I'm working my way through the outstanding Book Club books! Next up is the May Choice of Beren and Luthien (2017). A bunch of us girls in the club are big nerds, and we all particularly agree that we love The Lord of the Rings trilogy, so this choice was right up our nerd-alley.
One of our book club members sent us all a note saying that the actual Tale of Tinuviel didn't start until about page 50 and the whole start of the book was notes and background detail compiled by Christopher Tolkien. So for those of us who only wanted to read the tale, that made things easier. I on the other hand, wanted all of the introduction information. And I honestly found all of it a little more intriguing than the actual story.
Christopher gives excerpts and details into some of JRR's letters and notes about the tale and how it had evolved over time. There is information on the Eldar Days, and how much depth there is to the time between the Eldar days and the Lord of the Rings. Example: Elrond is a descendant of Luthien and Galadriel used to hang out with Luthien's mother, Melian. Basically, yeah, elves are immortal.
He also warns the reader to expect things to be slightly unorganized and for characters names to change and "evolve" with the story. This is due to the fact that The Tale of Beren and Luthien is spread throughout the twelve volumes of "The History of Middle Earth." This novel finally brings the story into a cohesive narrative for readers.
The Tale of Beren and Luthien is one of the three Great Tales of the Eldar Days, along with The Children of Hurin (2007) and The Fall of Gondolin, which came out on August 30, 2018.
The Tale of Tinuviel
First off, Tinuviel is Luthien and Beren's name never changes throughout the story. Those are important points to note if you read the tale.
The plot of B&L is pretty straight forward and it was nice that there weren't too many characters names that you had to learn. There was also no millions of pages upon pages of poems and singing, so that made the story nice and compact. I'm sure a more lengthy version would have had all that in it. The plot is also very simple: Boy sees beautiful girl, asks her father for her hand, is denied and sent on an impossible mission to win it. Boy is captured, girl is sad and goes to rescue him. She succeeds and they defeat the bad guy. However, **SPOILER** it does not have a happy ending.
The thing that struck me the most was the actual ending. Not the end of the tale, but the actual ending when it turns out it is a group of travelers telling the Tale of Beren and Luthien amongst themselves! They each have a different version of the ending that they prefer, which differs from the way the reader just read the ending. So, it is very tricky at that point... One of the group says "that the kids know the tale and it's deeds and values, but she does not yet get it." So this begs the question: Is the Tale of Beren and Luthien just a moral story told to children about love, friendship and sacrifice? Or is it an actual story depiction of people from Middle-earth history?
It's hard to say, and rather confusing, because there is all the relations and connections made to Elrond and Galadriel and that Aragorn and Arwen are supposed to be reincarnations of Beren and Luthien. It is not clear. Also! If Elrond is a descendant of Luthien, is that why Aragorn and Arwen are considered the reincarnations of her and Beren? Is there some sort of immortal elven-blood connection going on? So many questions, not enough answers!
Overall, the tale was entertaining and not overly hard to read or follow. That was nice. It also involved giant magical cats. So, that was a bonus for sure. I would recommend this read for those who want all the possible information obtainable about all things Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Middle-Earth.
I'm going to try and finish an Extended Reading Challenge book next, and squeeze in a post about that before I continue with the Book Club posts! Happy reading all!
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