#morwen: then help me cross or I will do the swim thing

[outofangband]

Had to repost because I noticed some errors on the first!

I have a very old post on this topic as well but I wanted to revisit this scene . Also I go into more detail here

Therefore now the guards must need to reveal themselves and Morwen said: Will Thingol stay me or late does he sent the help he denied

“Both “ answered Mablung “Will you not return.”

“No,” she said.

“ Then I must help you, said Mablung, “though it is against my own will. wide and deep here is Sirion and perilous to swim for beast or man.”

“Then bring me over by whatever way the oven folk are used to cross,” said Morwen, “or else I will try the swimming.”

I am obsessed with the extent of Morwen’s courage, determination and recklessness.

I think again about the words Christopher Tolkien used to describe her in his introduction to The Children of Húrin; reserved, courageous and proud. Of the latter especially we certainly see one of the most overt instances

Morwen very possibly does not know how to swim. Depending on where exactly in Ladros she grew up and how deep Nen Lalaith is, it’s very possible that she has never lived near calm, swimmable waters.

Morwen is I think fully aware of the impossible situation that she is putting Mablung and his guards in; they do not want to undertake this journey which they have made clear to her however they are unlikely to simply allow her to drown right in front of their eyes. It’s possible that Morwen sees this unwillingness as a result of their own pride or sense of honor rather than any altruism or true care but she knows this nonetheless.

She feels no hesitation or regret for this situation that Mablung is in. Morwen can demonstrate a callousness in her single minded determination that one can see in Túrin’s worst moments, such as his actions in Dor-lómin. I want to do a further comparison of them, specifically regarding the differences in power they wield but that’s for another time (it should go without saying that none of these words or descriptions, I mean in any way to denigrate Morwen, I love her for these things very much 🪻🐢)

That being said, I have absolutely no doubt that she would indeed try the swimming as she says Mablung had refused to help her cross

I love Morwen’s stoic, cool detachment from the horrors around her and I also love her reckless disregard for her own safety and sometimes the safety of others if she sets her mind to something. She is singular in her goals here and until Niënor’s presence is revealed, which Morwen herself is the one to notice.

[garden-ghoul]

hurin’s children, part 6

“bottom text”

CHAPTER 14: THE JOURNEY OF MORWEN AND NIENOR TO NARGOTHROND

Thank goodness, finally Morwen is back. This is going to be a long chapter summary, because I can’t resist quoting her constantly. So! She is pestering Thingol about whether she’s allowed to go look for her son, who is surely STARVING IN THE WOODS or ENCHANTED BY A DRAGON or perhaps DOES NOT HAVE A PROPER GRAVE and needs her help!! Thingol, who addresses her exclusively as “Lady of Dor-Lomin” (he’s so respectiful! it’s impossible to disrespect Morwen Eledhwen.), begs her to be cautious because Morgoth always pulls shit like this. He also refers to Turin as “the son of Hurin,” because he’s bitter that his adoptive son ran away from him. aw.

'You did not hold Turin from peril, but me you will hold from him,' cried Morwen. 'In the keeping of Melian! Yes, a prisoner of the Girdle! Long did I hold back before I entered it, and now I rue it.' 

Thingol did, in fact, try very hard to hold Turin from peril, but it didn’t stick. Just as it won’t with his mother. I love her. I love her dialogue. Finally, Melian tells her that this is deeeeefinitely Morgoth’s doing. And Morwen says, “So??? He’s???? My son???? Fuck off.” Thingol agrees to let her go and give her some guards, and then as soon as she walks out of the room pleads with Melian to make her stay, with magic. “Against the coming in of evil I may do much,” Melian replies. “But against the going out of those who will go, nothing. That is your part.”

Morwen says bye to her daughter and leaves without warning. “:(” says Thingol, and sends Mablung and some guys to keep her safe. They reveal themselves when they catch up to her, staring at the Sirion and considering how to ford it. “Crossing this river is really dangerous,” say Mablung. “Then bring me over by whatever way the Elven-folk are used to cross,” says Morwen; “or else I will try the swimming.” So they go to the boats. Morwen, who has been counting her guards VERY carefully, notices there’s an extra. Who could this be??

