#tale of beren and luthien

[eglerieth]

Translating the Song of Beren and Luthien into Sindarin!

i laid nî ann, in glae nî calen

i saew-lûth tond a bain

a mi i lant - ae! - calad

o giliath mi doath silivren

Tinúviel nî lilt ennas

an linnas o thibin altirad

a galad o giliath nî mi finnathdeith

a mi hammadeith silivren

ennas Beren tùliel o ered ring

a dom ranë nu lais

a mivan i heb-edhil duin nornt

padantë air a nírol

cenë mi i saew-lais

a tírant di elven mellys

po colldeith a rainc-hammadeith

a finnadeith sui dae aphadol

elven nestant taildeid lom

han thar emyn nî amarthan an rain

a e rongantë, thalion a lim

a mabant na aglannim o ithil celair

tre-remmen glad mi Neldoreth

is colui horthant na lilthatail

a lefn Beren air eno an rain

mi i dínen tawar lastad

lhaent ennas rem i rimp law

o tail colui sui melhûn-galadh lais

egor linnas eithela nucae

mi thurin gryd potha

hi thern hoda i saew-thrimpim

a mîn-ar-mîn na fírlaw

na lhoss dannant i neldor-lais

mi i rhîw-taur potha

e cestant ín him, raun haer

mivan lais o íniath nî delch hodant

ar calad o ithil a aglann o el

mí menel sui hell potha

colldeith glînnant mîn i ithilgalad

ir bo amoncaw raud a haer

Tinúviel lilthant, a na taildeith nî hodant

hîth o celeb potha

ir rhîw lúda, ad-tolantë

a linnë leithiant i bragol ethuil

sui orthad amrent, a dannad ross

a medhiant nen gwelch

tírantë i edhellys eithela

os taildeith, a ad-cyrant

anírantë arë an lilt a linnon

or i glae algumri

adribant dîn ach lim tolantë

Tinúviel! Tinúviel!

estannenë in di edhel-enethdeith

a tass dîn darant lastad

min luig tarant dîn, a lûth

glimdeid caedant bo dîn: Beren tolant

a amarth dannant bo Tinúviel

han mi raincë hodant silivren

ir Beren cennant mî hent dîn

mîn i dúaith o fingimdeith

i potha gilgalad o i menel

tírantë ennas cenedrilant silivren

Tinúviel i edhel-bain

alfirin gwen edhel-sael

os Beren hantant gwathui fingimdeith

a rainc sui celeb silivren

annan nî i yr amarth ti colant

thar sarn emyn ring a mith

tre-rynd o ang a morn fen

a taurim o dúath alordolel

i sathantgaer mi ti hodant

a ach na vedui ti ad-govannen

a annan-ia ti gwanwen

mi i taur lindant alnaeras

[emvidal]

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

Tolkien: I’ve written an epic eldritch star-crossed straight love story in Doriath and a tragic suicidal secret gay drama in hithlum but this whole Silmarils and limb loss thing is getting old

Tolkien: what if I write an epic tragic eldritch suicidal star-crossed secret gay AND straight love story drama in hithlum AND Doriath AND Nargothrond with dragons, dwarves, and incest instead?

his son: “my father saw the character of turin as central to the story”

[galdinamary]

Luthien

Elena Minina as Luthien (rock opera 'The legend of Beren and Luthien) ✨

[spruceneedles]

Lúthien

[claer]

[doot-boi]

"But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar"

I think it's no surprise to my followers who pay attention to my silm posting that I love Finrod Felagund's character, but this is the line that sticks with me heavily. Within the Quenta Silmarillion, it is told that all of those Ñoldor caught within the Doom of Mandos and of the Silmarils will "yearn for [their] bodies, and find little pity", which is often taken to mean that none of those who left Valinor would be granted the possibility of returning to physical form, to live in the bliss of Aman (though arguments can clearly be made that only those who participated in the kinslaying were under such a doom, but I choose to ignore that). That's what makes this line so much more impactful to me, along with a more important facet; it's placement in the chapter.

