mapsburgh:

eighthageartificer:

Reading up on the story of Beren and Lúthien from Tolkiens earliest drafts it becomes obvious that there were a lot of changes between that first rough version and the ‘final’ story. But the one change that pains me the most is the coming of Lúthien to the halls of Mandos.

It’s only ( to my knowledge ) hinted at in one line in all the volumes that Tolkien wrote on Beren and Luthien. 

“Carcaras is slain, and Huan is killed in the defense of Beren. Beren however is mortally wounded and dies in Lúthiens arms. Some songs say that Lúthien went even over the Grinding Ice, aided by the power of her divine mother, Melian, to Mandos’ halls and won him back; others that hearing his tale released him. Certain it is that he alone of mortals came back from Mandos and dwelt with Luthien and never spoke to men again, living in the woods of Doriath and in the Hunters Wold, west of Nargothrond.”

– The Shaping of Middle Earth: The Earliest ‘Silmarillion’.

This was his first thought on the matter – the first hint of how she got to Mandos. And it makes me so sad that he threw that out in favor of an overly cliched’, cheap escape of ‘she died of grief’ because I can’t help but feel that it’s a cheep throwaway – this powerful, noble, strong, willful half-elf / half-diety just lays down and dies because she’s sad over her dead man. Really? REALLY? A proud elven-maiar woman who is several hundred years old who enchanted even the greatest evil that Arda had to offer and came out on top – who had the strongest of Maiar groveling for mercy at her feet, and she just up and dies of grief over a man she’s known maybe a year?

Even more confusing over this choice is the fact that this is seen as a noble thing in Lúthien where in every other character that has just lain down and died it is perceived as a MAJOR fault – nearly on the level of a sin.

For example: Míriel who was ‘weary’ and laid down to die in the gardens of Lórien. I’ve already gone over why that irks me in another post. Tolkien explains in the LACE that Míriels main fault was not that she willed herself to die, but that she lost hope and refused to return. It’s why she was for a time barred from returning to the living until Finwë pleaded on her behalf, was that she despaired while hope remained and by her despair threw the lives around her into turmoil. THAT was her failing. Not so much choosing to die but refusing to come back, to accept that healing might be possible.

The point is that Lúthien literally loses the will to live after Berens death. Never mind the grief this puts her people through. Never mind the heartache of her parents Thingol and Melian who lose their only child, or the destruction of the Sindars royal line as she was the only heir. All that matters is her dead human bae.

Really Tolkien? Lúthien just gives up without regard to anyone else but herself?  And this incredibly selfish act is inexplicably placed up on a pedestal of admiration despite the fact that it flies in the face of everything else Tolkien has stated on this subject in all of his works. She GIVES UP which is a mortal sin in Tolkiens world.

Worse yet, later there’s an attempt to recoup this discrepancy by throwing in a ‘wait for me in Mandos’, giving Lúthiens death the false appearance that she died with the plan of meeting up with Beren and that the whole thing was engineered.

But Melian surely told Lúthien how death worked – even if she died and went to the halls of Mandos men and elves did not mingle there. She was telling Beren to wait in vain for her coming which could never happen because there was no guarantee at all that they would ever meet – even in the halls of Mandos.

When elves ( as Lúthien would have been considered ) die it is strongly suggested in Tolkiens work that they fall into a nearly sleep-like state after they answer the summons to Mandos and that they remain in that state; not interacting with anyone or anything until the time of their re-housing is due. Which takes about 1000 years. NO WHERE is it indicated that they talk to Mandos or hold audience with him before the time that they are meant to be re-embodied (if that even comes to pass) because Mandos only takes council with himself on this matter.

Lúthien should never have gotten an audience with Mandos if she were dead. She would have fallen into a deep and unknowing sleep, separated from Beren until 1000 years had passed.

That was the risk she was taking. Would she risk Berens very Fëa like that if she loved him so much that she was willing to give up her own life for him? No. You don’t risk cursing someone you love to a hellish eternity of waiting in vain for you. That logic doesn’t make sense. And to top it all off there was no guarantee that Mandos, who in the history of Arda had never allowed a mortal soul to rejoin the living and was likely expressely forbidden to do so by Eru himself would change his tune now for the sake of Lúthien.

