XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: rimagen@toast.net   
      
   This has bothered me for some time: /what/ was Turin's first sorrow   
   again?   
   After Turin left home for Doriath and was parted from Morwen, the text   
   of /CoH/ says, "This was the first of the sorrows of Turin." (/CoH/ p.   
   75, or /UT/ p. 73 for the corresponding passage in the /Narn/.) But   
   how can that be true? Lalaith had already died at that point!   
   Obviously the death in childhood of his beloved little sister was a   
   huge sorrow for him.   
   One possibility is that this was simply a traditional phrase which was   
   copied from earlier versions of the story. In fact, there is something   
   like it in the tale of "Turambar and the Foaloke": on p. 72 of /BoLT   
   2/ we read, "Very bitter indeed was that sundering, and for long Turin   
   wept and would not leave his mother, and this was the first of the   
   many sorrows that befell him in life." But in that case, it should   
   still have been edited out once the character of Lalaith was   
   introduced.   
   On the other hand, maybe it means "the first of the sorrows of Turin   
   *which was caused by Morgoth's curse*". I don't know, what do people   
   think?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)