@lotrladiessource LOTR LADIES WEEK DAY 4: Women of the South
In T.A. 3021 he wedded Princess Lothíriel, daughter of Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth, whom he had met during his stay in Gondor and she bore him a son Elfwine the Fair.
Pride & Prejudice (2005) dir. Joe Wright
uNGloVeD HaNDs this UnGlOvEd hAnDs that
Oh i'll show YOU an ungloving 🥵
Though admittedly very handsome, his hair and beard were far too long to be considered fashionable in Gondor, and his manners bordering on ungenteel. But it was his passion that drew Princess Lothíriel to the young Marshal of the Riddermark.
DOL AMROTH // “But beyond, in the great fief of Belfalas, dwelt Prince Imrahil in his castle of Dol Amroth by the sea, and he was of high blood, and his folk also, tall men and proud with sea-grey eyes.” - Minas Tirith, The Return of the King
for @princeimrahils for Tolkien Secret Santa 19 (inspired by x)
’The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot for ever fence it out.’
For Anouk
A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.
Los Borgia (2006) dir. Antonio Hernández
Éomer became a great king, and being young when he succeeded Théoden he reigned for sixty-five years, longer than all their kings before him save Aldor the Old. In the War of the Ring he made the friendship of King Elessar, and of Imrahil of Dol Amroth; and he rode often to Gondor. In the last year of the Third Age he wedded Lothíriel, daughter of Imrahil.
MIDDLE-EARTH LOCATIONS ↳ Edoras, Capital of Rohan
I love bluthien but their weird genre shift from the rest of the story kinda bothers me in a way? Like, their story, when self-contained, is FANTASTIC! I love their fairytale vibes and the poetry and everything. All the versions of it are good (tevildo my beloved)
But because it's a fairytale situated in an epic tragedy, putting beren and lúthien back into the context of beleriand... makes them look bad
Their whole "nobody matters but us" thing is sweet in a love story and unbelievably selfish when you remember that the rest of beleriand exists. And then there's the bit about them killing a bunch of dwarves? Which is in my opinion not great?
As @shrikeseams points out, lúthien seems to be totally out of the loop with literally everything outside doriath, to a degree that seems indefensible for the princess of a realm that claims to rule all of beleriand. Of course, this isn't even getting into the whole property law stuff with the silmaril
And i like lúthien! But i find it hard to like her in the full context of the silm, because the way she behaves is appropriate for her own story and very much not for the whole thing
I feel like parts of the bluthein story also lend to it standing aside from the silm and that weird dissonance when their story is compared to the rest of canon- Luthien’s magic hair, her turning into a bat, etc. Their story is the most overt showing of Fairytale Magic in the silm- and of course it is, because their story is a fairytale! Their story is an epic tale of love and loss and death and courage and all the things you’d probably put into a story to tell children- this is how dark the world can be, but it’s all going to be okay in the end.
I love the idea that the tale of Beren and Luthien is, within the universe of the silmarillion, a fairytale. A story that a lot of people have embellished as it has been passed on- especially after the nirnaeth, with people living in occupied lands and whispering this tale to each other in the night as their fields burn and their people die and all hopes seem lost. Adding on another detail, don’t you know she enchanted her guards and lulled them to sleep, as the guards outside laugh and drink your wine that they’ve stolen out of your goblets they’ve also claimed. The Elves are gone. The brave ones are dead and their banners are trampled into the mud until no blue or silver remains, and the ones that might still live are long gone and far away and not coming to help. And your own people are dead and gone and even those still here are gone when cruel people take over their houses and declare themselves lords of a land that isn’t theirs. But these two people lived. They survived. They made it somewhere beautiful and green and peaceful, and they lived. And they don’t ever have to fight again.
One day, maybe the same will happen here. You don’t say that one out loud, not even when the children are fast asleep and the trespassers are passed out in the beds that used to be yours. You never speak it out loud. But you whisper this story, you watch it burn slowly beneath the ground, and you hope that one day the grasses will catch and the smoke in the air will choke out your captors and not dare to touch you, and you’ll survive because they did.
Personally, I mostly agree with this take, that the way the tale of Beren and Lúthien is preserved is a fairy tale even in the context of The Silmarillion, and people tell it to hold on to something beautiful. The very first lines of "Of Beren and Lúthien" sets it apart as a tale different from the rest of the stories, as brief reprieve in the middle of sorrow and ruin. What is the truth of their story is less important than what the story represents in Beleriand after Nirnaeth. Like the previous poster says: "They made it somewhere beautiful and green and peaceful, and they lived. And they don’t ever have to fight again."