In fact: The decision to release Beren required not the permission of Mandos – but ERU ILUVATER. Lúthien would have to convince ERU to bring Beren back because the Ainur were not given authority to change the fates of men or elves or the nature of their souls.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Tolkien’s work. But idk it just feels like a great injustice to have such a strong woman in the end reduced into yet another frail and helpless literary princess who can’t function without her prince – to put in a pointless death that is at odds with the very way Arda works and that ultimately imho detracts from this beautiful story and by it’s altering lessens in fact it’s power.

Sorry Tolkien. But I’ll go with that original version thanks, of a powerful Lúthien.

Lúthien who has already endured so much willingly choosing for the sake of her love to LIVE and endure the frozen hell of ice and darkness of the Helcaraxë alone where before only a mighty host had crossed – all because she knows she’s the only one who can do it and that this is truly the only way to defy the odds and bring the victorious dead back to life. Who trods the icy fangs ruined with the corpses of those who failed the crossing and with each step carefully weaving the song she will sing – a song she hopes will free her Beloved from the realm of the dead.

Lúthien who with her own eyes passes by the re-birthed Alqualondë and the white slopes of Taniquetil which she has only witnessed before in dreams or the tales of her mother. Who looks with eyes that have only seen the terrors and dimmed grandeur of Middle Earth the pristine wonders of Valinor and breathes of the clean air unsullied by the fumes of Angband.

Lúthien who enters the Ring of Doom before the legendary gates of Valmar and stands held as equal in the presence of the Ainur.

Lúthien who when offered for all her trouble to stay in Aman and be revered as sacred among her holy kin and have all of paradise at her feet  – to dance ever in the unfading spring of the Gardens of Vána and walk by the Pools of Lórien as her mother once did declines; wanting only the love of her dear Beren and trading her immortality and divinity for a mortal life.

And sacrificing her immortality in exchange for Berens one life Lúthien brings him – and him alone of all men – back from the dead by the power of her courage and love.

I love the idea of Helcaraxe-crossing Luthien. It’s extremely “First Age” – Valinor is still part of the ordinary physical geography of the world, and can be reached by ordinary travel just like the Calaquendi and exiled Noldor did.

My headcanon is that when Beren dies, Luthien doesn’t expect to get him back. She’s well aware of the whole different fates of Men and Elves thing. Instead, she’s pissed. Having seen the evils wrought by Sauron and Melkor outside her sheltered realm of Doriath, she’s pissed at the Valar for not doing anything to help (plus a little pissed at her dad for the same reason). And so she conceives basically the same plan as Turgon’s messengers, to cross back to Valinor and demand aid.

Thingol isn’t so happy with this plan, but she’s escaped his rule before. After consulting Galadriel (and possibly also Cirdan), she decides the Helcaraxe is her best bet. So she heads out, carrying with her the silmaril and Beren’s body – intending to use them to shame and/or barter with the Valar.

Upon her arrival, the Valar (and Valinorean Elves) are frankly scared shitless. Here’s someone who defeated both Sauron and Melkor, then carried her dead boyfriend’s body across the ice to a different continent – she’s clearly the biggest badass who ever lived. Olwe and Finarfin reluctantly begin preparing for war. Manwe goes to talk to Mandos, hoping for some sage advice. Mandos prophesies that the time is still no right for the War of Wrath, but that aid will one day come to Middle-earth through Luthien’s line. As a sign of the truth of the prophecy, Iluvatar returns Beren to life.

As happy as she is to see him again, Luthien sees Beren’s resurrection as kind of a brush-off. As the price for accepting Beren’s life and returning to Middle-earth, she refuses Elvish immortality, so that she won’t wind up back in Valinor hanging out with the very people who are refusing to help her. Through Mandos, Iluvatar grants the request. So Beren and Luthien take the silmaril, accept a swan boat from Olwe, and head back to Beleriand. (They leave the ship with Cirdan, who is super excited to see the new Valinorean shipbuilding techinques that have developed since the sundering.)

Years later, when Earendil and Elwing arrive, bearing the same silmaril, everyone in Valinor knows it’s time.

Later historians adjust the story, adding the “died of grief” element and making rescuing Beren Luthien’s primary motive in order to downplay her heroism and make her actions more appropriately feminine. (In some ways like how discussion of The Hunger Games fixates on the Gale-Katniss-Peeta love triangle because that’s what teenage girls are supposed to care about.) This leads to some interesting conversations between Galadriel (who knew Luthien personally) and Arwen when Arwen cites the Beren and Luthien story as a model for her love of Aragorn.