Beren and Lúthien

Beren and Lúthien
Alan Lee

Christopher Tolkien

Painstakingly restored from Tolkien’s manuscripts and presented for the first time as a continuous and standalone story, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, Dwarves and Orcs and the rich landscape and creatures unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth.The tale of Beren and Lúthien was, or became, an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion, the myths and legends of the First Age of the World conceived by J.R.R. Tolkien. Returning from France and the battle of the Somme at the end of 1916, he wrote the tale in the following year.Essential to the story, and never changed, is the fate that shadowed the love of Beren and Lúthien: for Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, in deep opposition to Beren, imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien. This is the kernel of the legend; and it leads to the supremely heroic attempt of Beren and Lúthien together to rob the greatest of all evil beings, Melkor, called Morgoth, the Black Enemy, of a Silmaril.In this book Christopher Tolkien has attempted to extract the story of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which it was embedded; but that story was itself changing as it developed new associations within the larger history. To show something of the process whereby this legend of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he has told the story in his father's own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost.

Copyright (#ulink_f261ec02-752b-531d-bc02-ef139832af66)

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2017

All texts and materials by J.R.R. Tolkien © The Tolkien Estate Limited 2017

Preface, Notes and all other materials © C.R. Tolkien 2017

Illustrations © Alan Lee 2017

, TOLKIEN

and BEREN AND LÚTHIEN

are registered trade marks of The Tolkien Estate Limited

The Proprietor on behalf of the Author and the Editor hereby assert their respective moral rights to be identified as the author of the Work.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008214227

Ebook Edition © March 2018 ISBN: 9780008214210

Version: 2018-03-29

Dedication (#ulink_cd151fee-5d53-56a2-9118-146618adfbbe)

For Baillie

Contents

Cover (#u8b03f4e6-e922-541a-954b-51866eced99c)

Title Page (#u3fcaea2e-f25c-577b-9fb3-63b7c77aff57)

Copyright (#u62dbb385-75b3-518f-8400-0cd2e5f63569)

Dedication (#u32963e6f-dfb0-582a-869d-93117940029d)

List of Plates (#u08071799-d19f-5dfd-a9d5-005bacba7008)

Preface (#u410609d3-7f48-5deb-ac38-b1ef74875f84)

Notes on the Elder Days (#ud1896c28-a231-53c9-ba38-527dfb663e80)

BEREN AND LÚTHIEN (#ucdbad7c4-1e1a-51e9-8598-a6d8bee2d28d)

The Tale of Tinúviel (#u936367f4-18bb-5e7a-be5a-2824b8a24844)

A Passage from the ‘Sketch of the Mythology’ (#litres_trial_promo)

A Passage Extracted from The Lay of Leithian (#litres_trial_promo)

The Quenta Noldorinwa (#litres_trial_promo)

A Passage Extracted from the Quenta (#litres_trial_promo)

A Second Extract from The Lay of Leithian (#litres_trial_promo)

A Further Extract from the Quenta (#litres_trial_promo)

The Narrative in The Lay of Leithian to Its Termination (#litres_trial_promo)

The Quenta Silmarillion (#litres_trial_promo)

The Return of Beren and Lúthien According to the Quenta Noldorinwa (#litres_trial_promo)

Extract from the Lost Tale of the Nauglafring (#litres_trial_promo)

The Morning and Evening Star (#litres_trial_promo)

Appendix: Revisions to The Lay of Leithian (#litres_trial_promo)

Footnotes (#litres_trial_promo)

List of Names (#litres_trial_promo)

Glossary (#litres_trial_promo)

Works by J.R.R. Tolkien (#litres_trial_promo)