By Oshun
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It is difficult to complete a stand-alone biography of Beren without revisiting parts of earlier biographies. Before leaping into the second part, I would like to refer the reader to my recent biography Lúthien Tinúviel. That text covers many details of their meeting and Thingol's demand for a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth as a bride price for his daughter. The character biography of Finrod Felagund covers Beren's trip to Nargothrond where, presenting the Ring of Barahir, he secures the sworn aid of its King, a great and loyal friend of the House of Bëor. Therein one can also read the story of the journey to Angband by Beren, Finrod, and the Elven king's few loyal supporters, their capture, Finrod's famed song battle with Sauron, and their valiant resistance unto death in captivity, with only Beren surviving.
The hardest part of trying to capture the personality of Beren is to determine who he is in his own right and not only as a part of this much-storied couple. The effort to find the real Beren is further complicated in that his story constantly evolved and changed throughout Tolkien's many years of returning time and again to the tale. We have visited aspects of Beren's history throughout the various biographies noted above. We mentioned earlier in the first section of this one that Beren was first written as an Elf. Richard West opines that "Tolkien decided, apparently, that the greater disparity between mortal and immortal beings made for a better story than one involving merely differing rank among beings of much the same kind." More importantly, "he wanted his myth of a marriage between Elf and Human, of which Beren and Lúthien are the first of a very small number of examples in his own legendarium."1 West continues to explain that
The earliest 'Tale of Tinúviel' has no back story for Beren, and Tolkien added one making him a noted hero in the struggle against Morgoth, the last survivor of a band of guerrillas resisting the invader. There seems to me to be an underlying taste of Robin Hood and his outlaw band driven by oppressors into the forest, and also a whiff of James Fenimore Cooper's Hawkeye tracking down marauders in the wilderness.2
One of the most heroic descriptions of Beren may be found in The Lay of Leithian, which Tolkien also lengthened and revised over the course of many years:
As fearless Beren was renowned:
when men most hardy upon ground
were reckoned folk would speak his name,
foretelling that his after-name
would even golden Hador pass
or Barahir and Bregolas. . .3
In this version we find Beren inside of the famous protected Girdle of Melian within the forest of Doriath, by chance the lone survivor among his father and his companions (he was away when their party was attacked and slaughtered by a company of Orcs). He had recently tracked the Orcs, avenged his father's killing, and retrieved the most precious heirloom of his house—the ring that Finrod Felagund had gifted to Barahir. Friendless and alone, living as an outlaw, Beren's courage and his feats of daring by the time he encounters Lúthien had gained him great personal renown in the dark and unsettled days following the Battle of Sudden Flame.
Nevertheless, despite Beren's reputation, popular interpretations within the Tolkien fandom have at times allowed Beren to be overshadowed by Lúthien (perhaps somewhat similar to Peter Jackson's overly simplistic and diminished interpretation of Aragorn in his movie trilogy). One might even note that I have found myself in danger at times of falling into that trap when I sought, for example, in Lúthien's biography to emphasis her notable strengths, unusual in women characters within the genre of epic fantasy. But, as Lúthien points out to her father when she introduces Beren before the court in Menegroth, this man is not simply some unknown homeless wanderer she has stumbled upon in the forest. He is renowned, legendary even. In the published Silmarillion version we are told that "the deeds of lonely daring that he achieved were noised abroad throughout Beleriand, and the tale of them came even into Doriath."4
The fact that Thingol appears to know nothing of Beren tells us as much about the Elven King's character as that of this itinerant hero. Despite all of Thingol's desire to assert himself as the master of his domain and the one true king in First Age Beleriand, he struggles when faced with the challenges of the increasing threat of Morgoth, the problematic and troublesome Noldor, his already shaky relationship with the Dwarves, and finally these pesky new inferior beings thrust upon him in the form of Mortal Men. Thingol's display of extreme hostility to Beren and his desire to lay his hands upon a Silmaril shows that he has already begun a precipitous fall from grace. Melian shudders and draws back in fear when she realizes that Thingol's proposed solution to the potential problem of losing his daughter will not only lead inevitably to Beren's death but places the king himself and his realm in mortal peril. Melian had already experienced forewarnings that Thingol could not long protect his world from these rapidly approaching changes. A short time earlier, when Thingol first ordered that he would allow no Men to dwell within the boundaries of Doriath, Melian confided, in strangely explicit detail, to Galadriel that
