A Lay of Luthien by Himring

Chapter 6: The Dead that Lived

Luthien, who shimmered among beeches as if she was made of shadows star-dusted, Luthien, who rose to impossible challenges, undaunted, leaving Sauron and Morgoth behind her in the dust—retreats into domesticity? Scrubs, sweeps and dusts, maybe all while wearing a Silmaril? Except, to her, that might not be retreat—she was never afraid to get her hands dirty.

Or: Luthien reigns even among those who refused all kingship after Denethor?

Luthien, mother and ancestress, recedes from our questioning, vanishes behind the spray of Ossiriand’s waterfalls, blows away, too soon, in a quiet sigh of dust.

The nightingale still sings.

Chapter End Notes

The title is based on Dor Firn-i-Guinar, glossed as "the Land of the Dead that Live", the name given to the region in Ossiriand, where Luthien lived with Beren after their return from the dead. There was a famous waterfall there, which Elwing was named for.