Apologies for the missing reports, I will check to discover why I have not posted those I have received from Laura. Meanwhile, these are the reports for the last 2 months, with further apologies for being unable to transfer the pictures included in the original document.
9 September and 14 October 2023
The Silmarillion
Chapter 19 Of Beren and Lúthien
Christopher Tolkien edited a collection of Tolkien’s writings about Beren and Lúthien,
starting with the Lay of Leithian. The characters and names were so important to
Tolkien that he had the names engraved on his and Edith’s gravestone.
In The Lord of The Rings, Aragorn sings about his ancestors, Beren and Lúthien
(Tinuviel – nightingale), on Weathertop before the attack by the Nazgül. He
describes their love story and their doom which is highly poignant as he and Arwen
are in the same situation 6,500 years later i.e. a Man and Elf in love in which the Elf
chooses to become mortal.
Tolkien writes, through the medium of the Elves’ writing!, that the story of Beren and
Lúthien is a light in all the darkness, first told as a poem, the Lay of Leithian, Release
from Bondage. (Christopher Tolkien edited and published all his father’s writings on
B&L in one book, including the poem.)
This story, which can almost be separated from the rest of the book except for its
part in the oath and for its effect on the future of Men and Elves, can be read as a
fairy story: a tyrant father; a fairy mother; an heroic nobody and a beautiful princess
in love; two evil wizards; talking animals; a curse and a clever, twisting, impossible
task.
Lynn said that Tolkien would have been familiar with Romances. In a letter he writes
about Men, he’s bringing in Romance. Before then, Elvish stories belong in the
Mythic period. A different literary phase. Mythic literature is written differently. In
B&L, there is a melding of Romance and Mythic.
Tim said that this chapter is focussed on two people with a small “r” and a big “R”
romance in a mythical context.
Monique loves Tolkien’s language in this chapter; it reminds her of Balzac and the
human comedy. It is a window on humanity.
Lynn pointed out that all the different forms of Beren and Luthien are found in the
Lays of Beleriand, Volume 3 of the Tales of Middle-earth. He rewrote and rewrote
the story and poems; the final version is the one in the Silmarillion although for
Tolkien, the story was always evolving. The story is like a medieval chanson de
geste; story telling. Lays and gests are types of medieval song but this is the 19 th
century version like Tennyson and Keats. Tolkien and the Romantic spirit. The
Charge of the Light Brigade.
In the first paragraph, Tolkien writes that the Lay of Leithian is the longest poem
except for one other song. Which one is he talking about?
We discover early on why Gorlim the Unhappy is so-called. He is one of Barahir’s
companions and is cruelly tricked by Sauron into thinking his wife is still alive,
persuading him to give up Barahir’s location so that he can join her. Which Sauron
does by having him killed. This is rather reminiscent of Richard III saying that he so
loved his brother, he would shortly send his soul to Heaven.
Beren is away from camp when Sauron’s orcs murder Barahir and his men but he
has a supernatural dream about carrion birds. When he returns to camp, he
discovers that his dream is true. He retrieves his father’s hand and ring from the
orcs which could be a pre-echo of what will happen to him. The Ring of Barahir
eventually comes to Aragorn. We did not know from where the design of the ring
came nor the importance of the two snakes. The Ring of Barahir is a strange design.
Why snakes? And why a crown of flowers? Is there symbolism? Is it like Celtic art
with the zoomorphic entwining animals? But it comes from Valinor. Are snakes
baby dragons but they come from Morgoth?
We had a discussion on the nature of mythological snakes such as Ourobouros and
their possible relatives, dragons including the differences in Eastern and Western
cultures. Anglo-Saxon snakes are wise but dragons are bad.
Monique said that this story is like Ancient Egypt in that things have lasted like the
sword, Narsil. Aragorn’s crown of Numenor. Monique said that it was like the
combined crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt which includes a cobra, the uraeus.
This is a symbol of Wadjet, the oldest deity.
Tolkien writes of Beren that: “He did not fear death, but only captivity….”
reminiscent of Eowyn’s fear of a cage.
Sauron sends werewolves to catch Beren. These creatures are described as “fell
beasts inhabited by dreadful spirits that he had imprisoned in their bodies.” Does
this mean that the wolves and the spirits were forced into this symbiosis? And who
were the spirits?
Mysterious forces put into Beren’s heart that he should go to Doriath. Is this a
message from the Valar who in fact are involving themselves in combatting Feanor’s
oath. He also manages to break through Melian’s barrier which must come from
greater powers that a Maia.
When Beren is in Doriath’s woods, he sees Luthien dancing. This scene was
inspired by Tolkien watching Edith dancing in the woods at Roos, East Yorkshire in
1917, just back from the Somme, a contrast to the hardships and losses he suffered.
