Beren and Lúthien

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.

Whenever I read Tolkien, I am struck by just how prodigious his imagination was and how expansive the world he created could be. While many know him for "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," these are only the tip of the spear for a huge number of beautiful, well-crafted stories made with deep love, creativity, and affection.

"Beren and Luthen" are part of the three texts which editor Christopher Tolkien says are the three most complete, stand-alone stories from the earlier works of his father (the other two being the "The Children of Húrin" and "The Fall of Gondolin." These stories were told in shorter form as part of his monumental work "The Silmarillion." What makes this sort of book so fascinating is that the editor takes this one tale and shows how it evolved over multiple iterations and forms throughout JRR Tolkien's creative process. It was a story that meant a great deal to the author, as demonstrated by the fact that he had the two names inscribed on the headstones of himself and his wife. While this edition may appeal more to a devoted reader of the Tolkien legendarium (hence why I give the book a 4 out of 5), the story of Beren and Luthen is beautiful in an of itself and worth reading.