But Mandos had no authority to allow Beren to live again, so he went before Manwë for advice, who in turn sought out the counsel of Eru Ilúvatar himself. Her song was of such beauty that Mandos, for the first and only time in his existence, was moved to pity. There, in her grief, she sang to the Vala Mandos. In grief, Lúthien soon lay down and died, passing to the Halls of Mandos. Against monstrous odds, including being kidnapped by the Sons of Fëanor and the death of Finrod Felagund, as well as a confrontation with Sauron, the couple achieved the task with help from Huan, the Hound of Valinor - but Beren died as soon as the task was completed. Thingol was determined to forbid Beren marry his daughter, and gave him an impossible task as the bride price: Beren had to bring to Thingol one of the Silmarils from Morgoth's iron crown. Beren was a mortal man on the run from the first Dark Lord Morgoth.īeren and Lúthien plighting their troth within Doriath, by Kip Rasmussen Their relationship was unlikely from the beginning: Lúthien was not only the cherished single daughter of the most powerful Elven King in Beleriand, but also the daughter of a Maia, a powerful angelic being of the race of the Ainur. Lúthien was remembered in the Lay of Leithian as the first Elven woman to ever fall in love and marry a mortal man, who in her case was Beren, a man of the House of Bëor whom she met in the woods of Doriath. He himself soon came to love her jealously, though she would not return it. She often enjoyed dancing in the woods of the realm to the music of her good friend Daeron's flute. She was a woman of incomparable beauty and grace, with night-dark hair, sparkling grey eyes, luminous skin, and a clear heartbreakingly lovely voice that was said to cause winter to melt into spring - 'the song of Lúthien released the bonds of winter, and the frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold earth where her feet had passed'. Throughout the years before she met Beren, she lived as all the Elves of Doriath did: in a state of perfect blissful peace.

Lúthien was the daughter of Elu Thingol, King of Doriath, and his Queen, Melian the Maia. Lúthien dancing in the woods, by Ted Nasmith Early years

Jrr tolkien luthien