Silmarillion - Chapter 19 - Of Beren and Luthien

[Aiwendil]

If the Quenta Silmarillion began with mythology and proceeded into history, it has now moved on from history into drama. With ‘Beren and Luthien’ we begin the Great Tales, the sagas of the late first age on which Tolkien expended so much time and thought. In the 1950s, he seems to have come to conceive of the longer versions of these later tales as forming a complete work unto themselves, which he called the Atanatarion; of this the first part was to be the ‘Narn Beren ion Barahir’ or the ‘Narn e•Dinuviel’.

The tale of Beren and Luthien is, of course, too vast for a single post to do more than scratch its surface. Like the subsequent chapters, ‘Beren and Luthien’ is really a Great Tale in itself and easily the equal of a novel in literary significance. The chapter-long version has a certain fairy-tale beauty, but it is really only a concise summary of the story – which is told (minus the ending) in its full glory in the ‘Lay of Leithian’. In my opinion, this (and particularly the partial revision of the 1950s) is among Tolkien’s greatest works, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the concise version.

The ‘Lay of Leithian’ is a curious name; it is sub-titled ‘Release from Bondage’, and this seems to be the meaning of the Sindarin ‘Leithian’. ‘Release from Bondage’ is certainly not an obvious title for the tale of Beren and Luthien, but I think it provides a key insight into one of the most important themes of the work. In a way, the tale is about a series of escapes or rescues. There is, centrally (and with respect to the rest of the Silmarillion, most importantly), the release of a Silmaril from bondage in Angband. But consider the other ‘releases’ in the story: Luthien’s escape from her tree-house, her escape from Nargothrond, the rescue of Beren from Tol-in-Gaurhoth, the release of Beren and Luthien from Mandos, and finally the release of Luthien from her Elvish immortality.

Another theme that runs strongly through the tale is that of oaths and oath-breaking. There was a thread some time ago in the Books forum that considered the significance of oaths in Tolkien’s work, focusing primarily on LotR. But consider the various oaths taken and the various fates of the oath-takers in ‘Beren and Luthien’: Finrod’s oath of friendship to Barahir (which leads him to his death), Gorlim’s broken oath of loyalty to Barahir, Beren’s oath to avenge his father (in the ‘Lay’), Thingol’s oath to Luthien not to kill Beren (of which he keeps the letter but not the spirit), Beren’s oath to win a Silmaril from Angband, and of course the oath of Feanor which runs through this and many other tales.

There is so much more that could be said concerning Beren and Luthien that any attempt to say it here would be futile. But if there is any interest in discussing this chapter, there is certainly a vast range of topics to be explored.

‘Beren and Luthien’ is probably second only to ‘Turin’ in terms of the number of treatments Tolkien gave it. The earliest version is found in the ‘Book of Lost Tales’, but even here there are three different revisions that differ in important respects. One very interesting feature here is that, while in the earliest version Beren is a Man as in the Silmarillion, in the revised version he is made a Noldorin Elf (a ‘Gnome’). At times the Lost Tales ‘Beren and Luthien’ diverges wildly from the story’s later incarnations (for example, here instead of Sauron we have Tevildo the Prince of Cats) but at other times we find enduring features already in place (as in the first encounter of Beren and Luthien in the forest).

The story then received its most vivid treatment in the ‘Lay of Leithian’ of the 1920s; in notes accompanying this work Tolkien can be seen working out much of the structure and detail of the story. Shorter versions in the Silmarillion tradition followed in the ‘Sketch of the Mythology’, the ‘Quenta Noldorinwa’, and the 1937 ‘Quenta Silmarillion’, as well as the beginning of a longer prose version based on the poem. In the 1950s another re-telling of the story appeared in the ‘Grey Annals’ and Tolkien embarked upon a revision of the ‘Lay of Leithian’ – which, despite getting no further than Beren’s first glimpse of Luthien, contains some of Tolkien’s finest verse.

