Lúthien
| House / Order | House of Thingol (Sindar); daughter of a Maia |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | |
| Status | Deceased (chose mortality) |
| Origin | Doriath; Tol Galen, in Beleriand |
| Born | First Age (before the rising of the Moon) |
| Died | First Age 503 (and again, after her restored life) |
| Weapon | Enchantment and song |
| Fate | Chose a mortal life to remain with Beren; the first of the Elves to die the death of Men |
| Portrayed by |
Lúthien, called Tinúviel, "nightingale," was the daughter of King Thingol of Doriath and the Maia Melian, accounted the fairest of all the Children of Ilúvatar who ever lived. Her love for the mortal Beren and the great deeds she performed for his sake form the heart of the legendarium, and her choice to forsake her immortality binds the fates of Elves and Men for all the ages that follow.
Background
Lúthien was born in the hidden kingdom of Doriath in Beleriand, the only child of Thingol, lord of the Grey-elves, and Melian, a Maia of great power who wove an enchantment, the Girdle of Melian, about their realm. From her mother Lúthien inherited gifts beyond those of other Elves, including potent enchantment and a voice of surpassing beauty. She walked and danced in the woods of Doriath, and her loveliness was beyond the telling of any song.
Beren and Lúthien
When the mortal outlaw Beren wandered into Doriath and beheld Lúthien dancing, the two fell in love, the first union of Elf and Man. Her father Thingol, scornful of a mortal suitor, demanded as her bride-price a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth, thinking the quest hopeless. Lúthien did not wait idly. When Beren was imprisoned by Sauron, she escaped her father's house, where he had confined her in a treetop, and went to Beren's aid with the great hound Huan, casting down Sauron's tower and freeing her love.
Together they ventured into Angband itself. There Lúthien's power proved decisive: by her enchantment and her song she cast the entire court of Morgoth, and the Dark Lord himself, into sleep, allowing Beren to cut a Silmaril from the Iron Crown. No other power in the Elder Days, not the mightiest of the Noldor, ever so humbled Morgoth.
Death and the choice
After Beren was slain in the hunting of the wolf Carcharoth, Lúthien's grief was such that she too died and went in spirit to the Halls of Mandos. There she sang before the Vala Mandos a song of such sorrow and beauty that he was moved to pity, the only time his heart was so stirred. The Valar offered her a choice: to dwell in bliss in Valinor without Beren, or to return to Middle-earth as a mortal woman, to live and die with him and pass beyond the circles of the world as Men do. She chose mortality and Beren. So Lúthien became the first of the Elves to taste death, and the lovers lived again briefly in the green land of Tol Galen before passing away forever.
Legacy
The descendants of Beren and Lúthien through their son Dior, his daughter Elwing, and her husband Eärendil include Elrond and Elros, and through them the Half-elven, the Kings of Númenor, and the line of Aragorn and Arwen. Arwen's own choice to give up her immortality for Aragorn deliberately mirrors that of Lúthien, whom she was said to resemble, the likeness of Lúthien come again into the world.
Character
Lúthien is the supreme figure of beauty, love, and self-sacrifice in Tolkien's mythology, an Elf-maiden of power equal to the greatest deeds of the age, who set aside immortality itself for the sake of love. Tolkien held her dear above all his creations, and had the name Lúthien inscribed upon his wife's grave, with Beren upon his own.
Appearances
- The Silmarillion (Of Beren and Lúthien)
- The Fellowship of the Ring (Aragorn's song on Weathertop)
- Beren and Lúthien (standalone volume)