Lúthien Tinúviel by oshun

Posted on 1 December 2019; updated on 23 March 2021

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Part 1

Introduction

Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures. And of these histories most fair still in the ears of the Elves is the tale of Beren and Lúthien. Of their lives was made the Lay of Leithian, Release from Bondage, which is the longest save one of the songs concerning the world of old; but here the tale is told in fewer words and without song.1

The tale of Lúthien Tinúviel, daughter of King Thingol of the Sindar and Melian the Maia, is central among those told in Tolkien's histories of the First Age of Middle-Earth and beyond. It is unique among the stories collected in Tolkien's legendarium in that its chief protagonist is a woman. She is also the only character in The Silmarillion who is able to survive and win a direct confrontation with Melkor.

In his review of Christopher Tolkien's collection Beren and Lúthien,2 published in 2017, author John Garth3 cogently describes and characterizes Lúthien and her significance:

In all the forms of the story here, Lúthien is the key figure, "more fair than mortal tongue can tell" but also more resourceful than Beren. It is she who springs him from prison and defeats his captor. When together they reach the end of the quest in Morgoth's throne room, everything falls to her. If this is meant to be the lost original of "Rapunzel", it is strikingly in tune with much more recent, female-centred fairy-tale revisionings. It is also a hymn to Edith [Tolkien's wife]—and to her power to lift Tolkien out of the depths. 4

Lúthien's story has also been referred to as the heart of The Silmarillion.5 The central plot of the theft of Fëanor's Silmarils by the rogue Vala Melkor and the exiled Noldor's heroic struggle against him shifts in emphasis when a mere elf maid6 succeeds where the greatest warriors of the First Age have failed. Lúthien enables her mortal lover Beren to secure a Silmaril from the crown of Melkor himself. Yet, most readers first encounter the story of Beren and Lúthien in the main narrative of The Lord of the Rings when the Hobbits ask Aragorn to tell them a tale of the Elder days of Middle-earth:

'Then tell us some other tale of the old days,' begged Sam; 'a tale about the Elves before the fading time. I would dearly like to hear more about Elves; the dark seems to press round so close.'

'I will tell you the tale of Tinúviel,' said Strider, 'in brief – for it is a long tale of which the end is not known; and there are none now, except Elrond, that remember it aright as it was told of old. It is a fair tale, though it is sad, as are all the tales of Middle-earth, and yet it may lift up your hearts.'7

Those who have not read The Silmarillion may recall the bare bones of the story by the comparison made in The Lord of the Rings of Arwen, daughter of Elrond, to her great-great-grandmother Lúthien. When we first come upon the story, the ending of the tale of Lúthien still remains unfinished because it is tied to that of Arwen the daughter of Elrond, who chooses to follow Lúthien's fate in order to wed Aragorn. In full-out fairytale style, Lúthien, the beautiful Elf-maiden and princess of Doriath, is given the name of Morning Star of her people. Arwen's tale reaches its culmination near the end of the days of the Elves in Middle-earth, where she is given the parallel appellation of Evenstar. These two women share twin destinies—i.e., to fall in love with a mortal man and each to give up a quasi-immortal life to share mortality with her beloved.

Tolkien emphasized the importance of the tale of Beren and Lúthien in his legendarium in a letter to his publisher:

The chief of the stories of the Silmarillion, and the one most fully treated is the Story of Beren and Lúthien the Elfmaiden . . . . It is Beren the outlawed mortal who succeeds (with the help of Lúthien, a mere maiden even if an elf of royalty) where all the armies and warriors have failed: he penetrates the stronghold of the Enemy and wrests one of the Silmarilli from the Iron Crown. Thus he wins the hand of Lúthien and the first marriage of mortal and immortal is achieved.8

Lúthien's Origins

In The Silmarillion, we are introduced early in the narrative to Lúthien's parents. In fact, they are important enough to get their own chapter. Lúthien's mother Melian "was a Maia, of the race of the Valar. She dwelt in the gardens of Lórien, and among all his people there were none more beautiful than Melian, nor more wise, nor more skilled in songs of enchantment."9 But she loved the forests of Middle-earth and came there often, where "she filled the silence of Middle-earth before the dawn with her voice and the voices of her birds."10

