Middle-earth has so many heroes.
Personally, my own vote would go to Gandalf, I just can't see
past him, as we say in Scotland. His quiet, largely undercover
work over thousands of years in the tiresome worn out body of
a grumpy old man when he could have been developing into something
fantastic in Valinor is what saved Middle-Earth for men and all
the other races who stayed behind and for us too.
Without him, who knows who might have come to the One Ring after
Gollum, unlikely that it would have been Bilbo Baggins and certainly,
Frodo wouldn't have become its custodian and made the long and
horrible trek to Mordor. Even if Frodo had, by some amazing chance,
come into the possession of the ring,who would have taught him
compassion for the pathetic Gollum so that he could survive to
carry the ring off into the Cracks of Doom when Frodo didn't have
the strength to do the final deed himself?
But really, when it comes to heroes, I think that Lúthien
Tinuviel must get the award.
Lúthien was the most beautiful female life form ever born
into Ea. She was an elven princess, whose father, Thingol, was
the most powerful elven king of the second age and whose mother
was Melian, the mia, a supernatural being and the only one of
her kind recorded to have chosen to stay in Middle-Earth, other
than Gandalf and the other wizards, of course.
Lúthien was also the only one of the elven race to die indeed,as Tolkien put it, and to pass from the realms of Ea, to where, we do not know.
Lúthien gave up her immortal life, more than that, she
chose to die and leave the world for a n unknown destination in
order to share the fate of Beren, the mortal man whom she loved.
Unlike Arwen, whom I do not regard as particularly heroic, Lúthien
is no more. Arwen, when she chose to die after the passing of
Aragorn in the fourth age, went to the Halls of Mandos and may
have eventually been reborn or returned to a corporal form, meeting
again with her family who, by then, had returned to Valinor.
I rather feel that Arwen's abandonment of her family and Gondor
with all that she could have contributed, was a bit of a waste.
I too would miss Aragorn beyond bearing, or so it might seem
at first, but I think that I would have wanted to support his
children and help to carry on all the work that he had done, in
his memory. She could have done so much, carried on as a repository
for all the history of Middle-Earth through the ages and kept
all the fabulous deeds alive through her memory. I wonder what
satisfaction she had in The Halls and after in Valinor for all
the ages of the world until it was changed, still missing Aragorn,
her children and being of use to so many. Perhaps that is part
of the final fading of elves in the third and fouth ages of the
world- the incapacity to deal with the future and the continuing
events that were yet to happen.
Returning to Lúthien, we all know the story.
One day, Beren came upon her on a hill dancing and was smitten.
She resisted the contact with him, but eventually, put her hand
in his and returned his love.
But this story does not have a conventional happy ending, none
of Tolkien's stories allow themselves that luxury, there is always
a sting in the tale, even after horrendous events that make you
think the heroes deserve one.
Beren, mortal man that he was, though from a rightly proud house
and having fought and resisted Morgoth all his adult life, was
not the sort that Elu Thingol would consider even as a servant,
never mind a suiter for his daughter's hand. This Thingol guarded
jealously. Perhaps if Beren had not happened along, Lúthien
would never have been allowed to make a match, for no elven prince
could have impressed her father either. Most of the elven princes
we hear about don't impress me that much either, with their infighting,
tribalism and most awful, the Curse of Mandos hanging over those
who sought possession of the Silmarils.
Melian was wiser, as we would expect and with her gift of foresight
saw, perhaps, the unwinding of a path into the future that was
more important, by far, for Middle-Earth than a father's jealous
love. But she did not force her views on her husband and his will
prevailed.
So, Thingol sent Beren away on a hopeless quest, or so he thought.
He required of Beren that he obtain one of the Silmarils as a
bride price. And the Silmarils were set in the iron crown of Morgoth
in his fortress of Thangorodrim.
Thingol was sure that he was sending Beren to his death and that
he would trouble the elves no further.
Beren was captive in the horrible tower of Thu or Sauron as we
now know him better. Sauron had captured Beren and his friend,
the truly honorable elven king in Nargothrond, Finrod Felagund.
Finrod had sworn an oath of friendship and support long ago to
Beren's ancestors, Bëor and Barahir, whose ring Beren wore
and which passed eventually to Aragorn in the third age.
He could not keep his honour and refuse to assist Beren, but it
seems to me that he was not of that sort, unlike the sons of Féanor
who stayed at that time in Morgothrond as his guests, but who
created dissension and undermined his rule.
