Of Beren and Lúthien: The Complete Tale of “The Lay of Leithian” by LuthienHuan

Chapter 18 Of the Halls of Mandos

Lúthien pleads and sings to Mandos for Beren's release.

Lúthien walks through a well-lighted hall. At the end is a door, which she walks through into a chamber and sees sitting on a huge throne an Elf-like god-of-a-creature the size of Thorondor and his kin. He is dressed all in black, including a long black cloak. He holds a long, shiny black staff. Lúthien is not afraid. She walks to him and smiles. And even though he is one of the Ainur and knows of Lúthien and her beauty, he is in disbelief at the person his eyes are now upon.

The room is a “nothingness” and no walls can be seen. All around them are colors like various sized clouds that continuously change; including the floor and ceiling.

“Well met, Lúthien Tinúviel,” he said. “I am Mandos. Welcome to my Halls. I have been waiting for you.”

“Well met,” Lúthien said with a bow, and still smiling. “I often wondered if Mandos knew the time when someone would arrive in his Halls.”

“Not accurately, as for the hour or minute they will walk though my door to me. I can, however, usually guess within a day or two. Ilúvatar, of course, knows the exact second. Nevertheless, I knew your arrival. Come with me. There is someone else who’s been waiting for you.”

“Beren is here?” she asked excitedly.

“Yes. As you wished him to tarry here, he has done so. But I do not understand why? In fact, there are a couple things I do not understand. One is: how does Ilúvatar’s fairest of all children give up her life, let alone her heart, for a person who isn’t even of her race? Another is: why would you wish Beren to tarry here? I have no power to withhold the spirits of Men who are dead within the confines of the world after their time of waiting. Nor can I change the fates of the Children of Ilúvatar. Is seeing him once more so important?”

“I would die a thousand deaths to see Beren son of Barahir just one more time. If you have watched his life, then you would know his heart is pure; he loved his parents and stood by his father after his mother’s departure; he never thought of himself, always thought of others; and he was so kind that all birds and beasts loved him, and they became his true friends.”

“I doubt not his character. It is you whom I question.”

“I know you are aware of the Enemy whom Elves and Men of Middle-earth are against. The two kindreds created by Ilúvatar, who were initially estranged, have united against the terrible evil of Morgoth. I cannot believe that the Valar have allowed him to exist in the same world as Ilúvatar’s Children. It is Morgoth who is responsible for all the world’s evils; not the Silmarils, not the sons of Fëanor. It was Morgoth who committed the first murder. Now Elves and Men are pitted against a foe that the two races will never conquer. They need the Valar’s help.”

“What if I were to offer you the opportunity to speak to the Valar on behalf of Elves and Men? Would you give up your only chance to see Beren one last time?”

“Yes, that would be the one reason that I would forsake Beren; to stand before the Valar and request that they intervene for the sake of the two kindreds. If they don’t, they will soon receive another plea: a plea from Aulë’s Dwarves.”

Mandos sees Lúthien weeping and her tears falling to the ground. His face now expresses pity and sadness to see someone so beautiful crying.

“So you would give up your only chance to see Beren to save the peoples of Middle-earth?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Would you then give up a lifetime with Beren?”

“Yes, without a second thought.”

“That is an amazing sacrifice. What do you think Beren would say?”

“If you asked him these questions, I am sure he would give you the same answers; because we know that if we cannot speak to the Valar for the Children of Ilúvatar, someday there will be another Elf or Man who will risk all he loves and his very own life to make this same request. Beren’s heart and mine are as one.”

“I must say: Beren would say the same. He indeed did answer these questions the same way you did. However, he nor you will have the opportunity to ask for the intervention of the Valar.”

Lúthien falls to her knees with her head bowed, and her tears fall upon Mandos’ feet. She looks up to him.

“Even in death fair exists not. Beren’s life and mine were not fair. We had so much joy taken away so quickly. Please, let none again suffer our fates. Look at the world not from Valinor but from those who live in Middle-earth; those who seek joy while a monster attacks at unawares. See all the children who have lost their lives in a useless and senseless war against a ruthless opponent. See the mothers of Elves and Men who cry for their fallen or lost children.”

She again bows her head and the tears again fall on his feet. Mandos, for the first time ever, also sheds a tear.

“If I may,” she said looking up at him, “I wish to now leave your Halls. I wish to suffer no more.”

“Of course. However, I have one more item to consider regarding your fate and that of Beren’s. Therefore, please wait here. And while I’m away, your wish will be fulfilled.”

“Beren!” she joyfully shouted as Beren appeared next to her. She embraced him as to never again let go.

“Lúthien Tinúviel” he said while feeling every bit of their embrace. They then kiss and hold each other as tears of joy fall.

“Before I depart,” Mandos said, “I must say that Allfather Ilúvatar gave his fairest a heart even more beautiful than what’s on the outside. He also gave her the right mate, even though he comes not from her race.”

While Beren and Lúthien are looking at Mandos, he disappears.

*****

Beren and Lúthien still hold each other when Mandos reappears. He walks to them and says:

“I have been to Taniquetel to visit Manwë, who seeks counsel in his innermost thought, where the will of Ilúvatar is revealed. Manwë said Ilúvatar gives Lúthien two choices.

“The first is: because of your labors and sorrow, you should be released from me, and go to Valinor, there to dwell until the world’s end among the Valar, forgetting all griefs that your life has known. There Beren cannot come, for it is not permitted to the Valar to withhold Death from him, which is the Gift of Ilúvatar to Men.

“Your second choice, Lúthien, is: to return to Middle-earth, and with you take Beren, there to dwell again, but without certitude of life or joy. Then you would become mortal and subject to a second death, even as he; and before long you will leave the world for ever and your beauty become only a memory in song.”

Thus, Lúthien took the second choice and forsook the Blessed Realm, putting aside all claims to kinship with those that dwell there. She would return with Beren to Middle-earth in hopes to have at least one life with him, no matter how short. But before leaving, Beren and Lúthien had one more request for Mandos, and they asked if there was any way their friend Huan could return to the land of the living.