Lúthien's father, Thingol, was one of the three leaders of the Firstborn who had been chosen by Oromë, the great woodsman of the Valar who often visited Middle-earth in "pursuit of the evil creatures of Melkor."11 Oromë was enamored of these newly awakened children of Eru and, aware of the threat of Melkor to their safety, convinced the Valar they should be transported to the protected realm across the sea. He took the three leaders of the Eldar to Aman to show them the light of the Two Trees and the paradisiacal conditions under which their peoples might live there, cosseted and protected against the darkness and evil creatures that lurked in the forests of Middle-earth. Returning from the land of the gods, the three chieftains appeared to have accepted the task of organizing their peoples and leading them in a long trek to the sea in order to travel to Aman.

However, only in the case of the Vanyar was this emigration accomplished without major issues. The Noldor in their early years were, as they would remain, a contentious people, splintering rather than moving as a whole across the continent without complaint or dispute. In the end, Finwë the leader of the Noldor was able to bring the majority of his people over the mountains, to the sea, and finally sail to their new home in Aman (no small political and organizational feat—perhaps therein lay Finwë's greatness).

Meanwhile, Thingol had the most difficult job, leading his people, the Teleri, later named the Sindar or "the Grey-elves, the elves of the Twilight."12 Thingol's tribe made up by far the largest of the three groups. Leading them over rivers, through forests, and across mountains became a bit like herding cats. They liked to sing and loved water. Some "looked upon the shadowy heights and were afraid," while others were attracted to "falls and running streams."13 At every junction some of them became distracted and fell away from the main grouping and settled, at least temporarily, where they found themselves. But, in the end, it could be argued that it was the fault of Thingol that so many of his people never reached Aman.

Much like the later story of Beren and Lúthien, Thingol and Melian meet in a forest and fall in love. Wandering alone in a starlit forest, "an enchantment fell on him, and he stood still; and afar off beyond the voices of the lómelindi14 he heard the voice of Melian, and it filled all his heart with wonder and desire."15 It is interesting to note that this love story of an Elf-lord and a Maia alters in a major way the course of future events, setting in motion a storyline that carries all the way through the end of The Lord of the Rings. Now, romantic love and sexual attraction does not usually play a huge role in Tolkien's storytelling. The exception would be in the storyline involving Lúthien, which is not that dissimilar from her parents' initial encounter. According to the biography of Thingol found on this site,

Thingol and Melian are so smitten with one another, that Thingol completely forgets about his business at hand of leading the largest host of elves to the land of the Valar. The leader of the Sindar and his Maian [sic] lover spend long centuries simply holding hands and gazing into one another's eyes. The most pragmatic among the readers of The Silmarillion might want to believe that a bit more than simply holding hands must have occurred during that interlude. Nevertheless, the outcome would remain the same. Many of Teleri would eventually continue to Valinor, led by Thingol's brother, Olwë, while a larger number refused to leave without their king and remained behind in Middle-earth.16

Lúthien was born in the Forest of Neldoreth in the Year of the Trees 120017 after Thingol had finally reunited with the remainder of his faithful people who had searched and waited for him over those long years. Thingol and Melian settled in the central part of Beleriand and ruled over the remaining Sindar out of what would become the protected realm of Doriath:

Great power Melian lent to Thingol, who was himself great among the Eldar; for he alone of all the Sindar had seen with his own eyes the Trees in the day of their flowering, and king though he was of Úmanyar, he was not accounted among the Moriquendi, but with the Elves of the Light, mighty upon Middle-earth. And of the love of Thingol and Melian there came into the world the fairest of all the Children of Ilúvatar that was or shall ever be.18

In Christopher Tolkien's first edited compilation of this story, published in The Silmarillion as the chapters "Of Thingol and Melian" and "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Chaining of Melkor," Lúthien is the only child of the Elven-king and his Maiarin queen. (In a later section of this biography we will discuss earlier versions of Lúthien's narrative, one of which proposes a brother.) If one assumes that the published Silmarillion contains the closest to a final version, one must deduce that Lúthien grew up as the treasured and adored sole offspring of this much renowned couple. If one questions why Thingol objects to Beren's audacity in asking for the hand of Lúthien, one answer might be to posit another question: how could her father have been expected to do otherwise?