Having said that, I don't see evidence in canon that Beren and Lúthien didn't care about Beleriand any more or less than other characters, and you could argue that a lot of the characters' actions are self-serving in one way or the other. I mean, how is it Beren and Lúthien's responsibility to prove that they in particular care about Beleriand? Do any of the Noldor care about Beleriand? Does Thingol, or Edain, or any other group think beyond just surviving a little while more and maybe saving a few lives along the way? Beren at least cared about his homelands so much that he fought Morgoth as an outlaw and only left them when he had no other choice. Beren and Lúthien's motive is them wanting to be together and not bother anyone, which is not in any way worse than wanting to get back stolen jewellery or some imperialistic ambition of ruling kingdoms. Why is it required of Beren and Lúthien to be more noble about their hopes and goals than the rest of the cast of The Silmarillion? I get the sense that somehow material goals (getting stolen property back or maintaining a position of power) are seen as somehow much more neutral than immaterial goals (living peacefully with the people you love). I think it's clear which, in Tolkien's world, is more important. My question is, what more can Beren and Lúthien give to Beleriand than the hope that Morgoth can be resisted? Beren has no armies to command, his kin is dead or scattered across the continent, and he has nowhere to go and nothing left except for Lúthien. As for Lúthien, an argument can be made that as a princess she would have some influence, but if Thingol is not willing to go beyond his borders to fight wars, what can she do about it? Lúthien before meeting Beren seems to be very sheltered and has very little agency, her trusted friend Daeron betrays her, and the moment she does something her father doesn't like, her boyfriend is sent on a suicide mission and soon after she is locked up. It seems to me she only finds her agency and power by rebelling against her society and the expectations it places on her. Why wouldn't Lúthien feel that she has no place in that world, where her friends betray her and she is valued only for her beauty and not her power?
Also, seeing the story is written as a fairy tale, it doesn't go into the process of coming back from the dead. The narrative doesn't disclose whether there is some cost (physical, spiritual or mental) to dying and then being granted a second life. It's possible that in giving up her immortality, Lúthien also loses her powers of enchantment, and would no longer be able to use them to fight (and in any case, it is questionable whether her powers are useful in real battle). Men are not supposed to return from death and the experience might well be traumatic and horrifying. After going through it, we maybe should not expect Beren and Lúthien to be just fine, or even be able and willing to fight more than they already have -- any more than Frodo can be expected to do more after the Ring is destroyed. In my opinion it's understandable that, having suffered and died, they feel they have given all that they can and want to enjoy what time is left to them in peace. I think there was even a line in the Silm how they may be granted a second chance, but not guarantee of joy or life. Their time as mortals isn't necessarily a nice little holiday. And there is a question how the Elven society at Doriath would even perceive them: dying and coming back to life is so extraordinary, so far beyond the normal, that it may even mark them as uncanny and pariah in the eyes of the people who knew them -- I think there is even a mention in the Silm that those that saw them were scared. Being mortal at this point, why would they even want to stay in a society which was very recently closed to mortals? Leaving Doriath and starting anew in another place may be the only option left to them
There were comments that Beren and Lúthien operate under a different set of rules than the rest of the characters. I think that is because they are Ilúvatar's device to create the circumstances where not just Morgoth but Sauron too can be defeated -- and you could argue that Beren and Lúthien's story is what ties Silmarillion and LOTR together much more than any other tale (in which case, is it the tale of Beren and Lúthien and that stands out and apart, or the rest of the Silm? Frodo and Sam even observe that they're in the same tale as Beren and Lúthien!). Throughout Leithian is woven the thread of doom: Melian's Girdle can't hold Beren back, doom falls on Lúthien when she meets him, it literally guides their steps along the way, and Thingol eventually observes that this doom can't be withstood by any power on earth. In "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth", Finrod prophetically says: 'Nay, adaneth, if any marriage can be between our kindred and thine,then it shall be for some high purpose of Doom. Brief it will be and hard at the end. Yea, the least cruel fate that could befall would be that death should soon end it.' That is why, I believe, they are also allowed to come back from the dead: they need to live long enough to have Dior. Beren and Lúthien are granted divine pardon to act outside the normal rules, so that they can obtain a Silmaril, which Elwing (their granddaughter) will deliver to Eärendil, who will use the light to find a way to Valinor, where he will ask pardon for Elves and Men in Middle-earth, which will lead to Morgoth's downfall; the second purpose is of course making sure that Eärendil and the Silmaril become a star, which eventually allows Galadriel to collect a bit of this Silmaril's light in a phial and give it to Frodo, who with Sam will use it to walk safely into Mordor. Also, Beren and Lúthien produce the family line of people who will be strong enough to challenge Sauron (Elendil), cut the Ring from his hand (Isildur) with the heirloom sword of the House of Elu Thingol, and distract him long enough (Aragorn) to let Frodo and Sam to get to Mount Doom. Some high purpose of doom, indeed.
Romeo and Juliet (1968) dir. Franco Zeffirelli
“If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword.”
