The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: Volume 2: Reader’s Guide PART 1. Christina Scull

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СКАЧАТЬ ‘upon Beren and Tinúviel fell swiftly that doom of mortality that Mandos had spoken’, and while their child was still young Tinúviel slowly faded, and Beren searched for her until he too faded (The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two, p. 240). Unfortunately it is not known how the matter was resolved in the lost first version, when Beren was a Man. *Christopher Tolkien has said that in this version of the story Tevildo and his castle occupy ‘the same “space” in the narrative’ as Sauron and Tol-in-Gaurhoth, but otherwise the two have nothing in common (The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two, p. 53; see his detailed comparison of The Tale of Tinúviel with ‘Of Beren and Lúthien’ in The Silmarillion, in The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two, pp. 51–60).

      The names of Tinúviel’s parents achieved their final form, Thingol and Melian, in a typescript which Tolkien began soon after the second version of the story, but abandoned after Tinúviel’s meeting with Huan.

      The earliest extant texts of the poem *Light as Leaf on Lindentree were made in Leeds c. 1923–4, when also some introductory lines of alliterative verse were added. Tolkien inserted this poem and various references to the story of Beren and Tinúviel into the second version of his alliterative poem *The Lay of the Children of Húrin, probably c. 1924–5. These show some development in the story, though Tolkien still hesitated whether Beren should be a Man or an Elf. The elven princess was now called Lúthien, and Tinúviel is the name given her by Beren. Dairon is no longer her brother but in love with her, and being jealous of Beren, ceases to play his flute. Perhaps most significantly, the inserted poem stresses the immediacy of Lúthien’s love for Beren when she first comes face to face with him.

      In the brief *Sketch of the Mythology (c. 1926) Tolkien evidently was still undecided about Beren: his father Barahir is a chieftain of Ilkorindi (Elves), but Beren himself is said to be mortal. More is said about Beren’s earlier history: ‘Barahir is driven into hiding, his hiding betrayed, and Barahir slain; his son Beren after a life outlawed flees south, crosses the Shadowy Mountains, and after grievous hardships comes to Doriath’ (*The Shaping of Middle-earth, p. 24). A statement that Barahir had been a friend of Celegorm of Nargothrond is not developed further, but foreshadows a major new element. Beren is given as a slave to Thû the hunter, not to Tevildo. Huan is killed in the fight with Carcaras while defending Beren. Events after Beren’s death are uncertain: ‘Some songs say that Lúthien went even over the Grinding Ice, aided by the power of her divine mother, Melian, to Mandos’ halls and won him back; others that Mandos hearing his tale released him. Certain it is that he alone of mortals came back from Mandos and dwelt with Lúthien and never spoke to Men again …’ (The Shaping of Middle-earth, p. 25). An addition made probably soon after this says that Mandos exacted in payment that Lúthien should become as mortal as Beren. The text was revised c. 1926–30 in response to the way the story was developing in the *Lay of Leithian, so that Beren is definitely a Man and the Nargothrond element enters.

      Tolkien began to write the Lay of Leithian in summer 1925, telling the story of Beren and Lúthien at length in octosyllabic couplets. At various points while this was in progress he made five synopses for parts of the story still to be written, which indicate how the story changed in stages and expanded as new ideas came to the author and were adopted or rejected. Finally he decided that Beren was a Man, and in its final form the story told in the Lay approached very closely (if more briefly) that of The Silmarillion. Significant differences are few: Gorlim sees a phantom image of his missing wife by chance in a house and, believing her alive, deliberately seeks out Morgoth and betrays his comrades, hoping to be reunited with her; but he is killed by Morgoth. Beren, Felagund, and their companions are captured by Thû, Master of Wolves. After Beren steals away, Lúthien catches up with him first, and Huan comes later, having fetched the wolf coat and bat skin. Tolkien left the Lay unfinished in September 1931 at the point where Carcharoth devours Beren’s hand and the Silmaril.