Lúthien Meets Beren

Lúthien is initially given no role in the part of the story surrounding the return of the Noldor to Middle-earth. She first meets only the children of Finarfin, the youngest son of King Finwë, who happen to be also grandchildren of Olwë her father's brother, who had continued on to reach Aman leading a significant proportion of the Teleri. Thingol greets his long-sundered kin, thinking of them (and one could argue rightfully so) as primarily associated politically and culturally with the Noldor. And he "welcomed not with a full heart the coming of so many princes in might19 out of the West, eager for new realms."20 He had no intention, in the face Melkor's recent attempts to destroy his people, to open his kingdom to these newly arrived strangers. He allowed within the confines of Doriath, guarded by Melian's girdle of enchantment, those Noldor of the house of Finarfin only because their mother was Eärwen of Alqualondë, Olwë's daughter and Thingol's niece. Even the Finarfinweans "were suffered [grudgingly] to pass within the confines of Doriath."21

We know nothing of how Lúthien might have responded to the changes wrought by the arrival of these long-separated kinsmen from the land of the gods. Neither do we know her opinion of the Mortals from the east of Beleriand slowly finding their way into the world into which she was born. Lúthien is not presented to the reader as proud or ambitious. Unlike her Noldorin cousins, she is not one who meddles in the politics of Middle-earth or seeks a kingdom of her own like her kinswoman Galadriel. Although we discover later in her storyline that she has preternatural strengths of her own, we do not initially see any hints of her mother's command of prophecy and wisdom or a need to play a responsible role in the governance and wellbeing of a people.

Our first introduction to Lúthien is to a mere elf maid (see Tolkien's description below), albeit one of surpassing beauty, an enchantress. She represents, however, a complete lack of interest in power and control save an unwillingness to sacrifice her own right to select a husband and live a life of her own choosing. Tolkien compares Lúthien to those who might not appear at first glance to rank among the powerful and ambitious but who are stronger than they appear:

Here we meet, among other things, the first example of the motive (to become dominant in Hobbits) 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. It is Beren the outlawed mortal who succeeds (with the help of Lúthien, a mere maiden even if an elf of royalty) where all the armies and warriors have failed: he penetrates the stronghold of the Enemy and wrests one of the Silmarilli from the Iron Crown. Thus he wins the hand of Lúthien and the first marriage of mortal and immortal is achieved.22

Lúthien dances and sings. Flowers spring to life under her feet. She is beloved by many. One might assume that she is cherished and indulged, and certainly protected. When we meet her, she manifests none of the need for power and control of her father nor does she bear the weight of responsibility for others that is her mother's curse. She is introduced to the reader as less of a political actor in a world filled with those—good and bad alike—but more a fairy princess in a wonder tale.

Beren, a hero, but a battered and brutalized one, to all outward appearances defeated and demoralized, stumbles upon this vision of womanly loveliness. One could argue--but I won't--that any woman reasonably healthy and clean might have looked amazing to him in the state he was in when he first spots Lúthien:

Then all memory of his pain departed from him, and he fell into an enchantment; for Lúthien was the most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar. Blue was her raiment as the unclouded heaven, but her eyes were grey as the starlit evening; her mantle was sewn with golden flowers, but her hair was dark as the shadows of twilight. As the light upon the leaves of trees, as the voice of clear waters, as the stars above the mists of the world, such was her glory and her loveliness; and in her face was a shining light.23

One is not surprised to find that our tormented hero falls in love with this magical princess. Nor is one truly taken aback that her father rejects him. What does astonish some first-time readers about Lúthien is the active role she comes to play in her own story. She is not to be a passive object of adoration and won like a trophy. She is proactive and powerful, nobody's victim or reward. Another twist on many of the fairytale tropes of ordinary-guy-falls-for-amazing-princess is that she instantly returns his love and participates fully in the hero's quest: "In all its versions, the story concerns Lúthien . . . the half-divine daughter of an elven king and a fairy queen, who falls in love with Beren, a wayfarer who stumbles into their protected kingdom."24

A significant point to be made about Beren is that he not simply a starving, unshaven wayfarer, but a hero in his own right. He has a history, a family, and a reputation. (In these ways, he resembles Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings—who is not simply a scruffy hard-living ranger, but the hidden heir of a long line of kings of Men.)

