They are all deserving, but I vote for Beren because he got the Silmaril from Morgoth, and did it for love! He loved luthien Tinuviel so much that he dared to steal the most priceless jewel ever created right off the crown of the most evil being of all time, and did it. That man was incredible!

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Colonel Vasiliy of the Hornet Army

Time travelers never die.

Lord of All- that's fascinating! I'd never heard it before. If you wanted to create a seperate topic, I would read it.

I really don't know who was the greatest human of the Elder Days. I wouldn't say Beren, because as nice as what he did was, he didn't do it for the benefit of man- or elf-kind. He did it for himself and Luthien.
Perhaps Hurin or Turin...but I think I need to reread the stories about Huor and Tuor, I can't remember what they did.

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I am a Shieldmaiden for Christ!

I was Nienor before Nienor was cool. *nods coolly*
Kudos to Kitoky for the fabulous signature set, and art credit to engelszorn.
Who wants to join me in bringing back the lady?

The topic you requested can be found here:

http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13541&highlight=&sid=3819c486ad7937f6a71a01aa797e6441

Nienor, Huor basically fathered Tuor and died guarding Turgon's retreat. I'd say that's basically all that he really 'did' that mattered in Arda's history.

Tuor, on the other hand, not only fathered Earendil, but he rescued the remnant of Gondolin, he was Ulmo's messenger to Turgon, he was a highly accomplished warrior at a young age, and it was said that he 'alone among the Edain' was numbered among the Elder Children, which would be interpreted as "Tuor was counted as an elf."

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Turin Turambar of coursssee!

There were so many awesome Humans in SIlmarillion, it's hard to choose. Tuor has a good case I'll admit.

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Colonel Vasiliy of the Hornet Army

Time travelers never die.

Lol, TN. *sighs* You'll never give up on him, will you?

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Thank you, Lord of All and Aerandir!

What makes a person "great?" There's a difference between great and good...or great and courageous, or great and right. So what exactly constitutes great?

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I am a Shieldmaiden for Christ!

I was Nienor before Nienor was cool. *nods coolly*
Kudos to Kitoky for the fabulous signature set, and art credit to engelszorn.
Who wants to join me in bringing back the lady?

no problem, Nienor.

In this case, I'm using 'Greatest' as a synonym for most powerful/most brave/most skilled, etc. One of the main things we've been going off of has been who did the most damage to Morgoth, but we've pretty much settled on the fact that it was Eärendil, because he went to Valinor and got the Valar to lead the Maiar and the remaining elves to bring down Morgoth. Because of that, I'm going to reduce it to might, courage, skill, loyalty, etc.

But just because Hurín Thalion was the mightiest of the Edain, he wasn't necessarily the greatest for instance. I like Beren the best, because of his courage and skill. He was chased out of his land--where he was the only survivor--by an entire army devoted to nothing but finding and capturing or killing him. Then he went so far as to steal a Silmaril from Morgoth, and so on and so forth. That, to me, is why he is the greatest.

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'Greatest' could mean most noble/honourable.
It can also mean Greatest in terms of highest in measurememnt of prowess and might.
If you think the former then you could dispute opposing Hurin.
If you think the latter then it would have to be Hurin Thalion no questions asked.

It all depends on how you define 'Great'.

It is true that Beren performed the greatest deed known to the Children of Iluvatar but he had a very powerful half-maiar helping him. I doubt he would have faired so well having to endure 28 years on a cliff of Thangorodrim watching the corruption and death of his children and fair Luthian. Or the endless torment and terror of the interrogations of Morgoth the Great.

I don't think Beren would have been left to live for 28 years--Morgoth hated him much more than Hurín, at least at first. Hurín was simply the last survivor of the warriors of men from the Nirnaeth, whereas Beren was the one who 'terrorized' Dorthonion, got an entire army with no job except hunting him down--meaning they weren't at the front lines--and then stole a Silmaril. I think Morgoth's hatred of him was much more personal.

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Perhaps at the beginning. Yet Hurin was the only thing standing between Morgoth's victory in conquering Beleriand so in the latter part of Hurin's captivity I think he would have received the chief share of Morgoth's hatred, far more than he gave that of Beren.
But this is all speculation of course.

Not necessarily--the only major thing he did to cause Morgoth to hate him was staying behind and buying Turgon time. He himself wasn't between Morgoth and his conquest of Beleriand.

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Gondolin was based high up in the Encircling Mountains and only had one entrance (which Turgon blocked) which was hard to find and had Ulmo's Power concealing it. Any spies of Morgoth that managed to come even remotely near were slain by the Eagles so no knews came back to Morgoth. Only when Hurin was released was the general location of Gondolin revealed to Morgoth becuase Hurin cried out to Turgon from nearby the Encircling mountains whilst he was being followed by Morgoths servants.
If it were not for this Moprgth would have had no knowledge of where Gondolin lay and would probably not have found it becuase the Orcs who captured Maeglin would have been elsewhere, so Maeglin could not have betrayed Turgon and revealed its location.

It looks as though your two posts are contradicting each other. In the first you make it sound like Hurín was all that was standing between Morgoth and the destruction of Beleriand, in the second, you made it seem as though it's Hurín's fault that Gondolin fell, etc. The first seemed positive, the second seemed degrading.

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Both showed that it was up to Hurin on whether Morgoth found Gondolin or not. They don't contradict eachother.

The first shows that it was becuase of Hurin's endurance and strength that Gondolin (and Beleriand) endured so long, whereas the second shows that it was Hurin's unforseeable folly that ended up revealing the hidden Kingdom when he was set free. Hurin, once freed, ended up revealing to Morgoth the thing which Morgoth had not been able to get out of him in captivity and torment.