Beren and Luthien

English language

Published May 16, 2017

ISBN:: 978-0-00-821419-7

(1 review)

The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year.

Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal elf. Her father, a great elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril.

In this …

The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year.

Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal elf. Her father, a great elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril.

In this book Christopher Tolkien has attempted to extract the story of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which it was embedded; but that story was itself changing as it developed new associations within the larger history. To show something of the process whereby this legend of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he has told the story in his father's own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost.

Published on the tenth anniversary of the last Middle-earth book, the international bestseller The Children of Húrin, this new volume will similarly include drawings and color plates by Alan Lee, who also illustrated The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and went on to win Academy Awards for his work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

3 editions

Soh Kam Yung reviewed Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien

On the evolution of the various tales that would eventually become about Beren and Lúthien

4 stars

A fascinating look at the various ways the story of Beren and Lúthien would appear as conceived and written by Tolkien before it is set down in the form as appears in The Silmarillion. Some familiarity with the final story and events that take part in the First Age of Middle Earth would help the reader to appreciate this book. While it is mostly a stand-alone tale, it takes part in a larger world and involves events and characters briefly mentioned here that would help to establish the context that the tale takes place.

The first version of the tale presented here is in the form of the story, "The Tale of Tinúviel" which shows the early roots of the story which is told as a 'fairy' tale to a visiting Elf. In this version, Beren is still an elf (a 'Gnome' in Tolkien's language), Tinúviel's power came from dancing …

A fascinating look at the various ways the story of Beren and Lúthien would appear as conceived and written by Tolkien before it is set down in the form as appears in The Silmarillion. Some familiarity with the final story and events that take part in the First Age of Middle Earth would help the reader to appreciate this book. While it is mostly a stand-alone tale, it takes part in a larger world and involves events and characters briefly mentioned here that would help to establish the context that the tale takes place.

The first version of the tale presented here is in the form of the story, "The Tale of Tinúviel" which shows the early roots of the story which is told as a 'fairy' tale to a visiting Elf. In this version, Beren is still an elf (a 'Gnome' in Tolkien's language), Tinúviel's power came from dancing and the main servant of Melko (as Morgoth was known then) is Tevildo, the Prince of Cats. But some elements of the actual tale, like the hound Huan, the taking of the Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Melko, the madness of the wolf guard and subsequent death of Beren, are present in the tale.

Tolkien also proceeds to lay out the tale of Beren and Lúthien in the form of a poem, extracts of which are presented with most of the elements of the final tale present. This is interleaved with the tale as presented in "The Quenta Noldorinwa". Beren is now a man, but the main servant of Morgoth is Thû, a Necromancer. The poem ends at the point where Beren and Lúthien are escaping from Morgoth after taking one of the Silmarils, but are confronted by Carcharoth, the greatest wolf that has ever lived.

The final part of the book covers some odds and ends of story passages that Tolkien wrote but not incorporated in the Silmarilion, including a longer part of the last battle that Beren would later take part in when the Silmaril has been incorporated into a necklace by the Dwarves which then gets caught up in a conflict of greed between the Elves and the Dwarves. The fate of their children would be briefly covered, and the book ends with the first ever rising of Eärendil in the sky as the Evening Star and the coming end of the First Age of Middle Earth.