Beren is much more than a disreputable outlaw but the much-lauded son of the heroic Barahir of the First House of the Edain. Barahir's most memorable act occurs at the end of the war known as the Battle of Sudden Flame—the breaking of the several hundred-year Siege of Angband by Morgoth. At great risk to himself and his accompanying warriors Barahir saves the life of Finrod Felagund, who in gratitude gifts him with a ring that is to be of extreme importance later in this narrative. Barahir manages to hold Dorthonion against persistent attacks until only a dozen of his men remain, including his son Beren. In the end, only Beren survives. Beren wanders alone as a solitary outlaw befriended only by birds and beasts who help him stay alive for four years. Although Beren is alone and seemingly friendless, his deeds of valor do not pass unnoticed:

He did not fear death, but only captivity, and being bold and desperate he escaped both death and bonds; and the deeds of lonely daring that he achieved were noised abroad throughout Beleriand, and the tale of them came even into Doriath. At length Morgoth set a price upon his head no less than the price upon the head of Fingon, High King of the Noldor; but the Orcs fled rather at the rumour of his approach than sought him out.25

Beren is a Robin Hood-like character in this version of the tale, but instead of a band of merry men he is supported by the wild creatures of the forest. His power lies not merely in boldness or charisma, but a deep magic grounded in the natural world. These paranormal details make him a fitting partner for Lúthien. Tolkien scholar Jane Chance notes:

Among the various myths and legends recalled by the tale are the Volsunga Saga, the Calydonian Boar Hunt, Robin Hood, Rapunzel, Orpheus, and Ishtar. Within these tales appear common themes: the disapproving father, the rival lover, the quest, the bride-price, the magical animal ally, the tragic victory of death over love, and the triumph of love over death. Despite the apparent patchwork-quilt nature of the tale as it appears in Christopher Tolkien's publication of The Silmarillion, it is deeply moving and carefully crafted.26

The point is that Lúthien's choice, at first glance, might appear an unexpected one, but Beren is unique in and of himself. Tolkien believes in free will and choices, but nonetheless there are few chance meetings in his legendarium. Many readers, however, might underestimate Beren's exceptionality and quality, or the significance of his near miraculous survival and his ability to slip unhindered into the relative safety of Melian's magic circle:

That journey is not accounted least among the great deeds of Beren, but he spoke of it to no one after, lest the horror return into his mind; and none know how he found a way, and so came by paths that no Man nor Elf else ever dared to tread to the borders of Doriath. And he passed through the mazes that Melian wove about the kingdom of Thingol, even as she had foretold; for a great doom lay upon him.27

By "great doom," in this instance, Tolkien means fate or destiny. The Elven princess does not fall in love with just any random raggedy fellow she runs across in the forest but one who represents virtue and nobility among mortal Men.

It is interesting to note that much is made in discussions of this couple implying Lúthien is the strong one and Beren "got lucky." One ought perhaps to consider that Lúthien's strength is legendary and obvious in comparison to the literary heroines of the period in which she is written. In an article describing Lúthien as the "Original Badass Elven Princess," Jeff LaSala states that:

She's as spiritual as Galadriel, as valorous as Éowyn, as comforting as Arwen. She's the memorable one here—a heroine of mettle and volition, a woman who escapes the chains imposed on her, makes her own decisions, commands enemies and friends alike, stands boldly against evil, and yet is the voice of healing and mercy when that is needed instead. She may seem like a superhero at times (to be fair, the Silmarillion doesn't spend much time talking about everyday people), but she is still at times naive and flawed. She falls for a rugged, sweaty, homeless, and mortal ranger type and that gets them both in a heap of trouble with her people.28

Beren, however, is no slacker, although his contrast to the princess of Doriath has been overstated for dramatic effect by fans and scholars alike. We soon discover his mettle when we see him stand up to King Thingol when his and Lúthien's relationship is finally exposed.

