Lúthien

2012-03-01T08:45:09Z

115.113.115.130: /* Inspiration */

{{expansion|Too short for someone so important - needs bulking up to accommodate so many images. -Mith 04/11/11}}
{{sindar infobox
| image=[[File:Tania Weil - Luthien.png|250px]]
| name=Lúthien
| othernames=''Tinúviel'' ([[Sindarin|S]])
| titles=Princess of Doriath
| position=
| realm=[[Doriath]]; [[Tol Galen]]
| affiliation=[[Quest for the Silmaril]]
| language=[[Sindarin]]
| birth={{YT|1200}}
| birthlocation=[[Forest of Neldoreth]]
| rule=
| death={{FA|502}}
| deathlocation=[[Dor Firn-i-Guinar]], [[Ossiriand]]
| age=3,377
| house=
| parentage=[[Thingol]] and [[Melian]]
| siblings=
| spouse=[[Beren]]
| children=[[Dior]]
| gender=Female
| height=
| hair=Black
| eyes=Grey<ref name="Beren">{{S|Beren}}</ref>
| clothing=Blue raiment, sewn with golden flowers; shadowy cloak; appearance of [[Thuringwethil]]<ref name="Beren"/>
| weapons=Voice, enchantment
| steed=[[Huan]]
}}'''Lúthien Tinúviel''' ([[Sindarin|S]], pron. {{IPA|[ˈluːθjen tiˈnuːvjel]}}) was the only daughter of King [[Thingol]] of [[Doriath]] and [[Melian]] the [[Maia]]. She was said to be the fairest maiden to have ever lived (a description later shared also by [[Arwen]]).

== History ==
[[Image:Ted Nasmith - Lúthien.jpg|thumb|left|''Lúthien'' by [[Ted Nasmith]].]]Lúthien was born during the Second Age of the [[Chaining of Melkor]], and [[niphredil]] first grew at the moment of her birth. She would often dance in the woods, while her friend [[Daeron]], the minstrel of Thingol, would play his flute. Daeron came to love her, and while she enjoyed his company, she did not return his love.

===Quest for the Silmaril===
During such an occasion she was discovered by [[Beren]] as he wandered the woods of her father's kingdom, and instantly fell in love with her. Daeron chirped out a warning, and she hid. While he searched for her, he accidentally laid his hand on her arm. He caught her alone some months later, and they grew to love one another. When Lúthien took Beren before her father, he was appalled that his royal daughter should wish to wed a mortal, and as is recounted in the ''[[Lay of Leithian]]'' so set Beren what he thought was an unachievable task, to recover a [[Silmaril]] from the [[Iron Crown]] of [[Morgoth]] himself. So Beren left Doriath in pursuit of his hopeless quest.
[[Image:Ted Nasmith - Transformed.jpg|thumb|''Transformed'' by [[Ted Nasmith]], showing [[Lúthien]] and [[Beren]] disguised as [[Thuringwethil]] and [[Draugluin]]]]
After a time, a darkness fell on Lúthien's heart, and she learned from her mother Melian what this meant; Beren had been captured by [[Sauron]], and was held in the dungeons of [[Tol-in-Gaurhoth]]. Though Thingol sought to stop her, Lúthien set out from Doriath to rescue Beren, if she could. Passing through many adventures, she gained the help of [[Huan the Hound]], and together they came to [[Tol-in-Gaurhoth|Sauron's Isle]]. Through Lúthien's magic and Huan's strength they defeated Sauron and rescued Beren. Eventually Beren set out for [[Angband]] once again, but this time Lúthien accompanied him.

[[Image:Luca Michelucci - 1999 - May.jpg|left|200px|thumb|''Lúthien Dances Before Morgoth'' by [[Luca Michelucci]].]]
Through Lúthien's powers, they passed the gates of Angband, and the great wolf [[Carcharoth]] that guarded them. Coming before the [[Dark Throne]] itself, she wove a spell that put Morgoth and his court into a deep sleep, and Beren cut a Silmaril from the Iron Crown. Returning to the gates, they found that Carcharoth barred their escape. Beren held up the hallowed jewel to protect them, but the monstrous wolf bit off his hand and, with it, consumed the Silmaril. But the Silmarils were blessed by [[Varda]] herself, so that any unclean flesh that touched them would be withered and burnt. The wolf's innards were consumed with that burning, and it ran howling into the south.

Lúthien healed Beren, and they came at last back to her father's halls at [[Menegroth]]. There they heard tidings that the maddened wolf had entered Thingol's realm, and Beren set out with the King to the [[Hunting of the Wolf]]. After nightfall they returned; the wolf was slain and the Silmaril recovered, but Beren was wounded mortally. So he passed away, and soon after Lúthien too wasted of grief.

