The Loadbearing Pillar of Masculinity
The Five-Minute Silmarillion, Part 19
Chapter 19 is called “Of Beren and Lúthien.”
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A Note to the Reader
This will be unlike any chapter we’ve read so far, because it’s about J.R.R. Tolkien himself and his wife, Edith. He met her in his youth and loved her a long time, though there were obstacles to their love, and he had to overcome them in order to marry her. She was a few years older than he, and when they died, he had the names Beren and Lúthien inscribed on his and her gravestones, respectively.
It’s longer than any chapter so far too—thirty pages in the paperback, and more detailed. I’ve said this plenty of times on my channel when discussing LOTR film projects: if WB really wants to flesh out this IP instead of watering it down, they’d do well to bring back Cate Blanchett, have her narrate past events of the First and Second Ages, and tell standalone stories therein. Her words could bookend the tales, setting them up and closing them out with connections to the original film trilogy. This story would be especially consequential because Beren and Lúthien were ancestors of Aragorn and Arwen, who faced similar obstacles to their love.
Perhaps the best self-contained story is this epic romance. I’ll try to be brief in my summaries and simply reaffirm to the reader that you should purchase a print copy of this book and read it yourself to get the full effect.
Beren Goes Wild
The first major King of Men was named Bëor. A relative of his is Barahir, father of Beren. We learned in chapter 18 that Barahir fought like hell against Morgoth’s forces, and while he lost, he did escape with a small band of men who became rovers and rangers in the wild lands. Beren grew up among them.
While he was away from the group, one man was captured by Sauron and turned against the others, forced to betray them all. Sauron’s forces killed Barahir and the others but Beren was spared, and left to become powerful in the wilderness, while somehow also becoming vegan. (It is a fantasy novel after all.) As he grows in strength and favor, he wanders his way to Doriath, where inevitably he meets the woman of his dreams.
Lúthien, Daughter of an Angel
Thingol, an Elf, and Melian, a Maia, are husband and wife in the realm of Doriath. Their daughter Lúthien is the most beautiful woman in all of existence, and she can also perform magical charms and sing beautiful songs. Naturally everyone is in love with her, Beren most of all, and he’s unique among others as he earns her affections in return.
Unfortunately for him, when the time comes to approach Thingol about his affections and intentions, the king has no patience or favor for him, not least of all because he is mortal and his daughter is not.
A Hasty Promise
Beren has no shortage of self-confidence and soon finds himself defiant of Thingol. Man and Elf will not back down from their positions so Thingol offers a challenge to Beren, one that he thinks Beren will either shy away from or perish in the attempt: he has to storm Angband, cut a single Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown, and bring it back to Thingol in his own hand. If he does this, he will be worthy of Luthien.
With almost no hesitation, Beren says “Bet,” and heads off to do it. He has to know how dangerous this is; Sauron is less than Morgoth in power, yet he wiped all of Beren’s family and kin off the map on their own turf. Now he has to play an away game against Satan and steal a jewel that, if he is wicked, will burn his hand to touch. This is the magnitude of Tolkien’s love for his wife, such as he chose to depict it on the page.
Blood of Fëanor Causing Problems
We get a taste of some Gaston-itis when Celegorm and Curufin pull into the story; they are two of the seven sons of Fëanor, and they have their own designs on Lúthien. They’re hanging out with Finrod, who is their cousin, and also a friend to Beren, since Beren’s father saved Finrod during Morgoth’s last big attack.
Beren tells Finrod what he’s up to. Finrod warns him of the danger of his task, as well as earning the ire of Celegorm and Curufin, who claim the Silmarils because they were made by their father. Nevertheless, Finrod can’t dissuade Beren, so he accompanies him on his quest.
Finrod uses magic to disguise himself and Beren as they pass through lands controlled by Sauron, but Sauron himself is better at that sort of thing and he takes the disguises away, then locks up Beren and Finrod. This causes Lúthien back in Doriath to have a painful vision of Beren’s suffering, but when she enlists help from one of her father’s minstrels, the minstrel goes to Thingol and kisses up to him by saying that Lúthien is going to escape. Thingol then locks Lúthien in a tall tower. Things aren’t looking good.
