Other than The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, it seems to me that our beloved J.R.R.Tolkien’s stories of Middle earth are really quite dark. The Silmarillion of course had moments of great triumph, like when the Valar finally finally overthrow Morgoth, but overall one would have to say that the tone was primarily tragic. In The Children of Hurin, however, it’s pretty hard to find any light. There are moments of triumph for Turin, the ultimate when he slays Glaurung, but things are heavily slanted toward the dower side. Whether it is Turin either causing the death of innocents, or killing them himself, or the ultimate tragedy of his incestuous relationship with his sister, things always seem to go very wrong. Tragedy of course is a great vehicle for art, but I, at least, miss the moments of joy in the LOTR. For me, although I enjoy these other stories in themselves, my interest seems to be more weighted toward the imagery of Tolkien’s darker side.