A Quest at Once Familiar Yet Different...

In all literature, there is one common occurrence that is older than literature itself, more than likely: the "Quest." Many of the greatest stories of all time are quests- The Odyssey, The Lord of the Rings, Of Mice and Men, and on, and on, and on until we become exhausted from listing so many titles. All quests are not obvious enough to really think of the stories as "quests", but all quests have five basic elements: a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials en route, and a real reason to go there. To prove this concept of how every story can be a quest, I will apply this process to one of the many books I have read recently: The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien.

a. The Quester- Turin, son of Hurin, who (as a child) was sent to the Elven country from his home in Dor-lomin to escape the wrath of the Northenlings that were invading after the capture of Hurin by Morgoth; he is young, does not know much about the world other than the world he experienced by his father's side.

b. A place to go- Turin was sent to the elven land of Doriath to plead for mercy and shelter from the elven King Thingol, an ally of Hurin's from previous wars. Turin arrives at Doriath but ends up travelling for a majority of his life all over Middle Earth, in order to discover his true purpose and to find his place in the world.

c. A stated reason to go there- His mother Morwen wanted to protect him from the invading Easterlings and to spare Turin the pain of becoming a slave. Because Hurin was imprisoned at Angband, the lair of Morgoth, Hurin could do nothing to help his family through this time, leaving Morwen to send Turin away to one day return and help free both his father and his home.

d. Challenges and trials- Turin faces hardship not long after arriving in Doriath; he is accepted into the city by King Thingol, and even accepted as Thingol's own son, but many of the elves resent him because they feel that he has not earned the right to bear this title. This starts Turin in a spiral of warfare, misunderstandings, banishment, the unintentional death of comrades and friends, reacceptance as the leader of a group of bandits, conflicts with the feared dragon Glaurung (also destroying his sister and mother in the process), leading a tribe of woodmen into battle, and ultimately ending in his death at his own hand.

e. The real reason to go on the quest- While Hurin was trapped at Angband, Morgoth cursed Hurin and his entire family and line, so they would meet their end while Hurin was helpless to prevent the tragedies from unfolding. Turin's main quest after reaching Doriath was the pursuit of a way out of this curse- running, disguising himself and his name, all to prevent his inevitable doom from falling down around his ears. By always moving, reinventing himself, fighting against the forces of Angband with any group that he came into contact with, Turin hoped to delay or eliminate the curse. Many times he seemed to have done just that when a new tragedy presented itself, destroying what Turin had worked so hard to accomplish. Turin's quest was a never ending affair, a road becoming longer each time he nearly reached the end of it. Turin finally realised this concept at the moment of his greatest despair, deciding to end the journey then and there with his sword.

This quest is just one of many in the hallowed halls of literature and lore, also one of the more straight forward quests. But it is a quest none the less, this one ending in tragedy, not triumph.