But to return to the chronology of their story, it is Beren who first notices Lúthien. He spots her at a distance in the forest during the summer and is totally lovestruck. Yet she slips away before he has a chance to approach her: "But she vanished from his sight; and he became dumb, as one that is bound under a spell, and he strayed long in the woods, wild and wary as a beast, seeking for her." Throughout the coming months, she remains elusive: "[H]e saw her afar as leaves in the winds of autumn, and in winter as a star upon a hill, but a chain was upon his limbs."29 Meanwhile, Daeron, King Thingol's chief loremaster and minstrel, a longtime friend and companion of Lúthien becomes aware of Beren and turns wary and watchful.30

While Beren lingers and searches for her, he assigns the mystery Elf-maid a name of his own making: "[I]n his heart he called her Tinúviel, that signifies Nightingale, daughter of twilight, in the Grey-elven tongue, for he knew no other name for her."31 The name he chooses will be of great significance to her, when she finally notices him. After that first summer faded into fall and fall into winter, and spring at last draws near, Beren finally hears her singing and sees her again:

There came a time near dawn on the eve of spring, and Lúthien danced upon a green hill; and suddenly she began to sing. Keen, heart-piercing was her song as the song of the lark that rises from the gates of night and pours its voice among the dying stars, seeing the sun behind the walls of the world; and the song of Lúthien released the bonds of winter, and the frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold earth where her feet had passed.32

Beren's tongue is finally loosened and he calls out his name for her, "Tinúviel!"

"Then she halted in wonder, and fled no more." Beren is at last capable of approaching her. When they look upon one another, her doom falls upon her; she falls in love. She stays with him until dawn, "yet she slipped from his arms and vanished from his sight even as the day was breaking."33 Tolkien is not given to writing love scenes, certainly not explicit ones. Aside from the tale of Beren and Lúthien, the closest he comes to describing physical love in The Silmarillion is the account of Thingol and Melian gazing into one another's eyes for long starlit years, also alone in a forest.

In The Lord of the Rings, the encounter of Faramir and Éowyn on the walls of Minas Tirith at the moment of the destruction of the One Ring is arguably one of English literature's most romantic visual descriptions of two destined lovers, but it is simultaneously limited and made more touching by the literary and social conventions of its high-medieval setting, i.e., "they stood on the walls of the City of Gondor, and a great wind rose and blew, and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air. And the Shadow departed, and the Sun was unveiled, and light leaped forth." A few days and a few pages later, we read of their first real kiss: "And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many" (emphasis mine).34

Faramir and Éowyn are bold enough to kiss where they can be seen—an act which points to a disregard for conventional restraint and shows their determination to commit to one another. Yet Beren and Lúthien far more daringly meet alone and spend entire nights together throughout the seasons of spring and summer. There are no accounts of kisses in Beren and Lúthien's tale, but absent that romantic element, one might assert that their story is more likely to imply physical intimacy.

One might argue that Faramir and Éowyn's kiss and its public nature is far more conservative and innocent than Beren and Lúthien's summer of love in The Lay of Leithian and The Silmarillion. Tolkien scholar Dr. Cami Agan explores the corporal element of the first union between a mortal Man and a Half-Elven/Half-Maiarin princess:

Lúthien appears as a rare textual example in Tolkien's legendarium of one who acts on sexual desire and is neither demonized as monstrous nor directly punished by the narrative for her desires. Interestingly, the locus of Beren's and Lúthien's love is the forest, a space beyond the traditional fixtures of cultural codes and systems. Because the text repeatedly places the lovers in this highly charged locale of freedom and natural power, it asks us to consider their "forest time" as Other, as atypical, and perhaps as somehow sanctioned by larger forces. Allowing ourselves to ask, "Are they sexually intimate?" offers fruitful inroads both into Lúthien's episodes in the forest with Beren and into the resulting powerful reversals of domination she enacts. We might come to view the moments where the two engage in sexual union as a process that moves from equal choice to betrothal to consummation, a kind of private marriage sustained by only themselves and that can exist only in "forest-time."35

The idyllic interval between their first meeting and Daeron's exposure of their relationship to King Thingol is, with or without sex, a liminal period during which their intimacy and love for one another is allowed to grow and be tested: "Thereafter often she came to him, and they went in secret through the woods together from spring to summer; and no others of the Children of Ilúvatar have had joy so great, though the time was brief."36 As mentioned above by Professor Agan, for that short period Beren and Lúthien lived a life untouched by others. But this was not to last. We learn that Daeron the minstrel also loved Lúthien, and during this period he has been spying upon Lúthien's meetings with this stranger, and thus takes it upon himself to betray them to Thingol.

