SCENE II

Minstrel:

Many songs are sung and many tales told by the Elves of that Great Battle, which is called the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, for no song or tale can contain all its grief. There Fingon, High King of the Noldor, perished, and they beat him into the dust with their maces, and his banner, blue and silver, they trod into the mire of his blood. Yet still there was hope, for Turgon, the King of the Hidden City of Gondolin, came forth; but soon it was seen that all was lost, and when only the soldiers of Húrin and Turgon remained, Húrin spoke to Turgon at the Fen of Serech:

[Scene: a great plain, a pass between two ranges of mountains. There are many people all around, Orcs and wolves and trolls and Balrogs in the background, and loud noise. In the midst of this stand two figures: Húrin, and another, a very tall Elf, over a head taller than Húrin, who has dark hair, and looks very much like Fingon (from the prologue scene). Another tall Elf with dark hair stands beside him, his nephew. They are leaning on their swords, and are stained with blood and dirt, and look very sorrowful. Húrin speaks loudly to the Elven Lord above the noise:]

Húrin: [urgent:]

Go now, lord, while there is time! For in you lives the last hope of Middle-earth, and while Gondolin stands Morgoth shall still know fear in his heart.

Turgon: [somber:]

                Not long now can Gondolin stand, and being discovered it must fall.

                [Húrin’s brother, Huor, a tall, yellow haired man, who stands behind him, speaks:]

Huor:

Yet if it stands but a little while, then hope will be born among Elves and Men. Though we part forever, and I shall not see your fair city again, yet from you and from me a new star shall arise. Farewell!

Turgon: [heavily, in sorrow:]

                Very well, I will go. Though I leave you and your Men alone with this –

                [he indicates with his arm all the tumult around him.]

Húrin:

                Thus there is hope, Lord. Farewell!

Turgon: [sighs]

                Farewell!

Minstrel:

Thus Turgon escaped and led his people back to the Hidden Kingdom. But Húrin and his men remained, and they were left to face all of Morgoth’s forces alone. These swarmed about them at the fen of Serech, and all the valiant men of Húrin were slain about him in a heap; and the Orcs hewed their heads and piled them as  a mound of gold in the sunset. Then Húrin was left standing all alone.

[Show Húrin standing by himself, with an axe in his hands, hewing the Orcs and the huge trolls that swarm around him.]

It is sung that his axe smoked in the black blood of the troll guard until it withered. Each time that Húrin slew he cried:

Húrin: [at each stroke with his axe against the trolls:]

                Aurë entuluva! Aurë entuluva! Day shall come again! Day shall come again!

Minstrel:

But at the last they took him alive, when he fell buried beneath their great numbers. Then they bound him and dragged him to Angband, the Dark Fortress, with mockery.

[Scene change: Húrin is led by Orcs down a long labyrinthine stair in complete darkness, except for the sconces on the stone walls that show red flames, as if lighting the walls with blood. He is covered with dirt and with black blood. He does not at all speak, but the Orcs that carry him are cackling hideously.]

Orc: [chuckling:]

Oh, yes, we are taking you to the Dark One himself. He wishes to see you, indeed he does, Húrin son of Galdor!

[These last names are uttered with such scorn, hatred, and contempt that they are almost spit out. Húrin does not answer, but in his head we hear there echoing the words that he spoke before:]

Húrin: [echoing in his mind:]

Marrer of Middle-earth, would that I might see thee face to face, and mar thee as my lord Fingolfin did!

[The next scene that comes up is Húrin lying in a large stone table, with metal bands around his legs and arms. His face is wrung with pain. Around him in the room are all sorts of hideous tools of torment hanging on the walls. A vast shape looms up in front of him. We cannot see the speaker’s face, but the voice is deep, deep and horrible.]

Morgoth: [angrily:]

Do not lie to me, weak mortal. I know that you know where the Hidden City of Gondolin lies. And if you tell me, I will give you, as I promised, a leadership in all my realms.

Húrin: [speaking in pain:]

Blind you are, Morgoth, Lord of Fetters, and blind shall ever be. You know not what rules the hearts of Men, and if you knew you could not give it. But a fool is he who accepts what Morgoth offers. You will take first the price and then withhold the promise; and I should get only death, if I told you what you ask.

Morgoth: [beings to laugh, a horrible, grating sound:]

                Death you may yet ask of me as a gift. Come with me.

[Next we see Húrin sitting in a large stone chair, chained to the seat by his wrists and ankles, at the top of great mountain peaks, and Morgoth is standing beside him, looking out over the landscape below. One can see for leagues upon leagues. Morgoth says darkly:]

Now, Húrin, think of your wife and son, and your other kin, for now they dwell in my realm, and they are at my mercy.

Húrin:

You have no mercy. But you will not come to the secret of Turgon and the Hidden Kingdom through them. They do not know his secrets.

                [At this Morgoth becomes very angry.]

Morgoth: [irate:]

And yet I may come at you, and all your accursed house. And you shall be broken upon my will, though you all were made of steel.

[Then he takes a sword that lies by his feet, and putting it in front of Húrin’s face, bends it until it shatters. A shard of it cuts Húrin’s cheek, but he does not flinch. Then Morgoth stretches his arm out across the horizon.]

Behold! The shadow of my thought shall lie upon them wherever they go, and my hate shall pursue them to the ends of the world.

Húrin: [in a hard voice:]

                You speak in vain. You cannot see them, nor govern them from afar.

Morgoth: [angrily:]

Little fool! I am the Elder King: the shadow of my purpose lies upon all the world, but upon those whom you love my thought shall weigh as a cloud of Doom, and it shall bring them down into darkness and despair. Wherever they go, evil shall arise. Whatever they speak, their words shall bring ill counsel. Whatsoever they do shall turn against them. They shall die without hope, and they shall curse you!

Húrin: [looks completely unfazed:]

This last I will say to you, thrall Morgoth: You are not the Lord of Men, and shall not be, though all the World fall under your dominion. Beyond the World you shall not pursue those who refuse you.

Morgoth: [spitefully:]

Beyond the World I shall not pursue them, for there there is Nothing. They shall go from darkness into Darkness.

Húrin: [steadfastly:]

                You lie.

Morgoth:

You shall see that I do not lie. Sit there now, and look upon the lands where evil shall come upon all those that you have delivered to me. For you have dared to mock me, and have questioned the power of Melkor, master of the Fates of Arda. Therefore with my eyes you shall see, and with my ears you shall hear, and nothing shall be hidden from you.

[Scene fades out.]