The Children of Húrin

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

A Legendary Tale of Tragedy and Defiance

Set in a legendary time long before The Lord of the Rings, Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, dwells in the vast fortress of Angband in the North. Within the shadow of Angband's fear and the war waged by Morgoth against the Elves, the fates of Túrin and his sister Niënor become tragically entwined.

Their brief and passionate lives are overshadowed by the elemental hatred that Morgoth bears them as the children of Húrin—the man who dared to defy him to his face. Against them, Morgoth unleashes his most formidable servant: Glaurung, a powerful spirit in the form of a huge, wingless dragon of fire. Through Glaurung, Morgoth seeks to fulfill his curse and destroy the children of Húrin.

A Masterpiece Restored

Begun by J.R.R. Tolkien at the end of the First World War, The Children of Húrin became the dominant story in his later work on Middle-earth. However, Tolkien was unable to bring the tale to a final and finished form.

In this book, Christopher Tolkien has painstakingly constructed a coherent narrative after long study of the manuscripts—without any editorial invention.