The Children of Hurin

By: J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Christopher Lee

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

There are tales of Middle-earth from times long before The Lord of the Rings. 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 Tolkien story 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 revised and greatly enlarged it, enhancing 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

An Epic Tragedy with Amazing Narration!!!

The Narn-I-Chin-Hurin, or Tale of the Children of Hurin, is the heavily detailed expansion of a chapter titled "Of Turin Turambar" from the Silmarillion. Beginning with the brothers Hurin, the father of Turin, and Huor's youth and advancing to the capture an imprisonment of Hurin by Morgoth and death Huor in the Nirnaeth Arnodiad, or Battle of Unnumbered Tears, which sets the somber tone echoed throughout the life of Turin. A beautifully tragic tale following a man's struggle against the insurmountable strength of a mighty foe, as well as his own internal battles of grief and pride. In summary this book is well worth the buy, even more so due to the powerful narration provided by Sir Christopher Lee.

Beware The Tragedy That is The Children of Hurin

Never before has my heart been broken so many times in so short a span.
The Children of Hurin is an amazing book but prepare yourself for a tragedy that rivals that of Homer’s Odyssey.
You have been warned.

My Thoughts

Absolute favorite narration of a classic Tolkein tale. Truly a master class performance here.

A Tragic Tale of a Cursed Destiny

In "The Children of Hurin," Tolkien shares a tragic tale of a cursed destiny which is canonical to the events of Middle-Earth - centuries before his tale of The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings takes place. The majority of the story primarily follows the miseries and misfortunes of the three children of Hurin, with a keen emphasis on Turin for a large part of the narrative.

An amazing tale read by Sir Christopher Lee - a wonderful actor who was famous and most recently remembered for playing roles such as Dracula, Count Dooku in the Star Wars EP.1-3 trilogy, and (of course!) Saruman in Peter Jackson's LOTR Trilogy - among countless other films and plays in his lifetime.

I highly recommend this audio book to any and all Tolkien fans.

- Synopsis -

When Hurin and his brother Huor were young, they were basically saved from an orc attack by divine intervention. The titular Eagles then transported the unconscious brothers to the hidden realm of Gondolin; something of an El Dorado of Elves. (Fun fact, the city where Thorin's and Gandalf's swords were made!)

After a couple years under Elven care and tutelage they were returned home to their family under the condition that they had to leave the same way they came; with no memory or knowledge of how to find the hidden realm.

Many years later, Hurin has children and becomes a leader of his own realm - but is summoned to rally with various other forces while the kids were still young (and one yet unborn.) As the last man standing after an epic all-out conflict known as "The Battle of Unnumbered Tears", Hurin is captured and brought back to be tormented by Melkor/Morgoth who was the first dark lord and Sauron's master.

After an unsuccessful attempt to physically torture Hurin into revealing the location of Gondolin, Melkor curses his family and leaves him stranded at a high place for DECADES - granting him the undesirable ability to, for all intents and purposes, see things unfolding from afar - and thus forces him to sit and watch his family suffer horrible lives full of misery and tribulations from an unreachable distance until they are all but wiped out.

I won't spoil much more, it's really neat and you should certainly try it out.

I Love Tolkien

I am a huge fan of Tolkien and the Arda universe. this is a wonderful albeit sad addition to the canon.

If you love Tolkien you'll love it, but if you aren't ready for a tragedy don't read it.

Christopher Lee!! Aaaaaaaahh!!!!

His narrating is as good as his acting! I could see the sadness of the scenes when he read the tragedies and the best part is I can lock my phone, go into dead zones, and never stop hearing the story! 1st book heard kn audible and I am in love!

Beautiful Tragedy

This is a great standalone story by Tolkien read very accurately by Christopher Lee who knows all the correct pronunciations of the words. I will say it was very difficult to get into in the first few chapters because I didn't know anything about the layout of Beleriand or its inhabitants, so I had this as a companion to the physical book. As the book goes along, you will get sucked into the story.

Lee's narration really grew on me.

Not for the faint of heart!

Good for Tolkien and ancient literature fans.

This was a fun listen for Tolkien fans. If you like ancient tragedies, you'll like this.

this is a gem

a must have for any tolkien fan. a wonderfully composed story and a performance for the ages by Christopher Lee.

Loved it

This is my favorite Tolkien tale, and Christopher Lee does it justice. His reading may seem overly dramatic at times, but it works for this book, which reads like a greek tradegy.