The Good, the Bad, and the Outlawed - Page 4
© Michael Martinez
Turin's career as an outlaw underscores the difficulty faced by Men and Elves in Beleriand when their societies were destroyed. Morgoth only wanted them as slaves, if at all. The Elves were taken to Angband and placed into forced labor or, worse, turned into tools of Morgoth's will. The Men were simply imprisoned in Hithlum and given over as property to other Men. If anyone escaped from Angband or Hithlum, he generally had no home. Hurin led a band of outlaws to Brethil after Morgoth released him, and the Men of Brethil drove the outlaws away. They had done nothing wrong but apparently that was the way outlaws were treated. Elsewhere it is noted that Elves who escaped from Angband were generally treated with mistrust. Gwindor seems to have been a rare exception, in that he was restored to his place among the folk of Nargothrond.
The Easterlings who served Morgoth were not outlaws. They accepted his rule willingly, and therefore benefitted from his justice. If one of them was murdered, the murderer was justly declared an outlaw. However evil the Eldar and Edain might have perceived the Easterlings to be, did they in fact accept that they were evil? Did they simply believe they had chosen sides in a war, and had accepted the best offer which came to them? The Easterlings not only possessed community, they were assigned a place in Morgoth's community. They may not have received the reward they expected, but they were not driven off into the wilds as outlaws.
Outlawry was therefore as severe a penalty as one could receive from either side in the war, short of losing one's life. There was little hope of passing from outlawry into another community, except under the most extreme circumstances. The Easterlings, once they cast their lot with Morgoth, literally had no place to go. The treachery of the Sons of Ulfang ensured the Elves would never accept them into Eldarin society again. So even if they had the will and desire to rebel against Morgoth, the Easterlings would only have faced death or outlawry. But life under Morgoth wasn't so bad. The warriors, at least, got their pick of the slaves. The Easterlings continued to marry and raise families. They were given land. They enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle and possessed some wealth.
Nonetheless, an entire people could indeed be subjected to outlawry. The Noldor, when they rebelled against the Valar and attacked the Teleri of Alqualonde, outlawed themselves. They were sundered from the community of Aman. Being numerous, they were able to establish a new community in Beleriand. Outlawry is thus not necessarily the final path. The Noldorin realms were morally tainted by their misdeeds. But the greater part of the Noldor atoned for those misdeeds in part by their crossing of the Helcaraxe. The Feanorians, who had turned upon their own kinsmen, thus remained outlawed within the community of outlaws. Fingon's rescue of Maedhros brought about a peace and reconciliation between the two groups, but Maedhros eventually led his followers eastward, where he established a march under his own rule.
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