Luthien Tinuviel

"The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
Of stars in shadow shimmering.
Tinúviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
And in her raiment glimmering.

There Beren came from mountains cold,
And lost he wandered under leaves,
And where the Elven-river rolled
He walked alone and sorrowing.
He peered between the hemlock-leaves
And saw in wonder flowers of gold
Upon her mantle and her sleeves,
And her hair like shadow following.

Enchantment healed his weary feet
That over hills were doomed to roam;
And forth he hastened, strong and fleet,
And grasped at moonbeams glistening.
Through woven woods in Elvenhome
She lightly fled on dancing feet,
And left him lonely still to roam
In the silent forest listening

He heard there oft the flying sound
Of feet as light as linden-leaves,
Or music welling underground,
In hidden hollows quavering.
Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves,
And one by one with sighing sound
Whispering fell the beachen leaves
In the wintry woodland wavering.

He sought her ever, wandering far
Where leaves of years were thickly strewn,
By light of moon and ray of star
In frosty heavens shivering
Her mantle glinted in the moon,
As on a hill-top high and far
She danced, and at her feet was strewn
A mist of silver quivering.
When winter passed, she came again,
And her song released the sudden spring,
Like rising lark, and falling rain,
And melting water bubbling.
He saw the elven-flowers spring
About her feet, and healed again
He longed by her to dance and sing
Upon the grass untroubling.

Again she fled, but swift he came.
Tinúviel! Tinúviel!
He called her by her elvish name;
And there she halted listening.
One moment stood she, and a spell
His voice laid on her: Beren came,
And doom fell on Tinúviel
That in his arms lay glistening.

As Beren looked into her eyes
Within the shadows of her hair,
The trembling starlight of the skies
He saw there mirrored shimmering.
Tinúviel the elven-fair,
Immortal maiden elven-wise,
About him cast her shadowy hair
And arms like silver glimmering.

Long was the way that fate them bore,
O'er stony mountains cold and grey,
Through halls of ireon and darkling door,
And woods of nightshade morrowless.
The Sundering Seas between them lay,
And yet at last they met once more,
And long ago they passed away
In the forest singing sorrowless."

- Strider's song of Beren and Luthien

Luthien was the daughter if Thingol King of Doriath ( also called Elwe,) and Melian the Maia. She was the most beautiful of all the Children of Iluvatar.

Beren was the son of Barahir. He was forced to flee from Dorthonion, forsaking the grave of his father. He climbed into the hugh regions of Gorgoroth, the Mountains of Terror and he saw far away the land of Doriath. Beyond Gorgoroth lay the wilderness of Dungortheb where the sorcery of Sauron and the power or Melian met and horror and madness walked. There were spiders of the fell race of Ungoliant (an ancestress of Shelob) and monsters that wandered in the long dark before the sun, hunting with many eyes. Beren never spoke of that journey to any lest the horror returned to his mind.

It is told that Beren came stumbling into Doriath grey and bowed as with many years of torment. Wandering in the woods of Neldoreth one summer he came across Luthien at evening under moonrise as she danced in the glades beside Esgaldin, and all pain departed from him as he fell under enchantment. Blue her raiment is described, blue as the unclouded heaven, with eyes as grey as the starlit evening. Her mantle was sewn with golden flowers and her hair was dark as the shadows of twilight.

But she vanished from his sight. Long he stayed like a wild animal searching for her. In his heart he deemed her Tinuviel meaning Nightingale, for he knew no other name for her. Then, at a time near dawn on the eve of spring, he found her singing. Her called to her saying "Tinuviel!" She stopped and looked at him in wonder and doom fell upon her for she loved him. But still she slipped from his arms and vanished once again.

He lay on the ground, cold and forsaken. Then, beyond his hope, she returned to him where he sat in darkness. But Daeron, a minstrel who also love Luthien, discovered their meetings and betrayed them to Thingol. Thingol was angry, he treasured and loved above all things but mortal men he didn't even take into his services. But when he asked his daughter, she would tell him nothing until he swore that he would neither slay Beren nor imprison him. But the King sent servants to lay hands on him but Luthien frestalling them, took the man before the throne of her father herself like an honoured guest.

But when Thingol spoke to him, Beren could not speak for he was filled with fear by the majesty of of the place he stood and who he stood before. So Luthien spoke. She told her father who Beren was and that he had done great deeds. But then, after a glance at the silent Melian, words came to his mouth and he said that Luthien was the fairest of all the Children. Thingol Told him that for his words he had earned himself death had the King not sworn on oath.

But Thingol saw that there was great love between Luthien and the mortal man. So he said that if Beren could bring him the Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth, he could wed his daughter... 

to be continued...