Just 2 pages earlier, at his death, Finrod says it will be long before he is seen again amongst his people, perhaps believing he will not be granted a bodily form until such a time as the rest of the Ñoldor would be. He dies in the darkness of his corrupted tower, and is mourned at length by Beren until Lúthien his love arrives and rouses him, and together their hope is kindled again as the sun rises (a very common theme in Tolkien's works). They honour and bury Finrod atop the island, a tomb to be unchanged until the War of Wrath caused upheaval in all of Beleriand

It's here that this line comes in. His tomb is inviolate until all the land is, but he himself walks with his father, the only of Finwë's sons to remain in Valinor, and that says so many things.

He is one of few, or perhaps the only, Ñoldorin exile to be gifted bodily rebirth. He surpassed the Doom of Mandos (see my 2nd link in paragraph 1)

His father welcomes him home and forgives his leaving

No matter the state of his grave, Felagund is himself unmarred

No timeline is given for Finrod's bodily resurrection, but I choose to believe it is before the end of the First Age (and the fandom wiki agrees, tolkien gateway being more vague), for no other reason than Eärendil. It is because of Finrod, his assistance of and sacrifice for Beren, that the man of Bëor lives long enough to be united with Lúthien in the Quest, and they, along with Huan, are able to retrieve the Silmaril that Eärendil brings to Aman. I consider that Finrod is likely unaware of the success of the Quest, given it seems the rest of Valinor was (or at least they waited for a plea from Middle-Earth before acting on anything). Imagine his wonder, his pride, and his joy, at seeing that not only was the quest successful, but here, 80 years after he died, he sees Beren and Lúthien's grandson-in-law bearing the jewel. I wonder what he would have said to Amarië his love, if he would have remarked in joyous tears that the horrors and the death that led him back into Aman were not faced in vain. I wonder if, taking up his weapon to participate in the War of Wrath, he either sat a moment in sorrow, or in hope, or in some other emotion, considering what lay ahead of him, and as he came home afterwards with many of his kinsfolk, what he felt as he came to the bliss that would last until the changing of the world.

No matter his feelings on the Wars, what his experiences are and what he goes through after his resurrection, we know this:

Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees of Eldamar

[velvet4510]

Christopher Tolkien On the Development of The Silmarillion

God bless Christopher Tolkien. More than half of his father’s legendarium would never have been known to us, if it weren’t for Christopher.

I deeply admire his skill and resilience in editing and publishing his father’s texts, as well as his eloquence in explaining how it all worked. All of these qualities are evident in this attached video, which I think will explain a lot to anyone who is new to The Silmarillion.

Even if you’re already a Silm expert, I think we all can agree that he’s always a joy to listen to. He understood his father in a way that very few others did.

[maedhrosdefender]

no one ever talks about the wild ass experience that is reading ALL of great tales immediately after silm and then trying to be a functioning member of this fandom. like i don’t know what canon is anymore i don’t know what’s headcanon what’s fanon what’s earlier draft what’s silm canon and what’s something christopher tolkien said in his unfinished tales footnotes. was daeron luthien’s brother or in love w her?? melko or melkor, maidros or maedhros?? tevildo canon?? legolas of gondolin?? idek anymore bro.

[msrandonstuff]

btw do I need to read the silmarillion before i read the books of the children of hurin or about the fall of numenor? i rlly wanna read them now that I finished the lotr but idk if id be missing too much vital info about the lore and everything if i jumped straight to them before reading the silm

[camille-lachenille]

I was researching something completely unrelated but I passingly saw that hemlock means mortality in Victorian and modern flower language. And my brain immediately thought of the ‘Song of Beren and Lúthien’ in FotR, specifically the first stanza:

The leaves were long, the grass was green,

The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,

And in the glade a light was seen

Of stars in shadow shimmering.

