: The first one that comes to mind would be Turin; heroic, strong and (at least orignally) compassionate, but as in a Greek tragedy, everything he does is turned to evil. His pride, and the dark doom looming over him conquers him at last. Because of bad fortune, he flees from Doriath and turns into an outlaw; cured from his "evil ways" by Beleg, he still refuses to return to his foster-parents, and is capured because of the treachery of Mim, his host. Being freed, he kills his best friend Beleg by mistake, and ends up causing the fall of Nargothrond. He manages again to recover, and comes to the defense of the men of Brethil; but his family also has the same dark doom upon them, and he ends up (unwittingly) marrying his sister. His last and greatest feat is to kill Glaurung, but before he dies, the dragon reveals the truth about what has come to pass; and his wife and sister, thinking Turin dead, kills herself. So does, at last, Turin as well, when the truth is revealed to him, but not before blemishing himself further by killing the lame and defenseless Lord of Brethil (I can't remember his name). The tragedy becomes complete when his parents meet at last by the graves of their children, and his mother Morwen dies, slain by grief and bitterness. Hurin is finally healed by Melian the Queen before he too dies, but his last actions (revealing the position of Gondolin and giving the Necklace of the Dwarves to Thingol) leads to the destruction of the two last of the Elven Kingdoms. Thus, Hurin and his son is, at least partly, responsible for the downfall of all the kingdoms remaining after the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. As it is said in the Narn, in this story "the most evil works of Morgoth Bauglir are revealed".

: The Narn is to me the most tragic of all the tales of Middle Earth, but perhaps there is one Elf whose fate is even worse; while Hurin and his family at least finds peace in death, with Maglor son of Feanor it is not so. His oath, taken in haste, forces him to take part in the worst crimes the elves have committed; the three kinslayings, and again by slaying the guards of the two remaining Silmarils in the camp of Eonwe. Maglor was in no way evil, and if he could he would have redeemed his oath; so too with Maedros, but at least Maedros comes to the Hall of Mandos. Maglor, because the pain of the Silmaril burning in his hand - this jewel that he has committed all kinds of hideous acts to regain - he casts it finally into the sea. His fate is to forever walk along the shore, singing laments for the Fall of the Noldor with his mighty voice, slowly fading into some kind of wraith, never getting the chance to redeem himself in the Halls of Mandos.

: I would also like to mention Cirdan; I know there is no "proof" for this, but I believe he was one of the elves that woke up by lake Cuivinen. That would be logical, since he was a lord among the elves even in the beginning. The reason for him being a tragic figure, is that he has been witness to and seen all that has come to pass throughout the ages since the first children of Illuvatar awoke. And it is his fate to wait along the shores of Middle-Earth and not depart before the last of the elves leave this world for Aman. I think this is the reason for that he, by the end of the Third age, seems like an old man. He is indeed ancient, and has witnessed and taken part in all the tragic events that formed the history of the elves; all of this must lay heavy on his heart.

: It would, of course, also be right to mention Gollum when talking about tragic characters in Tolkien's Works. But his fate has already been discussed several times, and besides, my heart leans rather to the people in "The Silmarillion" than to those in "The Lord Of The Rings".

: I don't know how much all of this interests the rest of you guys, but if you have opinions about what I have written, or other suggestions of other tragic figured in Middle-Earth, I would be very interested in hearing those.