Dorlas cried out: 'Nay, lord, he is crazed. For he came here saying that you were dead, and he called it good tidings. But you live.'
Then Turambar was wrathful, and believed that all Brandir said or did was done in malice towards himself and N?niel, begrudging their love; and he spoke evilly to Brandir, calling him Club-foot. Then Brandir reported all that he had heard, and named N?niel Nienor daughter of H?rin, and he cried out upon Turambar with the last words of Glaurung, that he was a curse unto his kin and to all that harboured him.
Then Turambar fell into a fury, for in those words he heard the feet of his doom overtaking him; and he charged Brandir with leading N?niel to her death, and publishing with delight the lies of Glaurung, if indeed be devised them not himself. Then he cursed Brandir, and slew him; and he fled from the people into the woods. But after a while his madness left him, and he came to Haudh-en-Elleth, and there sat, and pondered all his deeds. And he cried upon Finduilas to bring him counsel; for he knew not whether he would do now more ill to go to Doriath to seek his kin, or to forsake them for ever and seek death in battle.
And even as he sat there Mablung with a company of Grey-elves came over the Crossings of Teiglin, and he knew T?rin, and hailed him, and was glad indeed to find him yet living; for he had learned of the coming forth of Glaurung and that his path led to Brethil, and also he had heard report that the Black Sword of Nargothrond now dwelt there. Therefore he came to give warning to T?rin, and help if need be; but T?rin said: 'You come too late. The Dragon is dead.'
Then they marvelled, and gave him great praise; but he cared nothing for it, and said: 'This only I ask: give me news of my kin, for in Dor-l?min I learned that they had gone to the Hidden Kingdom.'
Then Mablung was dismayed, but needs must tell to T?rin how Morwen was lost, and Nienor cast into a spell of dumb forgetfulness, and how she escaped them upon the borders of Doriath and fled northwards. Then at last T?rin knew that doom had overtaken him, and that he had slain Brandir unjustly; so that the words of Glaurung were fulfilled in him. And he laughed as one fey, crying: 'This is a bitter jest indeed!' But he bade Mablung go, and return to Doriath, with curses upon it. 'And a curse too upon your errand!' he cried. 'This only was wanting. Now comes the night.'
Then he fled from them like the wind, and they were amazed, wondering what madness had seized him; and they followed after him. But T?rin far out-ran them; and he came to Cabed-en-Aras, and heard the roaring of the water, and saw that all the leaves fell sere from the trees, as though winter had come. There he drew forth his sword, that now alone remained to him of all his possessions, and he said: 'Hail Gurthang! No lord or loyalty dost thou know, save the hand that wieldeth thee. From no blood wilt thou shrink. Wilt thou therefore take T?rin Turambar, wilt thou slay me swiftly?'
And from the blade rang a cold voice in answer: 'Yea, I will drink thy blood gladly, that so I may forget the blood of Beleg my master, and the blood of Brandir slain unjustly. I will slay thee swiftly.'
Then T?rin set the hilts upon the ground, and cast himself upon the point of Gurthang, and the black blade took his life. But Mablung and the Elves came and looked on the shape of Glaurung lying dead, and upon the body of T?rin, and they grieved; and when Men of Brethil came thither, and they learned the reasons of T?rin's madness and death, they were aghast; and Mablung said bitterly: 'I also have been meshed in the doom of the Children of H?rin, and thus with my tidings have slain one that I loved.'
Then they lifted up T?rin, and found that Gurthang had broken asunder. But Elves and Men gathered there great store of wood, and they made a mighty burning, and the Dragon was consumed to ashes. T?rin they laid in a high mound where he had fallen, and the shards of Gurthang were laid beside him. And when all was done, the Elves sang a lament for the Children of H?rin, and a great grey stone was set upon the mound, and thereon was carven in runes of Doriath:
T?RIN TURAMBAR DAGNIR GLAURUNGA
and beneath they wrote also:
NIENOR N1NIEL
But she was not there, nor was it ever known whither the cold waters of Teiglin had taken her.
The Silmarillion
Chapter 22
Of the Ruin of Doriath
So ended the tale of T?rin Turambar; but Morgoth did not sleep nor rest from evil, and his dealings with the house of Hador were not yet ended. Against them his malice was unsated, though H?rin was under his eye, and Morwen wandered distraught in the wild.