Tinúviel was dancing there

To music of a pipe unseen,

And light of stars was in her hair,

And in her raiment glimmering.

Hemlock is the third element im the description of the glade Lúthien is dancing in, even before we learn her name. We have the long leaves, the green grass and the tall hemlock; two elements traditionally associated with spring and youth, and one heavily associated with death. In two verses we know everything there is to know about Lúthien: she’s youthful and she’s going to die.

The hemlock appears again in the second stanza:

There Beren came from mountains cold,

And lost he wandered under leaves,

And where the Elven-river rolled

He walked alone and sorrowing.

He peered between the hemlock-leaves

And saw in wonder flowers of gold

Upon her mantle and her sleeves,

And her hair like shadow following.

This stanza is from Beren’s point of view, looking at Lúthien. And fact he looks at her through the hemlock leaves tells us he is mortal. Beren looks at Lúthien through the lens of a mortal gaze, and thinks her otherworldly. There is an added layer to it because, in Victorian flower language, hemlock not only means mortality but also more specifically ‘you will be my death’. And, indeed, Beren dies in his quest to obtain Lúthien’s hand.

The last occurrence of hemlock in this song is in the fourth stanza:

He heard there oft the flying sound

Of feet as light as linden-leaves,

Or music welling underground,

In hidden hollows quavering.

Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves,

And one by one with sighing sound

Whispering fell the beechen leaves

In the wintry woodland wavering.

I find this stanza more difficult to analyse from a symbolic point of view since it’s mostly a description of autumn and winter coming, but it certainly puts emphasis on the importance of this plant in Beren and Lúthien’s story. As I interpret it, and this is my personal reading, it is an allusion to Beren and Lúthien growing old together and Lúthien choosing to die along Beren.

In The Tale of Tinúviel, the hemlock is also extremely important in the introduction of Tinúviel, and it is more or less a description in much more details of what is hinted at in the Song of Beren and Lúthien from FotR. I can’t put the quote because it’s in French but, very roughly, it says that the hemlock is so tall and dense it looks like Tinúviel is dancing on a white cloud. Then, when Tinúviel sees Beren, she hides under a very tall hemlock and her white dress makes her disappear in the hemlock, looking like moonlight on the flowers. The imagery used in this scene is absolutely beautiful and I can’t make it justice, but what is important is that, upon their first meeting, Tinúviel is metaphorically surrounded by mortality. She is an Elf yet she will die. And Beren, who is an elf too in this version (a Gnome, the proto-Noldor, and I struggle not to picture him as a garden gnome), is doomed to die too from the moment he walks amongst the hemlock in search of Tinúviel.

Last but not least is the Lay of Leithian. Sadly, I don’t have the full Lay of Leithian so I can’t look at the meeting scene but, in an extract given in the French translation of Beren and Lúthien (Christian Bourgois, 2017) it is said that Lúthien wears white roses in her hair (Canto VI, verses 116-117) and there are a few other mentions of unspecified white flowers. White roses mean ‘I am worthy of you’, withered white roses mean ‘transient impressions’, white rosebuds mean ‘girlhood’ and a crown of roses ‘reward of virtue’. I don’t really know what to do with these informations since I don’t have the original text so I can’t say how accurate the translation is, but all of this enhance Lúthien’s ethereal, eternally youthful appearance. It also shows the association of Lúthien with white and light in opposition to Morgoth’s black darkness, I think. But I don’t doubt for a second that the hemlock is an important part of the place where Beren and Lúthien’s meeting.

Anyways, I just love digging this kind of rabbit holes in Tolkien’s poetry, because it gives us so much insight on the characters, and I am almost sure that Tolkien, who grew up in late Victorian England and loved nature, knew of the meaning of hemlock or he wouldn’t have insisted so much on it. I’d love to see if there is a paper out there about flower language/symbolism in Tolkien’s work because I am sure there is so much more of it than what I looked at today.