Additional reading:
HoMe II - ‘Lost Tales’ versions
HoMe III – 1920s ‘Lay of Leithian’ and abortive 1950s revision
HoMe IV, V – ‘Sketch of the Mythology’, ‘Quenta Noldorinwa’, and ‘Quenta Silmarillion’ versions.
HoMe X – See ‘Myths Transformed’ for the note regarding the Atanatarion and the ‘Great Tales’.
HoMe XI – ‘Grey Annals’ version.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Yes, I remember that thread on oaths and have found it again so it may be linked to this one.

http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=10923

I enjoyed reading this section quite a bit, though I found parts of it very distracting, and the suspension of disbelief not as natural as is usually the case when reading Tolkien's work. One of my stumbling blocks was the persistant wish that Tolkien had devised other creatures instead of refering to vampires and werewolves. I do of course realize that elves and dwarves were not entirely unknown before he started writing about them, but these particular beings seem to be from a somewhat alien mythology, or perhaps the intervening years have rendered them so. Another less jarring hurdle was Huan's various fights, particularly the one with Sauron.

I suppose one might say that some of the events are less understated than usual.

[Lalaith]

I never found the tale of Beren and Luthien as mesmerising as that of the children of Hurin, or of the fall of Gondolin.
For me, the tale is more like a series of memorable highlights - eg Beren's vision of Luthien dancing, the Camlost moment. Huan is actually in some ways the most interesting character in the story.
Does anyone else find this?

The other highlight for me is the nobility of Finrod Felagund...."needing no ring to remind him of the kin of Beor".

Compare that to Turgon and the Fen of Serech. Ha.

[Nerwen]

Originally Posted by Hilde Bracegirdle

One of my stumbling blocks was the persistant wish that Tolkien had devised other creatures instead of refering to vampires and werewolves. I do of course realize that elves and dwarves were not entirely unknown before he started writing about them, but these particular beings seem to be from a somewhat alien mythology, or perhaps the intervening years have rendered them so.

The latter, mainly, I think. Our ideas of vampires and werewolves have become more and more standardized (through film versions, etc). The sources in folklore are quite varied.

[Eönwë]

[QUOTE=Lalaith;538709]The other highlight for me is the nobility of Finrod Felagund...."needing no ring to remind him of the kin of Beor".[QUOTE]

Don't forget, Finrod did kill a Werewolf with his bare hands. Anyway, without this Aragorn would not be alive, remember that. And neither would Elrond. How else is Maiar blood going to go into the royal (later Numenorean) bloodlines. 'Tis an echo of the tale of Aragorn and Arwen.

Eurgh! If you think about it, Aragorn and Arwen are actually like cousins, except that it has many generations' gap between them, so his royal (and Maiar) blood is probably far more diluted than Arwen's

[Bêthberry]

This chapter deserves much thoughtful discussion yet I am sure that at this season we many Downers are hard pressed to find time for such leisurely pursuits.

Yet Aiwendil's introduction has moved me to reread the chapter. One obviously intriguing question would be why Tolkien produced this story in so many forms, particularly in both verse and prose. Was Doom such an important theme to him?

The Lay I have yet to read--mayhap over the holidays. The opening paragraphs of this chapter have an especially rhythmic style to them which is perhaps owing to its incarnation in verse. But it is a style more rhetorical than the plainer historical summarising style found other chapters. I could be wrong, but I wonder if certain parts of The Silmarillion legend moved Tolkien more readily to verse, as if there were music in his muse.

Not much time to write more now, but I will say that this chapter, as so much of the Legendarium, leaves me always astounded by the cruelty of the elves. All questions of the comitatus and oaths aside, I have always been bemused by their readiness to do each other in. And these are the great and the illustrious? For all their art and love of beauty and alleged intelligence, they are suprisingly prone to violence.

In a world of permutation and change, the elves are lost, fatally constricted by a psychology which cannot accommodate change or freedom of choice in others and by a social and political structure which equally binds them to a response which is unable to be creative and original. How ironic!

-- just some musings prompted by the rereading. I've actually enjoyed the story more this time.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Nice thoughts, Bb, and very interesting observations on elves.

I seem to remember reading that in the early days, elves and men bore a greater similar to each other, though at this point men do seem the better!

[Aiwendil]

Lalaith wrote:

The other highlight for me is the nobility of Finrod Felagund...."needing no ring to remind him of the kin of Beor".

Compare that to Turgon and the Fen of Serech. Ha.

That's an interesting point - I had never connected the two incidents, but Finrod's admittance of Beren to Nargothrond could perhaps be seen as a parallel to Turgon's refusal to admit Hurin . . . though of course to consider that here would be getting ahead of ourselves.

