The Tale of Beren and Lthien

The Tale of Beren and Lthien is the story of the love and adventures of the mortal Man Beren and
the immortal Elf-maiden Lthien, as told in several works of J. R. R. Tolkien. It takes place during
the First Age of Middle-earth, about 6500 years[2] before the events of his most famous book, The
Lord of the Rings. Tolkien wrote several versions of their story, the latest written in The Silmarillion.
Beren and Lthien are also mentioned in The Lord of the Rings.

Development and versions

The first version of the story is the Tale of Tinviel, which was written in 1917 and published in The
Book of Lost Tales. During the 1920s Tolkien started to reshape the tale and to transform it into
an epic poem which he called The Lay of Leithian. He never finished it, leaving three of seventeen
planned cantos unwritten. After his death The Lay of Leithian was published in The Lays of
Beleriand, together with The Lay of the Children of Hrin and several other unfinished poems. The
latest version of the tale is told in prose form in one chapter of The Silmarillion and is recounted
by Aragorn in The Fellowship of the Ring. Furthermore, it was the model for "The Tale of Aragorn
and Arwen", which is told in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings.

Synopsis
As told in The Silmarillion, the later version of the tale:
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 northern Middle-earth. After the defeat of his companions he fled from peril into
the elvish realm Doriath. There he met Lthien, the only daughter of
King Thingol and Melian the Maia, as she was dancing and singing in a glade. Upon seeing her
Beren fell in love, for she was the fairest of all elves. She later fell in love with him as well, when he,
moved by her beauty and enchanting voice, gave her the nickname "Nightingale." 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 Lthien. Thingol asked Beren to bring him one
of the Silmarils, the three hallowed jewels made by Fanor, 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, Lthien 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
King Finrod, who had sworn an oath of friendship to Beren's father. Although Fanor'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, despite the best efforts of Finrod to maintain their guise as Orcs, and imprisoned
in Tol-in-Gaurhoth. One by one they were killed by a werewolf until only Beren and Finrod remained.
When the wolf went for Beren, Finrod broke his chains and wrestled it with such fierceness that they
both died.
When she was following Beren, Lthien was captured and brought to Nargothrond by Celegorm and
Curufin. Aided by Huan, Celegorm's hound (which according to prophecy could only be defeated by
the greatest werewolf ever), she was able to flee. With his aid she came to Sauron's fortress where
Huan defeated the werewolves of the Enemy, Draugluin the sire of werewolves, and Sauron himself
in wolf-form. Then Lthien forced Sauron to give ownership of the tower to her. She freed the
prisoners, among them Beren. Meanwhile, Sauron took the form of a vampire and fled to Taur-nu-
Fuin.
Beren wanted to try his task once more alone, but Lthien insisted on coming with him. However
they were attacked by Celegorm and Curufin, who had been exiled from Nargothrond. Beren was
wounded by Curufin, but Lthien healed him. Through magic they took the shapes of the
bat Thuringwethil and the wolf Draugluin that Huan had killed. Thereby they were able to enter the
enemy's land and at last came to Angband and before Morgoth's throne. There Lthien sang a
magical song which made the Dark Lord and his court fall asleep; then Beren cut a Silmaril from
Morgoth's crown. As he tried to cut out the others, his knife broke and a shard glanced off Morgoth's
face, awakening him. As they attempted 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. Carcharoth was burned by the pure light of the Silmaril and ran off
madly. Eagles then helped Beren and Lthien escape.
Beren and Lthien 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, Lthien also died, 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 Lthien to life and granted mortality to
the Elf. Lthien 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.