Luthien has some power over nature with her singing and flowers grow where she
walks. Her mother, Melian, was Yavanna’s companion helping her with growing
plants and trees; it is possible she has passed on some of this skill to her daughter.
Flowers also grew beneath Yavanna’s feet. Beren Luthien “Tinuviel”, Nightingale.
Beren and Luthien falling in love is ironically similar to that of Thingol and Melian, in
that both males are literally enchanted and lose the sense of time.
Tolkien describes the anguish for both of them: “….and in his fate, Luthien was
caught, and being immortal she shared in his mortality, and being free received his
chain…”
Thingol is furious that Beren should have dared to love Luthien although Melian can
see the future. He does not seem to question how Beren managed to get into
Doriath. He repeats Beren’s statement about rock and steel and the fires of
Morgoth. He is not swayed by Beren showing him the Ring of Barahir, a gift from
Finrod Felagund. Although Beren is overawed by Thingol at first, Melian is able to
plant in his mind self-confidence to continue to challenge the King.
Thingol sets Beren an impossible task in order to marry Luthien. He is to retrieve a
Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth and bring it back in his hand. Thingol
believes that he will not be able to achieve this of course. If he does, Feanor’s oath
that anyone having one of the Silmarils will be killed by those that swore by it.
Melian warns Thingol: “And now is Doriath drawn within the fate of a mightier
realm.” What is the mightier realm?
Beren goes to Nargothrond, the kingdom of Finrod Felagund. Finrod decides to help
Beren with his quest although he knows that Feanor’s curse will punish him.
Celegorm and Curufin will not help, hoping that Beren and Finrod will both be killed.
Beren and Finrod set off with ten companions. They disguise themselves as orcs
but are captured by Sauron who has seen through their disguise as they did not
report in as a normal company of orcs would do, an example of military efficiency.
Finrod and Sauron sing songs of power at each other but Sauron wins and all of
them are put in prison. Each night, a werewolf eats one of the companions like the
story of Odysseus and the Cyclops. Finrod eventually dies in the prison.
Luthien finds out that Beren is imprisoned by Sauron via Melian’s power and intends
to go and help him. She is betrayed by Daeron, who loves her, to Thingol. He
imprisons her in a tree house but she escapes by putting a spell on her hair which
grows like that of Rapunzel.
Celegorm and Curufin are out hunting “some orc” because of Sauron’s increased
activity. This is another example of Tolkien hinting that things are not by chance.
They take with them Huan, their wolfhound, who originally came from Valinor, a gift
from Orome to Celegorm, thereby also coming under the curse of Feanor. It was
foretold, although we are not told by whom, that he would die but not before he met
the greatest wolf who ever lived. He understood speech but was only allowed to
speak three times before his death.
Seamus, the mascot of the Irish Guards! Huan is mostly painted as a giant
wolfhound. Tim said that, if Huan is an Irish Wolfhound, he should be called Sean!
Huan finds Luthien and brings her to Celegorm and Curufin who said they would
take her to Nargothrond but did not say that they knew about Beren. They imprison
her, hoping to persuade Thingol to marry her to Celegorm so that they would
become more powerful than any other Elvish kings. However, Huan transfers his
loyalty to Luthien and helps her escape. He has a good moral compass. She
arrives at Sauron’s tower and sings a song of power which Beren hears and also
responds in song. Tim said it is like Sam singing to find Frodo in Cirith Ungol.
Sauron sends wolves to capture Luthien but Huan kills them all except for Draugluin
who tells Sauron that Huan from Valinor has arrived. Sauron turns himself into a
werewolf which even Huan cannot face but Luthien casts a spell on him which gives
Huan the opportunity to attack him. Sauron takes on various forms including his
own accustomed one which was still handsome; he did not become ugly until after
the Fall of Numenor. Sauron is a lurking presence in LOTR but here he is present.
Tim said that this scene recalls Gothic novels particularly Bram Stoker and Dracula
as Sauron is also a shape changer.
There is much in this chapter about the power of song: Luthien, Beren, Sauron,
Finrod Felagund and its use as a counterpoint to someone else singing which is an
echo of Morgoth’s singing at the very beginning. The power is in the music and the
words such as Sam calling on Elbereth Gilthoniel. Also Tolkien drops heavy hints
that people are not in charge of their own fate but that their doom is already set out.
The outcome of captured elves returning to Nargothrond is that Celegorm and
Curufin are ejected and the curse is working against them. Curufin smiles in a
sinister way recalling the line from Hamlet, describing Claudius, stating that one can
smile and smile and be a villain. Huan went with the two elves but the relationship
was not as close.
