The Children of Húrin

Adam Tolkien on The Children of Húrin

How did a lifetime of stories become The Children of Húrin? In an essay on the making of the book, Adam Tolkien, grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien (and French translator of his History of Middle-earth), explains that the Húrin legends made up the third "Great Tale" of his grandfather's Middle-earth writing, and he describes how his father, Christopher Tolkien, painstakingly collected the pieces of the legend into a complete story told only in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien. "For anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings," he writes, The Children of Húrin "allows them to take a step back into a larger world, an ancient land of heroes and vagabonds, honour and jeopardy, hope and tragedy."

A Look Inside the Book

This first edition of The Children of Húrin is illustrated by Alan Lee, who was already well-known for his Tolkien illustrations in previous editions (see our Tolkien Store for more) as well as his classic collaboration with Brian Froud, Faeries, and his Kate Greenaway Medal-winning Black Ships Before Troy, before his Oscar-winning work as conceptual designer for Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings film trilogy brought him even greater acclaim. Here's a quick glimpse of two of Lee's interior illustrations for The Children of Húrin. (Click on each to see larger images.)

Questions for Alan Lee

We had the chance to ask Alan Lee a few questions about his illustrative collaboration with the world imagined by J.R.R. Tolkien:

Amazon.com: How much of a treat was it to get first crack at depicting entirely new characters rather than ones who had been interpreted many times before? Was there one who particularly captured your imagination?

Lee: Although it was a great honor to illustrate The Children of Húrin, the characters and the main elements of the story line are familiar to those who have read The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, and these narratives have inspired quite a few illustrators. Ted Nasmith has illustrated The Silmarillion and touched on some of the same characters and landscapes. This was the first time that I ventured into the First Age; while working on The Lord of the Rings books and films--and The Hobbit--I've had to refer back to events in Middle-earth history but not really depict them.

I'm drawn to characters who bear similarities to the protagonists in myths and legends; these correspondences add layers and shades of meaning, and most of the characters in this story have those archetypal qualities. However, I prefer not to get too close to the characters because the author is delineating them much more carefully than I can, and I'm wary of interfering with the pictures that the text is creating in the reader's mind.

Amazon.com: The Húrin story has been described as darker than some of Tolkien's other work. What mood did you try to set with your illustrations?

Lee: It is a tragic story, but the darkness is offset by the light and beauty of Tolkien's elegiac writing. In the illustrations I tried to show some of the fragile beauty of the landscapes and create an atmosphere that would enhance the sense of foreboding and impending loss. I try to get the setting to tell its part in the story, as evidence of what happened there in the past and as a hint at what is going to occur. My usual scarred and broken trees came in handy.

Amazon.com: You were a conceptual designer (and won an Oscar) for Peter Jackson's film trilogy of The Lord of the Rings, which I think we can safely say had a bit of success. How does designing for the screen compare to designing for the page?

Lee: They both have their share of joys and frustrations. It was great to be part of a huge film collaboration and play a small part in something quite magical and monumental; I will always treasure that experience. Film is attractive because I enjoy sketching and coming up with ideas more than producing highly finished artwork, and it's great having several hundred other people lending a hand! But books--as long as they don't get moldy from being left in an empty studio for six years--have their own special quality. I hope that I can continue doing both.

Amazon.com: Of all fiction genres, fantasy seems to have the strongest tradition of illustration. Why do you think that is? Who are some of your favorite illustrators?

Lee: A lot of excellent illustrators are working at the moment--especially in fantasy and children's books. It is exciting also to see graphic artists such as Dave McKean, in his film Mirrormask, moving between different media. I also greatly admire the more traditional work of Gennady Spirin and Roberto Innocenti. Kinuko Craft, John Jude Palencar, John Howe, Charles Vess, Brian Froud ... I'll stop there, as the list would get too long. But--in a fit of pride and justified nepotism--I'll add my daughter, Virginia Lee, to the list. Her first illustrated children's book, The Frog Bride [coming out in the U.K. in September], will be lovely.

More Tolkien Favorites

Visit our J.R.R. Tolkien Store for a complete selection of Tolkien classics, including deluxe editions, young readers' editions, and more.

The Lord of the Rings 50th Anniversary Edition

The Hobbit Collector's Edition

The Atlas of Middle Earth

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A Worthy Succesor To The Lord Of The Rings, 2008-11-20
As a person who read the previous incarnations of this tale in The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales, it's safe to say that I was already a fan of this book before it was ever released. However, I'm pleased to see that this was more than just a cheap attempt to milk the cow by putting out the same story multiple times as George Lucas keeps doing with his Star Wars re-releases. The Children of Hurin contains several never before seen chapters and illustrations which help to further expand the story.