So Finrod Felagund gathered such of his men who would assist and
with Beren set off towards the northern realms of Morgoth. But
they didn't get further than Sauron's isle of Tol Sirion where
they were captured and confined, gradually being eaten by werewolves
in the darkness.
And when Luthièn, brave and resourceful, would have gone
to aid Beren, he shut her up in a flett in a high beech tree.
Even that did not stop Lúthien. She had power and magic
of her own and used this to grow her hair to a great length. With
it she wove a magical rope and a cloak which had the power of
inducing sleep. Thus she escaped away and overcame the treachory
of Féanor's sons with the help of the fabulous hound of
the Valar, Huan.
Lúthien travelled north with Huan as her companion and
steed to Tol Sirion or Tol in Gaurhoth, the tower of werewolves.
There she and Huan vanquished Sauron and rescued Beren from the
pit. But the sons of Feanor again interfered, Beren was shot by
an arrow. Luthien healed him and they returned to Doriath, where
Beren decided that he must fulfill his promise to Thingol and
seek the Simarils.
However, Luthien would not be left behind and followed to the
environs of Morgoth's realm where they met again.
Luthien had been advised by Huan, and took the disguise of a vampire-
wearing the skin of one of Sauron's servants. They took, too,
the skin of the wolf Draugluin and Beren was so disguised, perhaps
more accurately, transformed.
Together they travelled on to Angband and Luthien used her powers
to distract Morgoth in his own stronghold, having managed to set
to sleep Morgoth's great guard wolf, Carcaroth.
Luthien danced for Morgoth and he drowsed under the power of her
sleep inducing song. His iron crown, containing the Silmarils,
rolled to the floor, where Beren was able to remove one of the
precious stones. His attempt to take another woke Morgoth and
his court and Luthien and Beren escaped to the gates of Angband
only to be met, again,by Carcaroth, now awake.
Beren approached the monstrous wolf, with his hand holding the
Silmaril outstretched, thinking this would dismay the creature.
It did so, but only for seconds. The wolf bit Beren's hand off,
taking along with it the Silmaril. He was rendered mad by the
power and pain of the Silmaril and ran off through the lands.
Again, Beren was sorely wounded, Luthien tried to deal with both
the wound and th poison from the wolf as best she could, but they
could not have escaped, for her power was all used up.
They were rescued by eagles and carried off and back to Doriath.
Beren was near to death and despite the help from Huan, who had
returned to them, it took a long time for him to recover.
For some time yet, they continued to live in the wilds of Doriath,
but Beren was still held by his promise to Thingol and eventually
, both set out to return to Menegroth.
There, at last, Thingol was in awe of what Beren had achieved,
and I feel, the cost of the fulifilment of his oath, despite the
fact that the Silmaril was not, in fact, available.
Thingol agreed to Luthién marrying Beren, but happiness
and rest were short lived. For Carcaroth, the monstrous wolf with
the Silmaril in it's innards, was appoaching Doriath and even
the Girdle of Melian was not power enough to stop him.
Beren joined a hunting party, along with Huan, the hound. Huan's
fate had long before been stated, that he could only be killed
by the greatest wolf ever to walk the earth.
Eventually Huan found the monster, was fatally wounded by him,
as was Beren. Mablung cut the Silmaril from the belly of the dead
Carcaroth and placed it in Beren's left hand and so the oath he
had made was fulfilled at last.
Thingol got his Silmaril, but Luthién could only accompany
the dying Beren back to Menegroth, beseeching him to wait for
her on the shores of the far western seas.
After his death, she too passed away to the Halls of Mandos, but
both Mandos and Manwé took pity on her and she was given
the choice: remain in Valinor and forget all her hurts and sorrows
or return , with Beren to Middle-earth with no guarantees for
life and the prospect that they would both die and pass out of
the world.
This, of course, was Luthién's choice, and thus was established
the first of the Half-elven through her child, Dior, with all
the benefits for Middle-earth and all its peoples thereafter.
In the scheme of things, Luthién did not have a long life for an elf. But she packed in remarkable and very individual choices and deeds. She was not confined by her gender, but I have yet to find an elf woman who was.
The people who say that Tolkien couldn't tell a woman's story or empathise with a woman's point of view and aspirations need only read Luthién's tale to see that this is an entirely uninformed criticism.
Your views are welcome: email me and I will publish your comments, with your permission.