Sources:

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Song_of_Beren_and_L%C3%BAthien

https://www.gardeningchannel.com/flower-meanings-dictionary-from-a-to-z-the-secret-victorian-era-language-of-flowers/

J. R. R. Tolkien, Beren et Lúthien, Christian Bourgois, 2017

And as a bonus, the Song of Beren and Lúthien in music by Clamavi de Profundis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=11_aneHVaz8&list=PLR5qYNG5Nf7WFbZ6wr-rr7gDnALA4C8mQ&index=19&pp=iAQB8AUB

[aureentuluva70]

What do a beautiful elf princess and an evil demon spider have in common? Surprisingly, quite a bit.

Both weave cloaks of shadow in their dwellings, Ungoliant's from her webs and Lùthien's from her own hair(Lùthien in the Leithian even describes her cloak as a web. "I will weave within my web that hell/nor all the powers of dread shall break") Ungoliant's webs and Lùthien's cloak hold a magical effect over things and people, Ungoliant's bringing blindness while Lùthien's brings drowsiness. Out of the same material both create ropes, Ungoliant climbing up to leave Avathar and Lùthien climbing down from Hirilorn. Ungoliant climbs up to Hyarmentir, "the highest mountain in that region of the world", while the great tree Hirilorn is called "greatest of all the trees in the Forest of Neldoreth" and the Leithian describes the tree as "the mightiest vault of leaf and bough / from world's beginning until now." Ungoliant later makes her way to the Two Trees with Melkor, while Lùthien escapes from a tree to rescue Beren.

There's similarities between the places that Lùthien and Ungoliant escape from too, being Doriath and Valinor respectively. Both of them are described as being surrounded by a great barrier of "shadow(s) and bewilderment". (There are also mentions of only one person being able to make it through said barriers, being Beren and Earendil.)

Both Lùthien and Ungoliant help Beren and Melkor in stealing the silmarils, and by help I mean assisting to the point that it is them who seem to be doing most of the actual work. (Beren literally just needs to sit back and watch as Lùthien puts all of Angband to sleep singlehandedly. It is Ungoliant who does most of the actual darkening in the darkening of Valinor, and in an earlier version Ungoliant destroys the Two Trees all by herself. Melkor isn't even there.)

And it's all rather funny looking at this because though they have these similarities they could not be more different. Lùthien is a beautiful elf princess who defeats both Sauron and Morgoth through the power of ✨️True Love✨️ who personally couldn't care less for the silmarils, and Ungoliant is a gigantic hideous demon spider who eats light itself like a black hole and nearly devours Melkor alive when he doesn't give her the silmarils(talk about toxic relationship lol). Lùthien heals, Ungoliant poisons. Lùthien brings Light, Ungoliant brings Darkness(or rather Unlight). Lùthien acts out of love, Ungoliant acts out of selfishness.

They could not be more, completely different. Lùthien is the Anti-Ungoliant. Ungoliant is the Anti-Lùthien. And yet they have these subtle similarities and it drives me insane.

IT'S ABOUT THE SIMILARITIES AND YET STARK CONTRASTS

[eloquentsisyphianturmoil]

All things considered Lúthien was an exceptional girlfriend.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

For the Choose Violence ask game: 22 for any of Tolkien's Middle Earth works? (Histories of Middle Earth included.)

Two asks for this one!

@nopewood: 22 for the ask game pleaseee ^^

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

It's not entirely ignored, but the poetic Leithian deserves way higher profile than it has! It's absolutely magnificent as poetry and also elaborates a lot more of the events of Beren and Lúthien's Quest than the text of the Silmarillion does (for example: the spell Lúthien uses to grow her hair is incredibly complex, cool, and rather spooky).

Another part that I really like that almost everyone ignores is "The Coming of Tuor to Gondolin" in Unfinished Tales. I love the characterization that we get of Tuor during his time as a outlaw and his journey to Nevrast and thence to Gondolin - he, well 'chill' compared to the other Edain we get, but he's not entirely chill and it's really not sufficiently recognized that he waged a single-handed guerilla war in Hithlum for about three years when he was little more than a teenager.

