JESSE RYAN

I’ve been reading The Silmarillion by J.R. Tolkien and it has been amazing.  It’s kind of a hard read.  Alot of info.  It’s not a detailed storyline.  For instance, if you have read The Lord of the Rings, it’s quite detailed and dramatic.  The movie caught the feel of the book very well.  Remember in the movie, in the the beginning Galadriel tells the story of the ring in her creepy voice…. she is simply telling the background of the story without much detail… just the important necessary things.  This book has been like that the whole way through.  I almost imagine Galadriels voice as I read it.  Creepy.  Anyways… Tolkien has finally been tell some stories in detail.  One of them was the story of Beren (a man) and Luthien (a female elf) and it was amazing.  I wish they could make it into a movie.  I did not feel like typing the whole story out for you guys… so i wikipedia’d it and they did a good job of summarizing the story.  So here it is… Beren and Luthien:

Beren was the last survivor of a group of Men led by his father Barahir that had still resisted Morgoth, the Dark Enemy, after the Battle of Sudden Flame, in which Morgoth had conquered much of northernMiddle-earth. After the defeat of his companions he fled from peril into the elvish realm Doriath. There he met Lúthien, the only daughter of King Thingol and Melian the Maia, who was dancing and singing. Seeing the beautiful Elf, Beren fell in love with her, for she was the fairest of all Elves and Men. She later fell in love with him as well, when she heard him calling for her in a longing voice. As Thingol disliked Beren and regarded him as being unworthy of his daughter, he set a seemingly impossible task on Beren that he had to achieve before he could marry Lúthien. Thingol asked Beren to bring him one of theSilmarils, the three hallowed jewels made by Fëanor, which Morgoth had stolen from the Elves.

Beren left Doriath and set out on his quest to Angband, the enemy’s fortress. Although Thingol tried to prevent it, Lúthien later followed him. On his journey to the enemy’s land Beren reached Nargothrond, an Elvish stronghold, and was joined by ten warriors under the lead of Finrod, who had sworn an oath of friendship to Beren’s father. Although Fëanor’s sons, Celegorm and Curufin, warned them not to take the Silmaril that they considered their own, the company was determined to accompany Beren. On their way to Angband they were seized by the servants of Sauron and imprisoned in Tol-in-Gaurhoth. One by one they were killed until only Beren remained.

When she was following Beren, Lúthien was captured and brought to Nargothrond by Celegorm and Curufin. Aided by Huan, Celegorm’s hound, she was able to flee. With his aid she came to Sauron’s fortress where Huan defeated the werewolves of the Enemy and Sauron himself. Then they freed the prisoners, among them Beren.

Beren wanted to try his task once more alone, but Lúthien insisted on coming with him. Through magic they took the shapes of the bat Thuringwethil and the wolf Draugluin that Huan had caught. Thereby they were able to enter the enemy’s land and at last came to Angband and before Morgoth’s throne. There Lúthien sang a magical song which made the Dark Lord fall asleep; then Beren cut a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown. When they wanted to leave, the gate was barred by Carcharoth, a giant werewolf, who was bred as an opponent to Huan. He bit off and swallowed Beren’s hand, in which Beren was holding the Silmaril.^[2] Carcharoth was burned by the pure light of the Silmaril and ran off madly.

Beren and Lúthien returned to Doriath, where they told of their deeds and thereby softened Thingol’s heart. He accepted the marriage of his daughter and the mortal Man, although Beren’s task had not been fulfilled. Beren and Huan participated in the hunt for Carcharoth, who in his madness had come into Doriath and caused much destruction there. Both of them were killed by the wolf, but Carcharoth was also slain. Before he died, Beren handed the Silmaril, which was recovered from Carcharoth’s belly, to Thingol.

Grieving for Beren, Lúthien died too and came to the halls of Mandos. There she sang of her ill fate, that she would never again see Beren, who as a mortal Man had passed out of the world. Thereby Mandos was moved to pity. He restored Beren and Lúthien to life and granted mortality to the Elf. Lúthien left her home and her parents and went to Ossiriand with Beren. There they dwelt for the rest of their lives, and both eventually died the death of mortal Men.