Beren and Luthien are attacked by Curufin and Celegorm but are rescued by Huan
who is now faithful to them. Beren takes Curufin’s named knife, Angrist, and horse
which is the ultimate degradation for a prince. Even so, Curufin curses Beren and
shoots back and hits him. Huan attacks but returns with a herb to cure Beren which
might be Athelas. We recalled Lynn’s description of the Anglo-Saxon poem about
the Nine Herbs that can be used to ward off elfshot! Old knowledge contains some
truth such as the curative properties in yew, willow and foxglove. There was a brief
discussion about the King’s Healing Hands such as in England against scrofula;
Monique did not think there was such a tradition in France except for St Louis whose
reputation for healing the sick came about because of his sainthood rather than
kingship.
Beren leaves Luthien in the care of Huan and sets off for Angband. He sings and
she finds him.
Beren dismisses his horse so that it can avoid the horrors to come, like Gandalf
persuading Sam to let Bill loose as he would never cope with Moria.
Is Thuringwethil dead with reference to her bat-fell? Lynn thought that it might be a
cloaking device to give her the vampire bat shape over what ever she is so she is not
necessarily dead.
Huan speaks, as is his fate, to say their dooms are linked.
“And horror was in his glance as he saw upon his flank a bat-like creature clinging
with creased wings.” This is a vivid description of Beren’s loathing even though he
knows that the bat is Luthien. Monique was taken with the description of Beren that,
despite his ugly and frightening shape, he still has human eyes.
Carcharoth is Morgoth’s guard dog. Possibly of interest is that Carcharhinidae –
requiem sharks cf Carcharoth the wolf (red maw/fang). Great white is Carcharadon
carcharias. (Greek for sharp tooth.) Monique found the description of the wolves
being fed on living flesh highly disturbing.
Luthien casts a spell over the wolf – she has “some power, descended from of old
from divine race..” Her singing and dancing causes all of Morgoth’s court to fall
asleep. This scene is quite disturbing because of Morgoth’s thoughts about Luthien.
“…suddenly he fell like a hill sliding in avalanche..” Did Tolkien ever see this in
Switzerland? Oddly, Beren seems to keep his disguise whilst Luthien loses hers.
Perhaps this was deliberate so that Morgoth would not notice him.
Luthien shows a high level of power; she is linked with Galadriel through Melian.
There is also Maia blood in Arwen through Deor, son of Luthien.
Beren uses Curufin’s knife to cut out a silmaril. It came into Beren’s mind to take
another…. Where did this thought come from? Was it Curufin’s treachery being
transmitted to his knife?
There was a discussion about how the Silmarils might have looked including a brief
foray in the mining and cutting of this world’s diamonds. Lynn reminded us that the
light that Fëanor captured in the gems came originally from the two Trees in Valinor
whose light came from the stars. One tree had dark green leaves with silver light on
the underside and the other had light green leaves with gold light. Therefore the light
in the Silmarils was a combination of gold and silver contained in a casing invented
by Fëanor. We thought that this was akin to capturing the Big Bang like the Hadron
Collider! Monique was reminded of beautiful ancient Egyptian jewellery especially
glittering scarabs.
Carcharoth is like Ungoliant – wants to eat all including the Silmaril. B&L are saved
by eagles followed by Huan. There is no reason given how the eagles knew but
Lynn and Tim felt it was the power of Manwë at work.
Beren One Hand is a pre-echo Frodo of the Nine Fingers. Towards the end of
LOTR, Sam says that people will be making up songs about Frodo of the Nine
Fingers.
The rejected lover and someone who is overlooked, Daeron, who betrayed Luthien
twice to her father, disappears.
Melian tells Thingol that the doom must be worked through. Celegorm has told them
that Beren is dead and he is to marry Luthien which Thingol cannot stomach either.
Carcharoth runs mad in Doriath because of the agonising pain in his stomach
caused by the Silmaril.
The confrontation between Beren and Thingol – a dramatic scene showing that he
doesn’t have the Silmaril but it is in his hand! Thingol recognises that the love of
Beren and Luthien is unstoppable and fated.
Huan kills Carcharoth after the wolf fatally bites Beren. Tim said that this battle was
an epic scene. Huan says goodbye to Beren as the third and final time that he can
speak. Mablung gives Beren the Silmaril to hold. This is an epic final scene. We
wondered what happens to Huan; Lynn suggested that his spirit returned to Oromë
in Valinor.
Beren and Luthien go to the Halls of Mandos. She sings to Mandos cf her singing to
Morgoth, about the sorrow suffered by Elves and Men. Mandos asks up the
management chain. Luthien could go to Valimar but without Beren or both return to
Middle-earth both mortal – she chooses the latter.