A specific bit of that that I like and that no one else seems (understandably!) to care about is the description of the gates of Gondolin. I love it. The imagery of the different materials, colours, the structure, the designs and what they symbolize/convey. And we're also told that the Elves created a lot of magnificent things, but they're rarely described in detail, and we get such great descriptions here.

Gates!

Thus they came at length to a wide art with tall pillars upon either hand, hewn in the rock, and between hung a great portcullis of crossed wooden bars, marvellously carved and studded with nails of iron. Elemmakil touched it, and it rose silently, and they passed through. "You have passed the First Gate, the Gate of Wood," said Elemmakil. ...Some half-league from the Wooden Gate Tuor saw that the way was barred by a great wall built across the ravine form side to side, with stout towers of stone at either hand. In the wall was a great archway above the road, but it seemed that masons has blocked it with a single mighty stone. As they drew near its dark and polished face gleamed in the light of a white lamp that hung above the midst of the arch. "Here stands the Second Gate, the Gate of Stone," said Elemmakil; and going up to it he thrust lightly upon it. It turned upon an unseen pivot, until its edge was towards them, and the way was open upon either side; and they passed through, into a court where stood many armed guards clad in grey. ...After a little space they came to a wall yet higher and stronger than before, and in it was set the Third Gate, the Gate of Bronze: a great twofold door hung with shields and plates of bronze, wherein were wrought many figures and strange signs. Upon the wall above its lintel were three square towers, roofed and clad with copper that by some device of smith-craft were ever bright and gleamed as fire in the rays of the red lamps ranged like torches against the wall. Again silently they passed the gate, and saw in the court beyond a yet greater company of guards in mail that glowed like dull fire; and the blades of their axes were red. Of the kindred of the Sindar of Nevrast for the most part were those that held this gate. [NOTE: Another reference to the Sindar using axes as their main weapon, something that I almost never see in fic.] ....Thus at last they drew near the Fourth Gate, the Gate of Writhen Iron. High and black was the wall, and lit with no lamps. Four towers of iron stood upon it, and between the two inner towers was set an image of a great eagle wrought in iron, even the likeness of King Thorondor himself, as he would alight upon a mountain from the high airs. But as Tuor stood before the gate it seemed to his wonder that he was looking through boughs and stems of imperishable trees into a pale glade of the Moon. For a light came through the traceries of the gate, which were wrought and hammered into the shapes of trees with writhing roots and woven branches laden with leaves and flowers and as he passed through he saw how this could be; for the wall was of great thickness, and there was not one grill but three in line, so that to one who approached in the middle of the way each formed part of the device; but the light beyond was the light of day...Now they passed through the lines of the Iron Guards that stood behind the Gate; black were their mantles and their mail and long shields, and their faces were masked with vizors each bearing an eagle's beak.

What the Fourth Gate reminds me of at the moment is Menegroth - trees carved in iron, as Menegroth is trees and birds and other animals wrought in stone, the combination of the love of nature with the love of craft through the work of two different peoples. And the sequence - the different materials (wood, stone, bronze, iron), the number of towers matching the number of the gates, the guards outfitted in a way that matches the gates - really appeals to me. The connection of Gondolin both with Ulmo, who showed Turgon the location and concealed his people so they could get here, and with Manwë via Thorondor (who is really Turgon's link to the outside world, and brings him news on more than one occasion) is just fantastic.

