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chaos-of-the-abyss · 5 years

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Many people have argued that Luthien is a Mary-Sue; not just because of her beauty but because of how unbelievably perfect she was. What do you think?

Well. Personally, I don’t see how the idea that Luthien was anywhere near perfect came to be. As I was reading The Silmarillion, I noticed quite a few flaws in her character and was quite… pleasantly taken aback. Considering what I knew of her beforehand - that she was impossibly beautiful, and that she had some epic love story with a human man - I expected that I wouldn’t really like her. And oh boy, I was wrong.

Luthien is one of my favorite characters ever, and her flaws make me adore her all the more, far more than I would have were she really perfect and flawless as the general perception seems to be.

And of course, Luthien has amazing traits as well (traits of personality, not of power, although she was extremely, extremely powerful). Let’s begin with those and discuss them in detail; they’re important in this (kind of) meta because those flaws of Luthien’s are irrevocably intertwined with (most of) these traits.

1. She’s determined (as all fucking hell)

This one is pretty much a given for anyone who knows Luthien’s story. Nobody can ever tell this girl “no”, nobody, and if you try, she will, without fail, get your ass out of her way. Luthien Tinuviel is not here for your shit.

Her (overprotective and controlling but somewhat understandable) father? Not a chance. Magic hair-growing, activated. Guards? Put to sleep. Two unpleasant elf-princes who tried to force her to marry one of them? Bye bitch, she’s so awesome (and they’re so asshole-ish, let’s be honest here) that their hound decided to help her instead. Sauron “I’m-the-greatest” the Deceiver, Lieutenant of Morgoth, one of the most powerful Maiar in existence? No dice. Sleep-inducing magic: on. Huan: in attack mode. Sauron: ass-kicked, thoroughly beaten, and contemplating running the hell away (Luthien stops him, more on that below). Beren himself, wanting to treat Luthien like a damsel-in-distress and drop her off back home before he continues his quest? Luthien basically tells him, “Sorry, you’re stuck with me forever”. See quote:

‘You must choose, Beren, between these two: to relinquish the quest and your oath and seek a life of wandering upon the face of the earth; or to hold to your word and challenge the power of darkness upon its throne. But on either road I shall go with you, and our doom shall be alike.’

But Beren doesn’t stop there. In an (understandable) attempt to keep Luthien out of harm’s way, he sneaks off to continue his quest alone while Luthien and Huan are asleep. Luthien wakes up, probably rolls her eyes and sighs, and goes after him instead of leaving him to fall victim to his stubbornness. She sure loves the man, but she’s not taking any of his bullshit either.

Now Beren and Luthien are deep within Morgoth’s realm. Enter Carcharoth, basically the scariest, most vicious werewolf ever (and I mean ever). He doesn’t stand a chance of getting in Luthien’s way, either. This girl is not having it; she casts a sleep spell, and he’s out like a light. Then we have Morgoth, the ultimate Big Bad of Tolkien’s universe. Sauron who? This is Sauron’s boss. Sauron is afraid of disappointing this guy. Luthien doesn’t flinch. She dances in front of him and puts him (along with all his minions) to sleep through her awesome singing and the power of her magic hair cloak.

Then on their (remember Beren, the guy who accompanied Luthien? Yeah, neither do I) way out, Carcharoth, who is now pissed, confronts them. Drama unfolds, Beren’s hand is bitten off, and poisoned through the venom in Carcharoth’s (I’m assuming) teeth… and Luthien sucks it all out. No measly venom from the “greatest werewolf” ever is going to stop her.

Then more shenanigans. Then Beren dies. His spirit will travel beyond the spheres of Arda as Eru Iluvatar decreed for men, while Luthien, upon her own death, shall go to the Halls of Mandos and be reincarnated in Valinor. They can never meet again, for The All-Father Himself set separate fates for Elves and Men.

From grief, Luthien dies. She arrives in Mandos’ Halls, but not even death and fate are going to keep her from getting what she wants. She sings a song so beautiful and sorrowful that Mandos, the Vala of Death, for the first and only time in his existence (and keep in mind that Mandos is literally older than the universe), is moved from pity. See quote:

“Unchanged, imperishable, it is sung still in Valinor beyond the hearing of the world, and listening the Valar are grieved. For Lúthien wove two themes of words, of the sorrow of the Eldar and the grief of Men, of the Two Kindreds that were made by Ilúvatar to dwell in Arda, the Kingdom of Earth amid the innumerable stars.”

He speaks on behalf of Luthien to Manwë - my precious baby, hurt him and I will fight you - who then speaks to Eru about the matter. And Eru offers Luthien a choice: live out the rest of her days (which is to say, eternity, since she’s an elf) in contentment and bliss in Valinor, forgetting all of her troubles, or be granted a second life along with Beren, following him in death outside of Arda and losing all hope of seeing her family and friends ever again. Sounds daunting, yep? But Luthien opts for the latter. Even the prospect of eternity without her kin and companions isn’t going to stop her.

So, let’s recap, shall we? Things that have tried to stop Luthien and have learned from it the hard way.