the world runs on swiftly to great tidings. And one of Men, even of Bëor's house, shall indeed come, and the Girdle of Melian shall not restrain him, for doom greater than my power shall send him; and the songs that shall spring from that coming shall endure when all Middle-earth is changed.5
Who is the true hero? The footsore Mortal Man or the once near-unassailable Elven-king? The answer must be Beren. How the mighty leader of the Sindar has fallen. Beren stands before his throne, reckless and rough, yet without a doubt determined and courageous, a stalwart suitor who will prove himself to be truly worthy of Lúthien. Although Beren is a great warrior and the scion of a noble house, he is not arrogant or ambitious. Perhaps his gentleness of character added a great deal to his appeal to Lúthien; he differs greatly in temperament from her father in his decline. When Lúthien first encounters Beren in the forest he has already endured a lonesome period of trial and transformation, becoming a "friend of birds and beasts, and they aided him, and did not betray him, and from that time forth he ate no flesh nor slew any living thing that was not in the service of Morgoth."6
It is through Thingol's interaction with the character of Beren son of Barahir that he unknowingly attempts to intervene into and interrupt the single most important event within Tolkien's legendarium, the consequences of which will lead to the final resolution of the struggle of good against evil three Ages of the world later. However, Thingol's stubborn arrogance and narrow perspective will lead this once great leader to an ignoble and tragic doom. It is the tale of Beren and Lúthien which first introduces Tolkien's fundamental concept that
the great policies of world history, 'the wheels of the world', are often turned not by the Lords and Governors, even gods, but by the seemingly unknown and weak – owing to the secret life in creation, and the part unknowable to all wisdom but One, that resides in the intrusions of the Children of God into the Drama.7
Humble yet tough, Beren sets out alone upon his quest. He is, however, not entirely without resources. He carries the Ring of Barahir which will enable him to elicit the not inconsiderable help of Finrod, King of Nargothrond. In the subsection "Beren has a Plan," within our previously published Part II of Lúthien's biography, we present how our determined hero makes his way to the underground caverns of Nargothrond.
When Beren arrives at Nargothrond and presents his ring to Finrod, calling upon him to fulfill the promise of future aid he had made to his father, he learns that he has stepped into a messy and convoluted situation. Beren came to Nargothrond unaware of the presence in Nargothrond of the Fëanorian brothers Curufin and Celegorm.
For his part, Finrod instantly realizes that his doom has caught up with him. He never questions that he must and can fulfill his pledge made to Barahir to aid the bearer of the ring, but he realizes that he is unlikely to survive. Not only is their attempt to reach Morgoth and take the stone from his crown a suicide mission, but in the unlikely event that they succeed, the sons of Fëanor will immediately demand the ring as their own.
Naturally, when the Fëanorions hear of Beren's plan, their own resting oath to retrieve the Silmarils awakens. They cannot allow this quest to continue unchallenged. Each brother exercises his not inconsiderable purpose, charisma, and powers of persuasion to convince the people of Nargothrond not to support and follow Finrod into this risky venture.
One is not told in the narrative of the debate in Nargothrond whether Beren ever regrets his request. He certainly does not turn back. He must realize that its success will come at a high cost: "Beren and Lúthien's quest together encompasses the deaths of many, including those of Finrod and the hound Huan, and indirectly brings about the fall of Doriath."8 But neither does Finrod ever question his promise, instead executing a multilayered plan that he hopes will give them a fighting chance at worst and, with some luck and magic, perhaps even a shot at success. Reduced to a party of only Beren, Finrod, and ten loyal followers, they set their course for the gates of Angband.
Along the way, Beren and Finrod encounter a group of Orcs. They steal their clothing and weapons and Finrod, using his highly developed superpowers (Elven magic) hides the forms of faces of his band causing them to take on the likenesses of Orcs. One cannot help but compare this to the scene where Frodo and Sam in the Tower of Cirith Ungol dress up like Orcs.9 (Tolkien certainly does have a penchant for reusing his "good parts.") However, the twelve brave companions are captured by Sauron and imprisoned on Tol-in-Gaurhoth (the Isle of Werewolves).
