Luthien's Mortal Choice
The four hobbits had gone to sleep and Aragorn kept watch. He knew what would happen if
the Black Riders found the Ring. He tried to focus his mind
on getting to Rivendell, but his thoughts kept wandering to Arwen.
Arwen. He remembered the first time he saw her. He had thought she was Luthien, the fairest elf-maiden of all. He loved her at that first meeting, and he still loved her. He thought often about Beren and Luthien, but he knew it only encouraged him to hope in the impossible. He started to sing from the Lay of Leithian, which contains their tale.
"Who is she?" came a voice from behind him. He turned around suddenly, as if startled out of a dream. Frodo had listened to quite a bit of Aragorn's song, and he knew enough Elvish to pick up the general sense.
"Luthien, the elf-maiden who gave her love to Beren, a mortal."
"What happened to her?"
"Luthien wept as she held Beren in her arms," Aragorn began. "Thingol had recovered the
Silmaril from the wolf, but Beren had been mortally wounded in the hunt. The happiest and most
joyous occasions of her life she had spent with Beren. She could not live in this world once he
had departed from it. The thought of it was more than she could bear, and she died at that moment
from grief. Her spirit traveled over the sea to the halls of Mandos, the house of the dead. Would
she see Beren again, or had he already left and traveled beyond the circles of the world? When she
arrived, she fell before Mandos and wept. She was speechless.
"Her great sorrow -- the greatest ever felt in this world -- welled up within her as a song; she
could not help but sing it. With all her strength, she sang the most fair and lovely, and yet most
sorrowful, song that has ever been sung. She sang of the creation of the world and of the coming of
the Gods into it: how they are bound to its fate and will not outlive it. She sang of the creation
of the stars at the first awakening of the elves, and of the sorrow of the elves: they must remain
in the world and are bound to its fate; they cannot escape it through death and will perish with it;
they weary of the world but must endure it. She sang of the death of the trees and the birth of the
sun and the moon and the mysterious origins of the race of men, and of the grief of men: they must
leave the world and are separated from its fate; they have a love of the world in their hearts yet
must leave it; they do not know what Iluvatar has in store for them after death. She sang of the
mysterious will of Iluvatar in his design of the world: none can understand it. Her tears fell on
Mandos' feet as she wove these two contrasting elements -- life and death, mortality and immortality
-- into such a beautiful harmony that even Mandos was moved with pity.
"He took Luthien's hand, helped her to her feet, and comforted her.
" 'Has he gone, then?'
" 'No,' said Mandos, 'he remains here, for a time. But it is beyond my power to keep him here forever.'
" 'May I see him, please, one last time?' she cried.
"He called for Beren, and Beren came before him. The couple embraced and walked for some
time, hand in hand. They both grieved because of the sorrowful fate that forced them to be apart.
"They returned, and Mandos addressed Luthien. 'Your song has moved all of the Gods, more than you can imagine.
This song will be sung in Valinor as long as the world lasts, and it will always bring us grief. I have
spoken with Manwe: though we cannot change Beren's fate, we can give you a choice over yours.
Two choices we give you: you can live with the gods in Valinor, where you will forget all your grief
and live in joy until the end of the world; or you can forsake immortality and return to Middle-Earth
with Beren, where you will both eventually die a second time and then will leave this world as those
of the race of men do.'
"She thought of her father, and of the Gods, and of this world she loved so much. She thought of the high elves in Valinor that she had never met, of the stars, and of the sun and the moon. All of this she could enjoy for as long as the world lasted. Then she turned to Beren. She could enjoy this mortal man for a short time, and then face an unknown destiny beyond the world. She took his hands in hers and said, 'I would rather spend one lifetime with you than spend all the ages of this world alone. I choose a mortal life.'
"Thus she chose her fate, and the two returned to Middle-Earth as mortals. They spent some time
with Thingol and Melian, but soon after went into the forest to live alone. They lived together and
had a son, Dior. From him came the kings of both men and elves. No one saw Beren and Luthien die, but
they both left this world never to return."
"Now get some rest," said Aragorn. Frodo laid back down and went to sleep.
Although he loved Arwen, Aragorn knew he could not ask her to do
as Luthien had done -- to forsake her people and her immortality -- for him. If he made it to
Rivendell, he knew he would see her there: this time, he would have to say goodbye to her.
He stood up and checked around their campsite, then returned to his watch and began to sing again
from the Lay of Leithian.
- "Of Beren and Luthien" in The Silmarillion (1977).
I took the main story from an excerpt of this chapter. I expanded it considerably (especially the contents of Luthien's song), adding dialogue throughout.
Read the excerpt (42 KB).
I also used exceprts from this chapter to provide the background information given in the main project frametale.
Beren and Luthien Meet (39 KB).Thingol Sends Beren on the Quest (47 KB)Luthien Rescues Beren (41.4 KB) - Fellowship of the Ring: Extended Cut (2001)
I took a scene from the extended cut of the movie and expanded it to create a frametale for the story.
- The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter (1981).
The text of The Silmarillion simply says Luthien sang of "the sorrow of the Eldar [Elves] and the grief of Men," but Tolkien's other writings elaborate more on these ideas. Tolkien often wrote in his letters that the real theme of the Lord of the Rings is death and the desire for deathlessness. I used the ideas from his letters to expand the contents of Luthien's song. (The texts of the letters I looked at most closely are provided below.)
Read the Letters (53 KB).