There is a prediction in the last paragraph that Luthien will appear in future
generations and it would be interesting that she reappears as Arwen.
We had a discussion about Tolkien’s role as Father of Fantasy although we felt his
work was beyond fantasy because there is so much detail in it of our own world
raising our discussions on life, death, the universe etc. Lynn is reading Charles
Williams’ book, Many Dimensions (1930) about an artefact. We know that the Inklings
bounced ideas off each other. Tolkien wrote about time in the Notion Club Papers; C
S Lewis wrote about space travel in his trilogy; Williams also wrote about time travel
in a more esoteric way. (Laura has just bought The Literary Lives of the Inklings.
Still sitting on the shelf!)
Next time, we will be looking at Chapter 20 – Of The Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth
Arnoediad. (AKA the Battle of Unnumbered Tears.)
Coda:
On travelling home, Tim and Laura saw a huge double rainbow. There was a
discussion about rainbows in Tolkien’s work and whether (pun intended) or not there
was a Vala or Maia responsible for rainbows. Tim suggested as it was light being s
refracted through airborne water droplets, it could be Manwë as Lord of the Airs
perhaps supported by Yavanna with daylight needed for growing things.
****
And posting on behalf of Julie, she has read the discussion above and comments:
“One can spot echoes in “The Lord of the Rings” – Frodo and Sam disguise themselves as Orcs and find themselves in the horrible prison at Minas Ungol, reminiscent of the ordeal of Beren and Finrod – Galadriel does not come to save them as Luthien does (Sam survives: Finrod did not) but her Phial helps them to escape and continue their mission (in the extended version of Peter Jackson’s film Frodo has a direct flashback to their time with Galadriel in Lothlorien, shortly before this point). No direct parallels but applicabilities…”
****
SOUTHFARTHING READING GROUP 13 April 2024 Lynn, Ian, Tim, Laura Akallabêth (The Downfallen). (Comments and thoughts outside the meeting are in italics.) Tim brought a copy of the Lord of the Rings in the French Translation: Le Seigneur des Anneaux. Referring to our previous discussions on the difficulty of translating idioms and dialect words, “Strider”…
With the usual apology for not being able to transfer the images Laura includes in her original notes. The captions to them indicate where and what was included. SOUTHFARTHING READING GROUP 9 March 2024 Lynn, Eileen, Monique, Ian, Tim, Laura Chapter 24 Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath Monique continues to…
With thanks to Laura and Tim for keeping up the reports of the meetings, this is the one Laura has sent for February. It comes with my apologies yet again that in spite of my best efforts I have not been able to transfer the pictures she has included. However, the post is rich with…
Laura has kindly sent notes which include Tim’s notes from last December at the end: SOUTHFARTHING READING GROUP 13th January 2024 Ian, Tim and Laura These notes are to be read in conjunction with Laura’s notes dated 9th December 2023. Chapter 21 Of Túrin Turambar Laura has just treated herself to the Silmarillion audiobook read…
SOUTHFARTHING READING GROUP 9th December 2023 Thoughts from Laura on Chapter 21 Of Túrin Turambar……. Apologies for trying to sell my Silmarils instead of coming to the group! Also apologies for lack of accents on proper nouns – it was all too much! I’d forgotten Mandos had cursed the Noldor: “Tears unnumbered ye shall shed;…
SOUTHFARTHING TOLKIEN READING GROUP 11 November 2023 Lynn, Tim, Monique, Eileen, Laura The Silmarillion Chapter 20 Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad This chapter is about the terrible defeat of the combined forces of Elves, Men and Dwarves by Morgoth. There are descriptions of failed communication and treachery as well as the return of…
Eileen, Monique, Ian, Tim and Laura. We all felt that our visit to the Poetry Reading Group had been successful although Tolkien was not everyone’s cup of tea! Thank you to Sandy for accommodating our passion! All were reminded that the Tolkien Society were holding the annual Reading Day on 25 March 2023 (the day…
These 2 reports come from Laura who has kindly taken notes of the meetings since I have not been attending. I am posting them on her behalf, and will continue to do this with subsequent reports, at least for now. SOUTHFARTHING TOLKIEN READING GROUP 14 January 2023 Eileen, Tim and Laura. Apologies from Ian. Our…
While the report of the December small-group meeting is in preparation, this report covers the first ‘supermoot’ of 2023. 28.1.23 This afternoon was the first ‘supermoot’ of the new year for the Southfarthing/Tolkien Reading Group and it was lovely to be together again. Five of us braved chilly weather, uncertain trains, potential traffic jams due…
Southfarthing Mathom 2012 