The Silmarillion

The history of the people of the Middle Earth is captured articulately by Tolkien, J. They included elves, dwarves and humans. Complexities and tensions in their relations comes out clearly through interaction of various characters for instance Eol, Aredhel, Maeglin, Finrod Felagund, Beren, and Turin. This paper explores the ways of life of the characters and the way they interact with each group.

Eol was an Elf in the Middle Earth and he was Nan Elmoth’s forest lord. He travelled to Beleriand alone after the Eleri, Nldor and Vanyar clans vacated it. As he charted his way through the Middle Earth, he interacted and became friendly with several dwarves. Due to this interaction, Eol was able to acquire several skills especially from the dwarves of Eriador, with whom he became very friendly. Upon arriving in Beliriand, he received a warm welcome due to his kinship and his proficiency in skills.

When wars began in Beleriand, he became agitated and moved to Nan Elmoth.He was a great smith and made magical swords that could cut through all types of iron. He kept one sword for his personal use and gave the other one to Thingol for permitting him to live in Nan Elmoth. His smith skills were commendable and made him the greatest Elven-Smith for having surpassed the works of renowned Elven-Smiths Celebrimbor and Feanor. The sword given to Thingol was passed over to Turin who used it to butcher the notorious dragon named Glaurung.

He kept the other sword and made armor for protection abroad from black strong metal. He was on good terms with dwarves from Belegost and Nogrod and permitted their goods to be transported through Nan Elmoth. He captured and married Aredhal, a sister of Tugan against her wish and consent. They had a son called Maeglin together.

Finrod Felagund was an elf from Noldorin who was born by Earwen and Finarfin. When the name is translated it means mighty descendant. His siblings include Aegnor, Angrod and Galadriel. His parents gave him the name Finrod while the dwarves who dwelled in Nargothond gave him the name Felagund. He was also called the wise one and The Lord of Nargothrond. Finrod was the first elf to come into contact with human beings. He was friendly with men and interacted a lot with them. He learned the language that human beings spoke and taught them the Sindarin language that dwarves spoke. He held an intervention on behalf of dwarves who feared that human beings would destroy their habitat. He was able to obtain permission to guide human beings to move from Beliriand to Estolad.

He usually held various discussions on the relationship between elves and human beings with his close friend Andreth who was an elf from Angband. Their conversations were transcribed into writing with an acknowledgement that Finrod was the wisest of all elves. Finrod was saved Barahir in the fight of the lord of the rings at the Dagor Bragollach (Tolkien, 2012). He made an allegiance of friendship to members of the Barahir family and also to assist them in their dealings. Years later when Beren, the son of Baharin, was unable to repay his debt, Felagund steeped in and repaid it for him. They went in a group of twelve warriors and all of them were captured by the Werewolves. They were imprisoned as the Lord of the Werewolves wanted to know their identities and learn the way they carried out their duties.

Sauron, the Lord of Werewolves sent them a were-wolf to devour and intimidate them until they confessed their secrets but none of them said anything. When the were-wolf attacked Beren, Finrod freed himself from the chains and killed it using his bare hands. Finrod never married during his days in the Middle Earth but he was in love with an elf named Amerie. There was a legend that the two probably remarried and lived together thereafter in Valinor.

Beren and Luthien were romantic lovers. They met in secret in the woods at Doriath. Their relationship greatly affected their family members and members of their communities. War loomed over them all the time and greatly interfered with their lives. Beren’s family members were slaughtered in the fight of The Lord of The Rings at The Dagor Ballach. Luthien’s family, on the other hand, got involved in the long wars between Morgoth and Noldor due to the attack on Doriath by the Orcs.

Turin was a human and lived during the earliest ages of life in the Middle Earth. He was born to a family that was under a perennial curse by Morgoth, who was the ultimate-evil spirit of that time. Turin was determined to do all he could to defy the spell of the curse. In his endeavors to do so he brought destruction in the kingdoms of The Elves, to himself and to his siblings, especially Nienor Niniel who was his sister. When he was a child of eight years, his father The Lord of Folk of Holdor led his people to war where all his warriors were slain. Hurin was captured and imprisoned alive. It was while in captivity that Morgoth, the evil one, cursed him and his entire family.

Turin remained with his mother, who hid them from strangers and migrants because she feared that they would murder him or take him as a slave because he was the official heir to the throne. She had him secretly moved to Doriath, where he was adopted by King Thingol due to respect for Lord Huron and family ties with Beren. Turin became renown all over Menegroth because he was brave and skillful as a warrior. When the war cut-off contacts between him and his mother, he pledged to revenge by fighting the Morgoth. He was appointed the King of Swords by King Thingol. He moved to Doriath to fight against the Orcs. The orcs feared him due to his prowess with swords (Tolkien, 2012).

When he killed one of King Thingol’s advisors accidentally, Turin feared imprisonment by the king and he fled from Doriath. As he escaped, he met a group of outlawed elves known as Gaurwith who admired him after he killed their bravest warrior single-handedly. He did not like their actions but at the same time could not stop them. The Gaurwaith loved to harass men and to attack their homesteads. They once attacked the daughter of a woodman and as Turin attempted to rescue her, he killed the leader of The Gaurwaith by mistake and became their leader. Turin was found by his mentor Beleg but he refused to return to Doriath. He stopped the Gaurwaith from harassing and attacking men. Under Turin’s leadership, the outlaws captured dwarf known as Mim and his son. He agreed to share his cave with them in exchange for the act of saving his life.

Turin and Begel rescued Beleriand from evil but in the process Morgoth learned of his identity. Mim the dwarf showed the Orcs who had been sent by Morgoth where Turin was. Turin was captured and all his warriors were slaughtered. Beleg organized to rescue Turin but unfortunately, while he was cutting the chains to free Turin, he accidentally cut his foot with a sword. Turin, who thought an Orc was attacking him, snatched the sword and slew his attacker. He was devastated when he learned later that he had killed Begel. Turin committed suicide after failing to avenge the death of his sister Nianel. Both of them died as result of the curse that had been cast upon their family. He is said to have been one of the most handsome men who lived in the Middle Earth.

The tensions between the dwarves, the elves and humans are evident from these episodes in the Middle Earth. The dwarves are perceived by the other races as evil since they employ the Orc as Mercenaries. They are perpetually conflicting with Elves. The dwarves can withstand extreme temperatures but are shorter than men and elves. They traded with men and elves for food since most of them were iron smiths and metal works. The Elves were created before the dwarves.The positive results of the tension is that in the end the elves, the dwarfs and the humans are able to unite together and fight against evil.

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