Bethberry wrote:

One obviously intriguing question would be why Tolkien produced this story in so many forms, particularly in both verse and prose. Was Doom such an important theme to him?

Certainly Beren & Luthien seems to have been a particularly important story to him. And though one must always be wary of the biographical connection, it is certainly worthy of note that he had the name 'Luthien' inscribed on her tombstone.

Hilde Bracegirdle wrote:

One of my stumbling blocks was the persistant wish that Tolkien had devised other creatures instead of refering to vampires and werewolves.

Though I personally don't find the vampires and werewolves unsuitable, I can see how one might think them a bit out of keeping with the rest of the Legendarium. It's interesting that Tolkien should call creatures like Draugluin 'werewolves', since in real world folklore this word seems to refer specifically to wolf-man shapechangers. The etymology is generally assumed to be 'were' (O.E. 'man') + 'wolf'. However, there is some doubt about this - another theory is that the first element is actually related to 'warg' (outlaw, rogue, wolf). If Tolkien subscribed to this view, then perhaps, at least from an etymological point of view, his application of 'werewolf' would seem more appropriate.

The origin of 'vampire' is not entirely certain, but it seems to be of Slavic origin and may be related to words meaning 'bat'. Since the modern image of the sophisticated, charming vampire arose fairly recently (19th century) it seems possible that here, as with the Elves and Dwarves, Tolkien saw himself as reviving the 'true' lore that had become distorted over the centuries.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

Certainly Beren & Luthien seems to have been a particularly important story to him. And though one must always be wary of the biographical connection, it is certainly worthy of note that he had the name 'Luthien' inscribed on her tombstone.

Actually, it is on "their" tombstone, as the one stone marks the shared grave.

I'm probably the least likely persona on this site to choose biographical interpretations, as any number of my posts over the years can attest to. Carpenter provides the biographical tidbit about Edith dancing which has inspired legions of fans to see a connection, but frankly I think a story of such a great Saga and so teeming with themes and links to the rest of the Legendarium must provide fruitful avenues for other areas of discussion. What does it mean to say that as Luthien looked upon Beren doom fell upon her and she loved him? (Yes, I understand the literal consequence, that she forsakes her elven immortality, but there's more to this story than that.) Love is not what dooms Turin.

So what's with the Doom Raiders?

[Tuor in Gondolin]

One of the interesting bits in this chapter, to me,
are the lessons and consequences od Beren's trying
to take a second simaril. Tolkien may seek to indicate
the potential "greedy" nature of man (not unlike
Isildur keeping the Ring) and consequences of
not following proportion,balance, restraint, etc.
Although there doesn't seem to be any reason he
couldn't take all the simarills from Morgoth. And
how would Luthien's daddy have reacted if he had,
in a much less painful way, handed a simaril over to him?

[Nazgûl-king]

I have re-read this chapter recently and came across something interesting; when the eagles come to rescue Beren and Luthien from Angband’s gate it says

“Among all birds and beasts the wandering and need of Beren had been noised, and Huan himself had bidden all things watch, that they might bring him aid”

Now we are told that Huan could only speak three times, and none of those three times are talking to the animals, so how does Huan bid the animals to watch so that they can help Beren if he did not speak to them?

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Nazgûl-king

I have re-read this chapter recently and came across something interesting; when the eagles come to rescue Beren and Luthien from Angband’s gate it says Now we are told that Huan could only speak three times, and none of those three times are talking to the animals, so how does Huan bid the animals to watch so that they can help Beren if he did not speak to them?

Well, everyone knows there is an international language of animals, a sort of fauna-esperanto, which has nothing to do with human speech -- and Huan was only allowed to speak human three times. Therefore, you are barking up the wrong tree. Besides, it's not like the other animals all speak Sindarin, I am sure the Eagles were strictly Quenyan in the 1st Age, and the Fox in Lord of the Rings was thinking aloud in Westron.

[Nazgûl-king]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Well, everyone knows there is an international language of animals, a sort of fauna-esperanto, which has nothing to do with human speech -- and Huan was only allowed to speak human three times. Therefore, you are barking up the wrong tree. Besides, it's not like the other animals all speak Sindarin, I am sure the Eagles were strictly Quenyan in the 1st Age, and the Fox in Lord of the Rings was thinking aloud in Westron.

Yes I had thought of that, and it is the most likely explanation. But I thought it would be interesting to bring up anyway so…