Thus it was revealed that Nienor had followed the company, and joined them in the dark before they crossed the river. They were dismayed, and none more than Morwen. 'Go back! Go back! I command you!' she cried.

'If the wife of Hurin can go forth against all counsel at the call of kindred,' said Nienor, 'then so also can Hurin's daughter.’

Wipes a proud tear from my eye. Just like her mom. It also says she is taller than MOST of Mablung’s company. Beef girl. However: “It is one thing to refuse counsel,” says Morwen. “It is another to refuse the command of your mother. Go now back!” Nienor refuses; Morwen is too stubborn to take her back to Doriath. Then Mablung says to his company: “Truly, it is by lack of counsel not of courage that Hurin's kin bring woe to others!” Mablung continues to tell Morwen how exasperated he is that he has to guard her instead of doing something useful.

As they come near Nargothrond, Glaurung comes out; he is so stinky that all their horses panic. He also breathes out an enormous quantity of fog, which I love. That’s just such a good power for a dragon to have. So Nienor’s horse panics real bad and she falls off, then climbs to the top of the hill to see if anyone else is meeting there. Glaurung is meeting there! He enchants her, because that’s what he loves to do. Then he finds out she is the daughter of Hurin, and oh boy. He MEGA enchants her... and then he goes home, because he worked hard doing enchantments and he is sleepy.

Half an hour later when Mablung finds her, she’s catatonic, and stays that way almost the whole journey back to Doriath--but runs away when they’re almost there, startled by a band of orcs. Morwen, too, is missing.

CHAPTER 15: NIENOR IN BRETHIL

Nienor runs unbelievably fast, tears off all her clothing, and then passes out on the ground. We’ve all been there. When she wakes up she doesn’t know how to talk or hunt, so she wanders around for a while and then goes to sleep hungry. IT TURNS OUT that she is on Finduilas’ grave, so when Turin & co come to visit they pick her up and get her some blankets (it is raining). She sees Turin and somehow recognizes that he is what she came to find, despite the fact that she has NEVER MET HIM and also JUST HAD HER MEMORY ERASED.

Turin tries asking her some questions, but she just cries. Even though he doesn’t seem to be assuming that she doesn’t have a name, he gives her a new one anyway? What an asshole. He calls her Niniel, which means “Maid of Tears” (a great classpect) and coincidentally is almost identical to her original name, Mourning. I think it even has the same root? N-I-N? It really is a coincidence though, because that’s the kind of name Turin ALWAYS chooses. Cheer up emo kid. So it’s unclear whether she understands language, since she “doesn’t know the names of trees and rocks and things,” but she repeats her new name, as if she somehow divined that that was the most important word in the sentence Turin just said.

We follow Nienor as she learns to talk. I think it’s really interesting that she is aware that she “lost words in her darkness.” She knows there is a very specific reason why she forgot how to speak.

Turin asks her to marry him, but her bff Brandir thinks he is kind of fishy? He tells her Turin is the son of Hurin and she is like !!!! but doesn’t know why. In the end Turin delivers an ultimatum: marry me or I’ll go to war again. That’s pretty fucking manipulative, my man.

[outofangband]

Morwen threatening to swim across the Sirion if Mablung doesn’t help her is just amazing. This is a middle aged woman severely impacted by years of starvation and malnutrition who probably has not swam in calm waters since she was about twelve if that so the idea that she knows how to swim at all is dubious and also she totally would do this, it’s not an empty threat. 

I love Morwen’s stoic, cool detachment from the horrors around her and I also love her reckless disregard for her own safety and sometimes the safety of others if she sets her mind to something. 

also this paragraph a few pages later is mindbending 

one of the elf riders striving with his horse in the fog saw suddenly the lady Morwen passing near, a gray wraith upon a mad steed but she vanished in the mist crying Niënor and they saw her no more 

I have some other posts about this scene namely here so I won’t ramble about it now but just...