Good Dog
Lúthien pulls a Rapunzel and uses a combination of her magical long hair and her magical singing to escape the tower, disguise herself, and head off after Beren. She runs across Celegorm and Curufin who also have their dog Huan with him, and Huan becomes a character in his own right.
Huan was a gift from Oromë, the hunter of the Valar, so he’s a huge magic awesome dog. He can even speak actual words, though he’s only allowed to speak three times before he dies, so he doesn’t yet. He’s bound to Celegorm, but he takes a liking to Lúthien, and as the story unfolds he will eventually leave Celegorm due to his cruelty, and become a friend to Beren and Lúthien.
For now though, Celegorm finds out about Beren and Finrod in Sauron’s custody. His plan is to take Luthien back to Thingol, force him to give Luthien to Celegorm in marriage, and unite the remaining Noldor under his own banner before storming Angband and taking the Silmarils. Big Gaston energy from Celegorm.
To the Rescue
Huan isn’t a beast of burden, but he makes an exception for Lúthien and lets her ride him to Sauron’s tower. She challenges Sauron, who sends out big nasty war hounds to bring her in, but Huan keeps killing them. When Sauron learns of this, he turns into a wolf and fights Huan, but Huan pwns him in his wolf-form and won’t let him escape. Luthien then uses her song-magic to topple Sauron’s tower and free Beren, though Finrod is now dead. Sauron transforms and escapes. Beren, saddened at the loss of a friend, buries Finrod, and then he and Luthien begin their life of exile together with Huan.
We Have a Choice
They are alone together for an indeterminate amount of time before Beren finally says he has to fulfill his quest to Thingol and retrieve a Silmaril. The three of them go to Angband and, using Lúthien’s magic with Beren’s own songs, they enter in disguise and then sing everyone in Morgoth’s court to sleep. Beren uses a special knife called Angrist that can cut iron like it’s wood, and he severs one of the spikes of Morgoth’s crown.
It’s funny that right here he’s suddenly overtaken by an urge to steal all three Silmarils, but fate intervenes because this is not the end that is meant for them. It’s not explicitly stated whether the unseen hand of Ilúvatar does this, or some similar force in his service, but Beren can’t take all three. Such an ending would not serve as a balanced consequence to the Noldor for their pride and sins. The gems will have a different fate.
When Beren takes the one Silmaril it doesn’t burn his hand off, but the forces of Morgoth do wake up, and his pet wolf Carcharoth attacks. Oh, forgot to mention: throughout the chapter, Huan uses his three speaking instances, and then Carcharoth kills him in a fight, so I’m sorry, but the dog dies here.
Then Carcharoth tries to attack Lúthien but Beren jumps in the way, and Carcharoth bites his hand off, swallowing the jewel. This fills him with incredible pain and sends him into a constant rage. He tears off out of Morgoth’s fortress and into the wild. Beren and Lúthien are rescued by the Eagles and taken back to Thingol.
The Price of Love
Beren’s stump is mended but like other characters in this saga, he’s now one-handed. When he stands before Thingol to report on his quest, Thingol demands the Silmaril, and Beren flexes on him by saying it’s still in his hand, that hand just happens to be inside Morgoth’s evil dog. Thingol leads a huge hunting party to catch and kill Carcharoth. They cut him open, find Beren’s hand, and take the jewel from it. Against all odds, Beren succeeds, together with Lúthien.
Into the Eternities
An incredible love story could only end this way, with some triumph and some tragedy. As a result of her pure love for Beren and his pure love for her, Lúthien takes on mortality and bids farewell to her parents, heading off to have a life and a progeny with a man who literally went into hell and fought the devil for her because he loved her. Together there is nothing they can’t do.
I think it’s very fitting that their descendants will also get up to some epic stuff, but that’s a story for another day.
This doom she chose, forsaking the Blessed Realm, and putting aside all claim to kinship with those that dwelt there; that thus whatever grief might lie in wait, the fates of Beren and Luthien might be joined, and their paths lead together beyond the confines of the world.
p. 222
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