The Die Is Cast

Thingol, not surprisingly, is outraged at the idea that his beloved daughter, in his eyes unequalled in rank by any other in Middle-earth, has been approached by a mortal Man and has entered into an intimate relationship with him. In Thingol's opinion, there is no Elf-lord even who is worthy of the hand of the princess of Doriath. He did not allow the Second-born within the Girdle of Melian for any reason. Thingol's ban upon the entrance of Men within the Girdle of Melian dates back the first reports of the migration of Men into Beleriand from the east of the mountains. He stated with vehemence that

'Into Doriath shall no Man come while my realm lasts, not even those of the house of Bëor who serve Finrod the beloved.' Melian said nothing to him at that time, but afterwards she said to Galadriel: 'Now 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.'37

It must have been hard for Melian with her gift of prophecy to be married to Thingol. She and Cassandra of Troy would have had a lot to commiserate about.

Thingol, shocked, outraged, and yet utterly grief-stricken, demands that Lúthien reveal to him where to find this trespasser she has befriended. But his stalwart daughter refuses to tell her father anything unless he swears an oath to her that he will not kill or imprison Beren. Thingol then sends his servants out to track Beren and drag him back into the halls of Menegroth as a common criminal.

But Lúthien obstructs his capture by going to her lover herself and leading him back "before the throne of Thingol, as if he were an honoured guest. . . . Then Thingol looked upon Beren in scorn and anger; but Melian was silent. 'Who are you,' said the King, 'that come hither as a thief, and unbidden dare to approach my throne?'"38

It is noteworthy that Lúthien rejects the burden of proving to her father that her relationship with Beren is noble and legitimate. She straightforwardly asserts that Beren is worthy of her love and her father's respect. One can easily imagine how Beren, for a long moment, is confounded and struck speechless to find himself standing before the throne of Thingol and Melian within the magnificent halls of Menegroth, surrounded by the grandeur of that legendary court. Even Finrod and his siblings fresh from Aman, where they had grown up familiar with the splendor of the courts of Tirion and Alqualondë and Manwë's abode on the slopes of Taníquetil, were filled with wonder "at the strength and majesty of Menegroth, its treasuries and armouries and its many-pillared halls of stone."39

But Lúthien has no trouble finding her tongue; she introduces her chosen mate as, "Beren son of Barahir, lord of Men, mighty foe of Morgoth, the tale of whose deeds is become a song even among the Elves."40

Thingol will not be put off by the determination of his daughter. Meanwhile, Melian, with her power of foresight, is squirming with discomfort. (At one point, "Melian leaned to Thingol's side, and in whispered counsel bade him forgo his wrath. 'For not by you,' she said, 'shall Beren be slain; and far and free does his fate lead him in the end, yet it is wound with yours. Take heed!'"41 ) One can just imagine the warnings and signals her magic is giving her at that moment, but her benighted husband blunders on:

'Let Beren speak!' said Thingol. 'What would you here, unhappy mortal, and for what cause have you left your own land to enter this, which is forbidden to such as you? Can you show reason why my power should not be laid on you in heavy punishment for your insolence and folly?'42

When Beren does find his tongue he is far from ineloquent. After observing something in the eyes of both Lúthien and Melian, "it seemed to him that words were put into his mouth" and

Fear left him, and the pride of the eldest house of Men returned to him; and he said: 'My fate, O King, led me hither, through perils such as few even of the Elves would dare. And here I have found what I sought not indeed, but finding I would possess forever. For it is above all gold and silver, and beyond all jewels. Neither rock, nor steel, nor the fires of Morgoth, nor all the powers of the Elf-kingdoms, shall keep from me the treasure that I desire. For Lúthien your daughter is the fairest of all the Children of the World.'43