In The Lay of Leithian, Tolkien recounts the story of a song duel between Felagund and Sauron in which Finrod demonstrates his skill and supernatural powers:
Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.10
It seems for moment that Finrod might have a chance of winning but his opponent bests him by reminding him of his complicity in the misdeeds of the self-exiled Noldor. This segment from The Lay of Leithian ends with the famous lines:
The captives sad in Angband mourn,
Thunder rumbles, the fires burn—
And Finrod fell before the throne.11
The Elves of Nargothrond, along with Beren, have remained concealed behind their disguises until this point when their natures are revealed—a party of Elves accompanied by a single Mortal Man: "But though their kinds were revealed, Sauron could not discover their names or their purposes."12
However, he does know from Finrod's revelation of his skill and command in the song duel that he is a potent Elf-lord undoubtedly come out of the West. He sends werewolves into their dungeon ("two eyes kindled in the dark"13 ) to pick off Finrod's companions one by one, hoping to perhaps induce a turncoat to reveal their identities and their intention. They are locked into a dark and silent dungeon where they are cruelly slain, each devoured by a werewolf, but not one of them betrayed their lord or their purpose. Finally, only Beren and Finrod remain. Finrod, seeing that Beren will be the next to lose his life, summons all of his remaining strength and attacks the wolf and rips out his throat with his teeth, dying in the process.14
Meanwhile, Lúthien, on her way to assist Beren, is captured and held by Curufin and Celegorm at Nargothrond. Huan the Hound of Valinor takes pity upon her and rescues her and accompanies her on her quest. They set off in search of Beren. At last Lúthien and Huan reached the Isle of Werewolves, almost simultaneous with the moment when Finrod died. "Standing upon the bridge that led to Sauron's isle she sang a song that no walls of stone could hinder,"15 and Beren heard her and answered, although he thought it was a dream. Sauron heard the song also, and he sent his wolves to assault them, but Huan fought and killed them. "Then Sauron sent Draugluin, a dread beast, old in evil, lord and sire of the werewolves of Angband," who only escaped to fall at Sauron's feet and report to him that Huan had come with Lúthien.16 Sauron decided to act upon the prophecy that only the strongest of wolves would be able to slay Huan and so he took upon himself the form of a wolf and fought with Huan and Lúthien to no avail. Sauron barely escaped with his life. Lúthien took control of his island and broke down the walls and released the captives of Sauron. But Beren, grieving the loss of Finrod, did not appear.
So deep was his anguish that he lay still and did not hear her feet. Thinking him already dead she put her arms about him and fell into a dark forgetfulness. "But Beren coming back to the light out of the pits of despair lifted her up, and they looked again upon one another; and the day rising over the dark hills shone upon them."17 They buried Finrod's body on a hill on Tol Sirion and Huan returned to his master, although he loved him less than he had before.
The reader might expect at this point that Beren and Lúthien would set off again on the road for Angband to finally snatch that Silmaril. (One suspects most readers already know the ending before they read this chapter of The Silmarillion. For them, the mystery is not if they succeed but how.) But, no! They run across Curufin and Celegorm in the forest, who are resentful and unhappy because they have just been booted out of Nargothrond. After Lúthien had freed the remaining captives from Sauron's dungeons on the Isle of Werewolves, they made their way home and explained everything that had happened. Most Importantly, they told how their king had died. The tale of their release and Finrod's death led the people of Nargothrond to believe that "treachery rather than fear" had motivated the two brothers. "Therefore the hearts of the people of Nargothrond were released from their dominion, and turned again to the house of Finarfin; and they obeyed Orodreth."18 Celegorm and Curufin barely escaped with their lives. The biography of Lúthien Tinúviel, Part 3, contains meticulous accounting of Beren and Lúthien's last encounter with the brothers and their reunification with Huan. Beren tries to slip away once alone to Angband, but at last they arrive as a team, where Lúthien shows the full extent of her powers, enabling Beren the opportunity to cut the stone from Morgoth's crown. After finally securing the Silmaril, Lúthien is finally spent and Beren fights off the powerful wolf Carcharoth at the gates of Angband and loses a hand holding the Silmaril. The beast Carcharoth is unable to tolerate the stone he has swallowed. When he bit Beren's hand off at the wrist, his innards "were filled with a flame of anguish, and the Silmaril seared his accursed flesh. Howling he fled before them, and the walls of the valley of the Gate echoed with the clamour of his torment."19
The reaction of Carcharoth to the Silmaril caused a terrible burning inside of him caused "all living things both good and evil"20 to flee before him because in his torment he killed all that he encountered. Verlyn Flieger notes that
the Silmaril reveals the clear difference between Beren and Thingol in respect of its possession. Beren's quest for the jewel is in its motive and nature unselfish; he does not desire to possess it, but by it to attain another light, that of Lúthien. The Silmaril is the object of the quest, but Lúthien is the subject. Since he does not want the Silmaril, but light as manifest in Lúthien, Beren can touch and hold the jewel without taking harm. Those with darker motives who try to take it wrongfully, such as Morgoth, the wolf Carcharoth, and the sons of Fëanor, will be scorched by its light. The image of Beren's hand holding the Silmaril and illuminated by it from within is the emblem of this story. Beren can grasp the jewel precisely because he is not grasping in the metaphorical sense, because he does not want it.21
At last after Lúthien nurses Beren back to health the lovers return to Menegroth to present the Silmaril to Thingol and demand that he fulfill his side of the bargain he had first made with Beren:
Beren knelt before him, and said: 'I return according to my word. I am come now to claim my own.'
And Thingol answered: 'What of your quest, and of your vow?'
But Beren said: 'It is fulfilled. Even now a Silmaril is in my hand.'
Then Thingol said: 'Show it to me!'