As it goes, this is probably the darkest of the tales J.R.R. Tolkien ever wrote. It's very bleak and grim, but that's where the magic of this story takes place. Rather than manufacture artificial escapes for the heroes of this book as he did in The Lord of the Rings, the heroes in this book really get their butts handed to them. The heroism of the good guys in this story stems from their resilience in the face of overwhelming odds, not necessarily their victories. The one thing I truly love about Tolkien's fantasy universe is that evil is not this single entity that you can confront and destroy. It's built into the very fabric of the world and proves to be indestructible by any means known to the inhabitants of Middle-earth.

The main character Turin, is as complex a character as has ever been devised in fantasy. Because of his father's defiance of Morgoth, the original dark lord of Middle-earth, Turin spends the better part of his life trying to dodge the curse that has been called down upon him by Morgoth. Turin's family suffers dearly because of Morgoth's curse. Turin's greatest defense against the power of Morgoth, is his resilience, which proves to be the highest level of valor that he can acheive in the face of Morgoth's unrelenting evil.

This is a tragedy not unlike Hamlet or Oedipus, except it draws upon familiar Tolkienesque conventions for its impact. This book takes place during the First Age of the Middle-earth when the world was just taking shape and the race of men had just been introduced into it. The world is ruled by all-powerful gods called Valar. Hence, the battle between good and evil is more primeval than in the later ages of the world.

As in Tolkien's previous books, Middle-earth proves to be a world rich with history. It's a joy to be able to take a glimpse into his world in its founding days long before Hobbits or Ring Wraiths roamed the earth. It's a showcase of the best that Tolkien has to offer and clearly points to the fact that his tales are less about magic than they are about the power of the human spirit and our role in the unfolding of the world's history.

I would recommend The Children of Hurin to any lover of classic fantasy, especially since it's unlikely we'll ever see books like this written again by any writer of our generation.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Very engaging. A book for Tolkien fans and lovers of Medieval style lore., 2008-11-16
This is the first Tolkien book that I have read since the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I found it engaging and exciting. I had to get by, as some critics noted, the long list of who's who in Middle Earth (I am not into ME lore), but gliding through the names and their lineage I was well rewarded. The personalities are well developed. The story is very dark and tragic with interesting insight by the author on human, Dwarfish and Elvish behavior. This book is a good stand alone book, I enjoyed it without having read the other posthumously published works.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A Dark, Gripping Tragedy , 2008-11-11
Anyone expecting to read a happily ending Tolkien tale of Hobbits returning home at the end of a grand adventure and setting things right, will be disappointed. However, if you want to read a tragedy that is as gripping as Oedipus, then you have found your book. Tales as ancient as Oedipus have been woven into a coherent story on a Northern European canvas; Tolkien created a story loaded with hubris. It is time well spent reading a modern interpretation of excessive human pride and the damage it can create. Alan Lee has several illustrations which draw out some of the inner details of the characters.


0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Impossible to read. Like the parts of the old testament that bored you to tears, 2008-11-10
This book is amazingly terrible. I picked it up thinking it was going to be like the "lord of the rings", which i loved. It wasnt

In reality, if the lord of hte rings is like "tom clancy", this book is like a mistranslated 18th century copy of the really boring parts of the old testament.

It is written in an amazingly out of date style, kind of a weird third person. There are PAGES of "herengebold married therenfellen, and they begat shinzabar, who was a warrior king, who after warring in the west, he begat thooflinabor by way of herrenfarvegnugen". Pages of it. and NONE OF THESE PEOPLE MATTER. There is geneology upon geneology of people who then NEVER reappear anywhere else in the story. I started skipping pages upon pages, and it didnt matter- since there is almost no real plot, you can skip around all you want. The fact that no human could ever remember the geneologies doesnt matter, because these characters dont actually a) reappear or b) have personalities.

This is some sort of weird attempt at an alternative archaic history- but who actually reads archaic history? the lord of the rigns is AMAZING- this is like LOTR's version of the old testatment "begat" section- we dont read OUR begat secton, why should we read Gandalfs?



It is hard for me to say this, but this book is one of the biggest disappoinments ever- i actually threw it out ceremonially.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Must read for Tolkien Fans, 2008-10-31
This is one of those amazing things that you didn't see coming. A book by an author who has been dead a very long time. True, Christopher Tolkien is not dead (he put this whole thing together and finished undone sections and chapters), but his father wrote the genesis of this book, and he is dead. J.R.R. Tolkien is my favorite author and he's part of the reason I became a fantasy writer. I loved this book and enjoyed going back to Middle-earth again. It is such a tragic tale and you can read other reviews to know what the story line is about, but suffice it to say that bad things happen. The art in the book is amazing as well and I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever loved Lord of the Rings. You don't need to read The Silmarillion to understand this novel.
The Children of Hurin is a tale I shall never forget.

Paul Genesse
Author of The Golden Cord
Book One of the Iron Dragon Series

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