      The fourth and fifth synopses, however, contain additional material concerning the unwritten part of the Lay. During their flight Beren and Lúthien are ensnared by great spiders, but Huan rescues them, an idea which did not survive into later versions. As foretold, Huan is killed by Carcharoth in the great wolf hunt. The fate of the lovers is close to that in the Sketch: ‘Fading of Lúthien. Her journey to Mandos. The song of Lúthien in Mandos’ halls, and the release of Beren. They dwelt long in Broseliand, but spake never more to mortal Men, and Lúthien became mortal’ (*The Lays of Beleriand, p. 312). One idea which is referred to several times in the Lay and synopses, but which Tolkien abandoned in later versions, is that Morgoth sent a war band under Boldog to capture Lúthien.

      The *Quenta Noldorinwa, written c. 1930 while Tolkien was still working on the Lay of Leithian, contains a brief account of the story based on the Lay to which it even refers. The latter part, roughly from the point where Beren is injured by Celegorm, was written before the corresponding part of the Lay. It follows the fourth synopsis in that Beren does not steal away from Lúthien after his recovery, but Huan, learning that they are not certain what to do, brings them the wolfskin and bat-garb and counsels them. Tolkien hesitated about the sequence of events at this point; in the fifth synopsis Beren leaves alone and is overtaken by both Lúthien and Huan, whereas in the Lay Lúthien reaches him first and Huan arrives later with the skins. There is no suggestion that Morgoth forces Lúthien to abandon her bat disguise. By an addition, Huan speaks for a third time before he dies.

      The story is given briefly in both the ‘earliest’ and the ‘later’ *Annals of Beleriand (early and mid-1930s respectively). According to the ‘earliest’ Annals Barahir was slain in Year 160, and the whole story of Beren and Lúthien took place in 163–4. In the ‘later’ Annals Barahir’s death takes place in 261, emended to 460; the deeds of Beren and Lúthien are spread over the longer period 263–5 (> 463–5).

      When writing the *Quenta Silmarillion (mid-1930s–early 1938) Tolkien found it difficult to keep the story of Beren and Lúthien to a length commensurate with the rest of the work, abandoning not only an unfinished draft when he realized it was too long, but also a shorter fair copy that followed at the point where Felagund and Beren are about to leave Nargothrond. He then rewrote the entire story more succinctly, closely following the Lay of Leithian with only a few changes. One of these, of the name Thû to Sauron as the servant of Morgoth who captures Beren and Felagund, was merely a change of name, as is clear in various contemporary versions of *The Fall of Númenor. The evolution of the story of Beren and Lúthien was virtually complete by the end of 1937.

      About 1950, Tolkien began to make a revision of the Lay of Leithian left unfinished nearly twenty years before, and a full prose version closely related to the revision. This work included a revision of the story of Gorlim, in which his treachery is less deep and deliberate. Tolkien also told the story of Beren and Lúthien in short in the *Grey Annals (c. 1951, see *Annals of Beleriand), adding a few details such as descriptions of the refuge of Barahir and his men.

      The chapter ‘Of Beren and Lúthien’ in The Silmarillion was based for the most part on the texts of the Quenta Silmarillion of the 1930s, mainly on a rejected first fair copy as far as the point where Felagund gives the crown of Nargothrond to Orodreth, but with some elements from the complete fair copy which was the source for the rest of the chapter. Christopher Tolkien also took from the Grey Annals a short passage describing Barahir’s refuge, and several short phrases which elucidated points of importance. He took the account of Gorlim’s treachery from the revision of c. 1950, and inserted thirty-two lines from the Lay of Leithian describing the contest between Felagund and Sauron (covered in only one sentence in the Quenta Silmarillion). See further, discussion in *The Lost Road and Other Writings, pp. 295–306; The Lays of Beleriand, p. 196; and *The Peoples of Middle-earth, pp. 318 and 369, and p. 372, n. 8.

      Compare Christopher Tolkien’s compilation of texts for СКАЧАТЬ