And Beren put forth his left hand, slowly opening its fingers; but it was empty. Then he held up his right arm; and from that hour he named himself Camlost, the Empty-handed.22
As soon as Beren and Lúthien were wed, the news reached them that a pain-maddened Carcharoth neared Menegroth, ravaging and destroying every living creature in his path. The story of the Hunting of the Wolf is also described in the character biography of Mablung of Doriath. The monstrous wolf was finally brought down inside the borders of Doriath and the Silmaril retrieved once again, but in the process Huan was killed and Beren was mortally wounded. The hunters carried Beren back to Menegroth. Lúthien met them and had barely time enough to ask Beren to wait in the halls of Mandos for her to come to him there and say her last goodbye. Beren looked into her eyes and died. Lúthien's spirit also left her body and came to the halls of Mandos:
The song of Lúthien before Mandos was the song most fair that ever in words was woven, and the song most sorrowful that ever the world shall hear. Unchanged, imperishable, it is sung still in Valinor beyond the hearing of the world, and listening the Valar are grieved. For Lúthien wove two themes of words, of the sorrow of the Eldar and the grief of Men, of the Two Kindreds that were made by Ilúvatar to dwell in Arda, the Kingdom of Earth amid the innumerable stars. And as she knelt before him her tears fell upon his feet like rain upon the stones; and Mandos was moved to pity, who never before was so moved, nor has been since.23
Mandos consulted with Manwë, begging him to seek the will of Ilúvatar, for this decision was beyond the purview of the Valar. In the end, Lúthien was presented with two choices. She was permitted to choose to dwell among the Valar, forgetting all of her sorrows, or to return to life in Middle-earth with Beren. But the two of them would live out and normal life and then suffer a second death: "This doom she chose, forsaking the Blessed Realm, and putting aside all claim to kinship with those that dwell there; that thus whatever grief might lie in wait, the fates of Beren and Lúthien might be joined, and their paths lead together beyond the confines of the world."24
There are those who choose to compare Lúthien's rescue of Beren from the halls of Mandos and their return to Middle-earth where they live out their mortal lives together to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. One may be sure that Tolkien recognized the similarities as well. It is, however, unlikely that he would have appreciated the comparison. Tolkien's intent and purpose is different. David Day, a longtime contributor of commentary upon Tolkien's writing, observes the following:
To underscore the connection between the Greek myth and his tale, Tolkien duplicates the journey by having Lúthien pursue Beren's soul after his death. This time, in the real House of the Dead in the Undying Lands, Lúthien exactly repeats Orpheus's journey by singing to Mandos-Hades and winning a second life for her lover. Unlike Orpheus and Eurydice, however, Lúthien and Beren are allowed to live out their newly won mortal lives. And so, in the Quest of the Silmaril, Tolkien not only reversed the roles of Orpheus and Eurydice, but also overturned that story's tragic end. And in so doing, for a time at least, Tolkien allowed love to conquer death.25
Tolkien goes beyond the Greek myth and further still beyond any romantic fantasy posited upon the simplistic concept that "love conquers death." The story of Beren and Lúthien's deeds gave an inspiration to the peoples opposing Morgoth during the period of the couple's life and deeds. Their ability to stand up to the Dark Lord inspired others to unite to attempt to vanquish his seemingly unassailable power. For example, the deeds of Beren and Lúthien inspired the valiant if doomed Union of Maedhros.26 Beren's determined and courageous love for Lúthien engendered greater respect and understanding of the strength of Mortal Men by the Eldar. He became the father of the first bloodline of Elves and Men, which made him the father of the line of Númenórean nobility27 and led to the story completed in The Lord of Rings. In Katherine Neville's Mythlore review of Beren and Lúthien, she explains that Christopher Tolkien
refers to what Tolkien called the three Great Tales of his history: the story of Turin, the story of Beren and Lúthien, and the Fall of Gondolin . . . . Beren and Lúthien were not involved in the Fall of Gondolin, but their granddaughter Elwing married Eärendil son of Tuor and Idril, and, through the power of the Silmaril released from Morgoth's crown, Eärendil was able to find his way to Valinor . . . . thereby bringing their story full circle to Frodo and Sam on the stairs of Cirith Ungol.28
Neville, of course, refers to Sam's remarks to Frodo at their lowest point in their portion of the neverending tale. That quotation in its entirety is particularly relevant here since it refers to Beren's and his lasting importance within Tolkien's legendarium:
Beren now, he never thought he was going to get that Silmaril from the Iron Crown in Thangorodrim, and yet he did, and that was a worse place and a blacker danger than ours. But that's a long tale, of course, and goes on past the happiness and into grief and beyond it—and the Silmaril went on and came to Eärendil. And why, sir, I never thought of that before! We've got—you've got some of the light of it in that star-glass that the Lady gave you! Why, to think of it, we're in the same tale still! Don't the great tales never end?29
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