.

* Geographically, I am bothered. If Middle Earth and Aman were connected by The Grinding Ice, why wouldn't the forces of the Valar use that path to make a surprise assault on Morgoth during the War of Wrath? Shouldn't that be an easier route to use?

* Here's a silly one: Did Luthien's ear shape change when she returned from Mandos to Middle-earth as a mortal? For that matter: were she and Beren resurrected in the same bodies or different ones? Was Beren's hand restored? Did they just awaken in Middle-earth or have to sail there from Mandos?

* Here's a silly one: Did Luthien's ear shape change when she returned from Mandos to Middle-earth as a mortal?