This entire scene before the throne of Thingol would work wonderfully on film. Tolkien conjures a dramatic visual image of magnificent halls and elegant courtiers stunned and shocked at the scene unfolding before them, believing that Beren has condemned himself to death. Then their enraged king responds:

'Death you have earned with these words; and death you should find suddenly, had I not sworn an oath in haste; of which I repent, baseborn mortal, who in the realm of Morgoth has learnt to creep in secret as his spies and thralls.'

Then Beren answered: 'Death you can give me earned or unearned; but the names I will not take from you of baseborn, nor spy, nor thrall. By the ring of Felagund, that he gave to Barahir my father on the battlefield of the North, my house has not earned such names from any Elf, be he king or no.'44

Beren, before Thingol's throne, declares that he is worthy of Lúthien and his family is well-regarded by "beloved Finrod." At this point, Thingol is infuriated beyond control, no concern for his daughter's earnest pleas, his wife's warnings, or Beren's courage can prevent him from saying the words that will lead to his own ruin and the doom of Doriath. He calls down upon himself the curse of Mandos:

'I see the ring, son of Barahir, and I perceive that you are proud, and deem yourself mighty. But a father's deeds, even had his service been rendered to me, avail not to win the daughter of Thingol and Melian. See now! I too desire a treasure that is withheld. For rock and steel and the fires of Morgoth keep the jewel that I would possess against all the powers of the Elf-kingdoms. Yet I hear you say that bonds such as these do not daunt you. Go your way therefore! Bring to me in your hand a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown; and then, if she will, Lúthien may set her hand in yours. Then you shall have my jewel; and though the fate of Arda lie within the Silmarils, yet you shall hold me generous.'45

Beren's comeback to Thingol's dangerous hubris is one of the great lines in The Silmarillion, a long time coming, and most gratifying to hear, although even a first-time reader realizes much suffering will follow it:

'For little price,' he said, 'do Elven-kings sell their daughters: for gems, and things made by craft. But if this be your will, Thingol, I will perform it. And when we meet again my hand shall hold a Silmaril from the Iron Crown; for you have not looked the last upon Beren son of Barahir.'46

Lúthien, however, is not the sort of princess to allow her knight to go off on his quest and placidly wait, for better or worse, for him to return to her. Of course, her father, short-sighted as he is for taking upon himself the Curse of the Noldor, never expects Beren to survive to return from this quest. Instead of ridding himself of this unwanted mortal, Thingol has doomed Doriath and his people.

In the next section of this biography we will discover how Lúthien follows Beren despite every effort of her father to prevent this and how and why they escape the end which falls upon others who tie their fate to that of the Silmarils. Author and editor Janet Brennan Croft opines that

Lúthien achieves feats of greatness for love of Beren, just as he is inspired to deeds far beyond the power of mortal men for love of her. Both escape the Curse of the Silmarils because they are prompted in their actions by love for one another, rather than hoard-desire for the Silmarils.47

Lúthien's abilities surpass those of all of the major actors among the Elves of The Silmarillion, including valiant warriors (like Fingon, Maedhros, or Fingolfin) wise ancients (like Círdan the Shipwright) whose complete histories are lost in the mists of time, brilliant craftsmen (like Fëanor "the mightiest in skill of word and of hand"48 ) whose unique skills rivaled even those of the Ainur, and such characters as Finrod Felagund and Galadriel who combine wit and paranormal skills. This mere maiden might be said to be a near purely magical creature. The sum of her extraordinary powers surpasses those of other remarkable elven heroes. She is a shape-shifter, an enchantress, and a sorceress with an unmatched strength of will. Of course, among the Elves, she has a singularly extraordinary heritage, being born out of the union of one of the most powerful Elf-lords and a Maiarin demi-goddess. Yet, her greatness derives from not simply her bloodline and background or even her preternatural gifts, but from her motivation and determination.

 

 

Continued in Part 2 and Part 3.