===Aftermath===
[[Image:Ted Nasmith - Lúthien at Tol Galen.jpg|right|200px|thumb|''Lúthien at Tol Galen'' by [[Ted Nasmith]].]]
Their spirits were gathered in the [[Halls of Mandos]] in the [[Uttermost West]], and there Lúthien sang a song of such extraordinary power and beauty that it moved even the implacable heart of [[Mandos]] himself. So she was granted a unique fate, to become mortal and return to [[Middle-earth]] with Beren, where they dwelt for a time in happiness on the green island of [[Tol Galen]] in the River [[Adurant]].

== Etymology ==

''Lúthien'' is a [[Sindarin]] name meaning "Daughter of Flowers". The first element in the name is ''[[lúth]]''.<ref>{{PE|17}}, p. 15</ref> The second element is perhaps the feminine ending ''[[-ien]]''.

In early writings, [[Doriathrin]] ''Luthien'' and [[Noldorin]] ''Lhūthien'' meant "enchantress", deriving from [[Primitive Quendian]] ''luktiēnē'' ("enchantress"; from [[Sundocarme|root]] LUK "magic, enhantement").<ref>{{LR|Etymologies}}, p. 370</ref>

''[[Tinúviel]]'' (from Primitive Quendian ''tindômiselde'') means "Nightingale", or, more literally, "Daughter of Twilight".{{fact}}

== Genealogy ==
{{familytree/start}}
{{familytree| | ELU |y| MEL | | BEO | | | |ELU=[[Thingol|Elu Thingol]]|MEL=[[Melian]]|BEO=[[House of Bëor]]}}
{{familytree| | | | |!| | | | | |!| | | | |}}
{{familytree| | | | LUT |~|y|~| BER | | | |LUT='''LÚTHIEN'''|BER=[[Beren]]}}
{{familytree| | | | | | | |!| | | | | | | |}}
{{familytree| | | | | | | DIO |y| NIM | | |DIO=[[Dior]]|NIM=[[Nimloth of Doriath|Nimloth]]}}
{{familytree| | | | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| |}}
{{familytree| EAR |y| ELW | | ELD | | ELU |EAR=[[Eärendil]]|ELW=[[Elwing]]|ELD=[[Eluréd]]|ELU=[[Elurín]]}}
{{familytree| |,|-|^|-|.| | | | | | | | | |}}
{{familytree| ELR | | ELS | | | | | | | | |ELR=[[Elrond]]|ELS=[[Elros]]}}
{{familytree/end}}

==Inspiration==
Lúthien was largely inspired from [[Edith Bratt]] and Tolkien often referred to Edith as "my [[Lúthien]]."<ref>{{L|340}}</ref><ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2001/12/04/batolk04.xml We talked of love, death, and fairy tales]</ref>. It is mentioned that around [[1917]], while Tolkien and Bratt went walking in the woods at Roos, Edith began to dance for him in a clearing among the flowering hemlock. This incident inspired the account of the meeting of Beren and Lúthien<ref>Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall & Edmund Weiner ''[[The Ring of Words]]''</ref>.

The tale also shares the common element of folktales with the disapproving parent who sets a seemingly impossible task for the suitor, which is then fulfilled. Such is the Welsh tale of Culhwch and Olwen and others.

The travel of Lúthien to Mandos and softening Námo with her song, in order to release her beloved, is a usual theme in several world religions: According to Virgil, Orpheus descended to Hades and with his harp softened the hearts of Hades and Pespephone in order to return his wife, Eurydice, to life. There is also the Japanese myth of Izanagi and Izanami, the Akkadian/Sumerian myth of Inanna's Descent to the Underworld,Mayan myth of Ix Chel and Itzamna, and the Indian legend of Savitri bringing back her husband's life from Yama, the lord of the dead. The theme exists also in the Amerindian oral tradition: the Nez Perce tell a similar story about the trickster figure, Coyote.

==Other versions of the legendarium==
The name ''Lúthien'' appears since the earliest conceptions (although ''[[Melilot Brandybuck#Other versions of the legendarium|Melilot]]'' was used as a tentative name in the ''[[Lay of Leithian]]'').<ref>{{LB|3}}, p. 159</ref> The name was connected with "[[Luthany]]", the Elfin name for England. In several drafts, ''Lúthien'' would be the Elfin name of [[Ælfwine]], which would be translated as "traveler" and later as "friend".

== See Also ==
* [[:Category:Images of Lúthien|Images of Lúthien]].
{{references}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luthien Tinuviel}}
[[Category:Characters in The Silmarillion]]
[[Category:House of Thingol]]
[[Category:Quest for the Silmaril]]
[[de:Lúthien]]
[[fr:encyclo/personnages/elfes/teleri/sindar/luthien]]
[[fi:Lúthien]]

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Lúthien