Beren and Lúthien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

In this book, based on a series of prose and poetical works by J. R. R. Tolkien, the full epic about Beren the son of Barahir and Lúthien Tinúviel, the mortal man and elven maid, who, according to Tolkien’s legendary, lived in the First Age of the World, is reconstructed. The writer considered the story of their love and feats accomplished in its name as the main tale of the Silmarillion. The first germ of this storyline — The Tale of Lúthien Tinúviel and Beren — was created in 1917, shortly after Tolkien returned from fronts of the First World War and married to Edith Mary Bratt. In the figures of the lovers, filled with sublime poetry, belonging to different worlds, men and elves, J. R. R. Tolkien saw the personifications of himself and his wife, and according to his will, on their tombstone names Beren and Lúthien were inscribed. Christopher Tolkien, the compiler of the book, dedicated it to his wife Baillie — and thus he presented his fidelity to his father’s poetical vision of an ideal marriage.