Then we have the gates of Silver and Gold:

Tuor saw beside the way a sward of grass, where like stars bloomed the white flowers of uilos, the Evermind that knows no season and withers not; and thus in wonder and lightening of heart he was brought to the Gate of Silver. The wall of the Fifth Gate was built of white marble, and was low and broad, and its parapet was a trellis of silver between five great globes of marble; and there stood many archers robed in white. The gate was in shape as three parts of a circle, and wrought of silver and pearl of Nevrast in likenesses of the Moon; but above the Gate upon the midmost globe stood an image of the White Tree Telperion, wrought of silver and malachite, with flowers made of great pearls of Balar. And beyond the Gate in a wide court paved with marble, green and white, stood archers in silver mail and white-crested helms, a hundred upon either hand. Then Elemmakil led Tuor and Voronwë through their silent ranks, and they entered upon a long white road, that ran straight towards the Sixth Gate; and as they went the grass-sward became wider, and among the white stars of uilos there opened many small flowers like eyes of gold. So they came to the Golden Gate, the last of the ancient gates of Turgon that were wrought before the Nirnaeth; and it was much like the Gate of Silver, save that the wall was built of yellow marble, and the globes and parapets were of red gold; and there were six globes, and in the midst upon a golden pyramid was set an image of Laurelin, the Tree of the Sun, with flowers wrought of topaz in long clusters upon chains of gold. And the Gate itself was adorned with discs of gold, many-rayed, in likenesses of the Sun, set amid devices of garnet and topaz and yellow diamonds. In the court beyond were arrayed three hundred archers with long bows, and their mail was gilded, and tall golden plumes rose from their helmets; and their great round shields were red as flame.

As I reread this...I had thought before of Gondolin, the image of Tirion in Valinor, being a symbol/indication of Turgon's inability to let go of his homesickness, and the images of the Trees being connected to that. But it doesn't feel like that now - it feels like a fusion, of the past in Valinor (the two Trees) and present in Beleriand (the Moon and Sun, and also the pearls of Nevrast and Balar; the latter indicate that Turgon must also have had a close relationship with Cirdan and the Falathrim) - and by the way, how did Turgon realize the connection between the Trees and the moon and sun, when as far as the Noldor know the Trees were entirely dead? It's an impressive connection to work out by himself.

These gates - and their matching flowers, which is an amazing touch - are more decorative and less military than the others, as though, having passed the gate of iron, the focus is now more on beauty rather than defence. And then we're slapped in the face with this:

The way was short to the Seven Gate, named the Great, the Gate of Steel that Maeglin wrought after the return from the Nirnaeth, across the wide entrance to the Orfalch Echor. No wall stood there, but on either hand were two round towers of great height, many-windowed, tapering in seven storeys to a turret of bright steel, and between the towers there stood a mighty fence of steel that rusted not, but glittered cold and white. Seven great pillars of steel there were, tall with the height and girth of strong young trees, but ending in a bitter spike that rose to the sharpness of a needle; and between the pillars were seven cross-bars of steel, and in each space seven times seven rods of steel upright, with heads like the broad blades of spears. But in the centre, upon the midmost pillar and the greatest, was raised a mighty image of the king-helm of Turgon, the Crown of the Hidden Kingdom, set about with diamonds.

This is grim and forbidding and hostile after the Gates of Silver and Gold - like passing from an intricately carved gate of a garden to a fence of razor wire. It's the only gate that Elemmakil can't open for them, and there's no elegant way to knock - you just have to bang on the bars. The pillars of steel might be the size of young trees, but they aren't carved to look like trees or anything else - they're just spikes. The other gates had images of nature, and sometimes of the world outside; this gate is hostile to the world outside.

And, after the three previous gates with Thorondor followed by the images of the creations of Valar - the Trees and the Moon and Sun - we have an image of Turgon's crown on this one.

This is a very clear warning to the reader - something is wrong in Gondolin. Turgon has grown proud and shut out the outside world, and is putting himself and his desires as of the foremost importance. This Gate tells us what Turgon's answer to Tuor's message from Ulmo will be even before Tuor delivers us. And the statement that Maeglin made this gate shows him symbolically as an influence upon this change of attitude in Turgon. Everything about this gate foreshadows the fall of Gondolin.

Thank you for indulging me on this super long post! Look, I just really enjoy imagery and patterns!