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The Children of Hurin

By: J. R. R. Tolkien
Narrated by: Christopher Lee
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Publisher's summary

Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a fully continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of The Children of Húrin will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, eagles and Orcs, and the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkie

There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings, and the story told in this book is set in the great country that lay beyond the Grey Havens in the West: lands where Treebeard once walked, but which were drowned in the great cataclysm that ended the First Age of the World.

In that remote time Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwelt in the vast fortress of Angband, the Hells of Iron, in the North; and the tragedy of Túrin and his sister Nienor unfolded within the shadow of the fear of Angband and the war waged by Morgoth against the lands and secret cities of the Elves.

Their brief and passionate lives were dominated by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bore them as the children of Húrin, the man who had dared to defy and to scorn him to his face. Against them he sent his most formidable servant, Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge wingless dragon of fire. Into this story of brutal conquest and flight, of forest hiding-places and pursuit, of resistance with lessening hope, the Dark Lord and the Dragon enter in direly articulate form. Sardonic and mocking, Glaurung manipulated the fates of Túrin and Nienor by lies of diabolic cunning and guile, and the curse of Morgoth was fulfilled.

The earliest versions of this story by J.R.R. Tolkien go back to the end of the First World War and the years that followed; but long afterwards, when The Lord of the Rings was finished, he wrote it anew and greatly enlarged it in complexities of motive and character: it became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. But he could not bring it to a final and finished form. In this book Christopher Tolkien has constructed, after long study of the manuscripts, a coherent narrative without any editorial invention.

©2007 J. R. R. Tolkien Copyright Trust and Christopher Reuel Tolkien (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, London, UK

Featured Article: Sauron—A Lord of the Rings Character Guide


Mairon, Annatar, the Necromancer—the evil Dark Lord Sauron has gone by many names. But who is he, really, and what is his impact on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth? Sauron is the trilogy's primary antagonist and the one who forged the One Ring to Rule Them All in the fires of Mount Doom. Sauron is storied throughout Tolkien’s lore and mythos. Here's what we know about the powerful and evil Sauron—his character, his history, his powers, and more.

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What listeners say about The Children of Hurin

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Amazing!!

Absolutely loved this story and the narration by the late Christopher Lee is amazing!! Sound quality is excellent, he does different voices for different characters and it's great. His narration allows the listener to easily immerse in the story and visualize the story in ones mind.

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an immortal classic read by an immortal talent.

Christopher Lee brings this to life in a way that no one else could. A must for Tolkien fans.

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Great but sad

Great book. Hit my like a train at the end. My jaw dropped at how sad it gets at the end

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A Series of Unfortunate Events

Everything in this story is incredible from the writing and editing to the masterful performance by the late great Sir Christopher Lee.

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Christopher Lee is Amazing

The story is great. It has a different flavor than other Tolkien stories but it is nice that the ending is not predictable.

The reading performance by The Great Sir Christopher Lee is fantastic. One of the best voices in history. You can tell he is also very invested in the story and his performance. Some of Tolkien’s languages can be hard to pronounce and others can butcher them, but Sir Lee did his homework and is spot on. Bravo!

A must listen/read for any Tolkien fan!

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Christopher Lee???

Christopher Lee, the legend himself, brings this heartbreaking tale to life. So good! He is magical!

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a legend

christopher lee will be missed and this is a fantastic reading. his attention to voicing different individuals is well done

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Like Something from History

I grew up reading the Hobbit and only recently read Lord of the Rings. Wanting to learn more about the lore of Middle Earth I chose to pick up Húrin. The writing is reminiscent of Beowulf or Arthurian legend. Naturally Christopher Lee gave a fantastic performance and in many ways was the perfect voice to listen to through this tragic tale. Loved this story and look forward to rereading it in the future

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Excellent

Sir Christopher again gave quite a good telling of this book which followed word by word of the text of this book. Worth having both to read and watch especially when like me, your eye sight is not great and audio on its own makes me lose my concentration on what is read. Very enjoyable and now onto the next read and audio of the trilogy. Worth the purchase!!

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amazing

a sad tale, amazingly written and narrated by the best actor Christopher Lee. Truly a masterpiece

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