Unhappy was the lot of H?rin; for all that Morgoth knew of the working of his malice H?rin knew also, but lies were mingled with the truth, and aught that was good was hidden or distorted. In all ways Morgoth sought most to cast an evil light on those things that Thingol and Melian had done, for he hated them, and feared them. When therefore he judged the time to be ripe, he released H?rin from his bondage, bidding him go whither he would; and he feigned that in this he was moved by pity as for an enemy utterly defeated. But he lied, for his purpose was that H?rin should still further his hatred for Elves and Men, ere he died.
Then little though he trusted the words of Morgoth, knowing indeed that he was without pity, H?rin took his freedom, and went forth in grief, embittered by the words of the Dark Lord; and a year was now gone since the death of T?rin his son. For twenty-eight years he had been captive in Angband, and he was grown grim to look upon. His hair and beard were white and long, but he walked unbowed, bearing a great black staff; and he was girt with a sword. Thus he passed into Hithlum, and tidings came to the chieftains of the Easterlings that there was a great riding of captains and black soldiers of Angband over the sands of Anfauglith, and with them came an old man, as one that was held in high honour. Therefore they did not lay hands on H?rin, but let him walk at will in those lands; in which they were wise, for the remnant of his own people shunned him, because of his coming from Angband as one in league and honour with Morgoth.
Thus his freedom did but increase the bitterness of H?rin's heart; and he departed from the land of Hithlum and went up into the mountains. Thence he descried far off. amid the clouds the peaks of the Crissaegrim, and he remembered Turgon; and he desired to come again to the hidden realm of Gondolin. He went down therefore from Ered Wethrin, and he knew not that the creatures of Morgoth watched all his steps; and crossing over the Brithiach he passed into Dimbar, and came to the dark feet of the Echoriath. All the land was cold and desolate, and he looked about him with little hope, standing at the foot of a great fall of stones beneath a sheer rock-wall; and he knew not that this was all that was now left to see of the old Way of Escape: the Dry River was blocked, and the arched gate was buried. Then H?rin looked up to the grey sky, thinking that he might once more descry the eagles, as he had done long ago in his youth; but he saw only the shadows blown from the east, and clouds swirling about the inaccessible peaks, and he heard only the wind hissing over the stones.
But the watch of the great eagles was now redoubled, and they marked H?rin well, far below, forlorn in the fading light; and straightway Thorondor himself, since the tidings seemed great, brought word to Turgon. But Turgon said: 'Does Morgoth sleep? You were mistaken.'
'Not so,' said Thorondor. 'If the Eagles of Manw? were wont to err thus, then long ago, lord, your hiding would have been in vain.'
'Then your words bode ill,' said Turgon; 'for they can bear but one meaning. Even H?rin Thalion has surrendered to the will of Morgoth. My heart is shut.'
But when Thorondor was gone, Turgon sat long in thought, and he was troubled, remembering the deeds of H?rin of Dor-l?min; and he opened his heart, and sent to the eagles to seek for H?rin, and to bring him if they might to Gondolin. But it was too late, and they never saw him again in light or in shadow.
For H?rin stood in despair before the silent cliffs of the Echoriath, and the westering sun, piercing the clouds, stained his white hair with red. Then he cried aloud in the wilderness, heedless of any ears, and he cursed the pitiless land; and standing at last upon a high rock he looked towards Gondolin and called in a great voice: 'Turgon, Turgon, remember the Fen of Serech! O Turgon, will you not hear in your hidden halls?' But there was no sound save the wind in the dry grasses. 'Even so they hissed in Serech at the sunset,' he said; and as he spoke the sun went behind the Mountains of Shadow, and a darkness fell about him, and the wind ceased, and there was silence in the waste.
Yet there were ears that heard the words that H?rin spoke, and report of all came soon to the Dark Throne in the north; and Morgoth smiled, for he knew now clearly in what region Turgon dwelt, though because of the eagles no spy of his could yet come within sight of the land behind the Encircling Mountains. This was the first evil that the freedom of H?rin achieved.
As darkness fell H?rin stumbled from the rock, and fell into a heavy sleep of grief. But in his sleep he heard the voice of Morwen lamenting, and often she spoke his name; and