 

Works Cited

  1. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
  2. Christopher Tolkien's separately published Beren and Lúthien is neither a complete collection of everything Tolkien wrote about Beren and Lúthien, nor is it, like C.T.'s Children of Húrin, a selection from Tolkien's manuscripts edited and molded to form a consistent single novelistic narrative of that epic tale. Still, Beren and Lúthien is a useful book to own, and not only for the illustrations, but for the proximity of various versions to one another and C.T.'s commentary on various points, which this reader found up to his highest standards.
  3. John Garth is the author of an excellent book Tolkien and the Great War, which focuses upon Tolkien's life as a young man, his education, and his first collaborative relationship with a circle of likeminded literary and artistic comrades during his school days. Garth examines Tolkien falling in love with his wife-to-be Edith and his experiences related to World War I.
  4. John Garth, "Beren and Lúthien: Love, War and Tolkien's Lost Tales," New Statesman America, May 27, 2017, accessed October 31, 2019.
  5. George Clark and Daniel Timmons, eds., J.R.R. Tolkien and His Literary Resonances: Views of Middle-Earth (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2000), 177.
  6. The Silmarillion, "From a Letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman, 1951," Tolkien claims that Beren succeeds with the help of "a mere maiden even if an elf of royalty." It can be amusing or annoying depending upon the reader that Tolkien calls his most formidable woman character a "mere" anything and credits her with only with helping Beren. It is true that Beren was a hero even before he met Lúthien and, to his credit, he had the courage to set out upon his quest. However, without her assistance he would have had no chance of success. In today's vernacular one would say she undeniably saved his ass.
  7. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Knife in the Dark."
  8. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, "131 - To Milton Waldman."
  9. The Silmarillion, "Of Thingol and Melian."
  10. Ibid.
  11. The Silmarillion, Valaquenta, "Of the Valar."
  12. The Silmarillion, "Of Thingol and Melian."
  13. The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Chaining of Melkor."
  14. Lómelindi is a Quenya word meaning 'dusk-singers', nightingales. The Silmarillion, "Index of Names."
  15. The Silmarillion, "Of Thingol and Melian."
  16. Oshun, "Thingol," Silmarillion Writers' Guild, December 2007, accessed November 29, 2019.
  17. The War of the Jewels, The Grey Annals.
  18. The Silmarillion, "Of Thingol and Melian."
  19. "In might" in this case means armed to the teeth and prepared for a confrontation or challenge.
  20. The Silmarillion, "The Return of the Noldor."
  21. Ibid.
  22. The Silmarillion, "From a Letter by J.R.R. Tolkien to Milton Waldman, 1951."
  23. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
  24. Brian Kenna, "The Surprising Evolution of 'Beren and Lúthien,'" The Los Angeles Review of Book, December 9, 2017, accessed November 18, 2019.
  25. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
  26. Jane Chance, "Introduction," in Tolkien the Medievalist, ed. Jane Chance (London: Routledge, 2003), 11.
  27. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
  28. Jeff LaSala, "Lúthien: Tolkien's Original Badass Elf Princess," Tor,, June 2, 2017, accessed September 16, 2019.
  29. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Luthien."
  30. Ibid.
  31. Ibid.
  32. Ibid.
  33. Ibid.
  34. The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, "The Steward and the King."
  35. Cami D. Agan, "Lúthien Tinúviel and Bodily Desire in the Lay of Leithian," in Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. Janet Brennan Croft (Altadena, CA: Mythopoeic Press, 2015), 169-170.
  36. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
  37. The Silmarillion, "Of the Coming of the Men into the West."
  38. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
  39. The Silmarillion, "Of the Return of the Noldor."
  40. The Silmarillion, "Of Beren and Lúthien."
  41. Ibid.
  42. Ibid.
  43. Ibid.
  44. Ibid.
  45. Ibid.
  46. Ibid.
  47. Melanie A. Rawls, "The Feminine Principle in Tolkien," in Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J. R. R. Tolkien, ed. Janet Brennan Croft, (Altadena, CA: Mythopoeic Press, 2015), 114..
  48. The Silmarillion, "Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië."

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Oshun's Silmarillion-based stories may be found on the SWG archive.