Elwë Singollo, her father, an ancient and powerful elf-king

Celegorm and Curufin, two sons of Fëanor (and arguably the douchiest elves to ever grace the pages of The Silmarillion)

Sauron, no explanation needed

Beren, her boyfriend, attempts several times to no avail

Carcharoth, the greatest werewolf to have ever lived

Morgoth, basically the Satan of Arda, Sauron’s lord

Death/Fate

Don’t try to stop Luthien Tinuviel. You are wasting your time.

2. She’s brave (again, as all fucking hell)

I’d say anyone who defies their powerful father and runs away from home to save her boyfriend, and later accompanies him on a quest that her father literally intended to be impossible, is pretty damn brave in itself. But Luthien accomplishes some of the most notable feats accomplished by any singular Eldar or Man (the race, not the gender) in the entirety of Tolkien’s legendarium. And keep in mind that Luthien was most likely quite sheltered when she was growing up, considering her father’s personality. Maybe Melian opened her eyes a little, but I doubt she’s really gone anywhere. This is something we really have to take into consideration for perspective when we think about just how courageous Luthien is.

Despite her relative inexperience with the world, Luthien, after being practically kidnapped and held against her will by Celegorm and Curufin, a pretty traumatic experience in itself, and way more so for someone who has hardly been outside her father’s kingdom, rides straight for Sauron’s fortress (with Huan) to rescue Beren. It’s not certain if Luthien has heard of Sauron - presumably, she has, since he’s - well - Sauron, but I doubt she knows the full extent of his malice. Still, her mother is Melian the Maia, who’s most likely familiar with Sauron (and perhaps even knew him as Mairon), and I think Melian probably regaled her daughter on Sauron’s treachery and betrayal of the Valar, and his position as Morgoth’s lieutenant.

The initial first-hand warning sign for Luthien that Sauron is not a nice guy is the aesthetic of his fortress. I mean, this looks so welcoming:

But I digress. Terrifying fortresses are nowhere near the scariest things that Tolkien’s characters face. Then Sauron starts sending werewolf after werewolf at Luthien and Huan, and later, Draugluin, the oldest, biggest, and baddest. Now, considering Luthien’s sheltered upbringing (again look at Thingol, does he seem like he would let her have any interaction with werewolves?), I think it’s quite impressive that she didn’t lose her nerve at the sight of werewolves attacking her and Huan with the intent to maim and kill (well, subdue in the case of Luthien, but she probably doesn’t know that). But again, this isn’t too terribly noteworthy among Tolkien’s characters, so, while it’s pretty brave, it’s not exactly awe-inspiring in the context of the LOTR universe.

But then things escalate. After Draugluin is defeated, Sauron himself decides to show these little fools who’s boss, shapeshifts into a werewolf, and comes out to greet them. And Luthien encounters first-hand just how potent his malice and evil is: the force of frightens Huan enough that he leaps out of the way, and to Luthien herself, it knocks her out cold.

‘So great was the horror of his approach that Huan leaped aside. Then Sauron sprang upon Luthien; and she swooned before the menace of the fell spirit in his eyes and the foul vapour of his breath. But even as he came, falling she cast a fold of her dark cloak before his eyes; and he stumbled, for a fleeting drowsiness came upon him. Then Huan sprang.’

(Can I just say, about the “foul vapor of his breath”…? Sauron, brush your damn teeth, please. People will like you a lot more if you do. Trust me.)

Yet Luthien, once she recovers from Sauron’s mega-evilness, basically tells him, “Don’t be a whiny baby and sit your ass down”. Personally, after experiencing his malevolence first-hand and being sent into a brief coma by it, I’d be more than a little terrified to even look at Sauron, yet alone speak to him. Yet:

“Lúthien came to him, and said that he should be stripped (of his body)… and his ghost be sent quaking back to Morgoth; and she said: ‘There everlastingly thy naked self shall endure the torment of his scorn, pierced by his eyes, unless thou yield to me the mastery of thy tower.’”

I mean, this is pretty indicative of her mental strength and resilience, and by extension, her bravery. Even the elves of Finrod’s kingdom say, “a maiden had dared that which the sons of Fëanor had not dared to do.”

But that’s not all, nor is it the highlight. Far from it.

Later, Beren attempts to convince Luthien to go back home and leave him to complete the quest. And as stated before, Luthien isn’t having it. She tells him that whether he wants to forgo his oath to her father and elope with her or insist on finishing his super dangerous, intended-to-be-impossible quest, she will go with him. After all that she’s experienced for what seems to be one of the few, if not the first, time she’s been outside her father’s kingdom - which is to say, kidnapping, brushes with death, the evil of Sauron himself - this is extremely courageous. The fact that she knows Beren’s quest requires him to be within a three-feet-proximity of Morgoth? And she declares herself willing to follow him? Doubly astounding. But it might also have something to do with all the shit she’s endured since she ran away from home - she’s probably not quite as naive to the world as she might have been. (Ooooh, character development.) Personally, I again think that the fact that she’s experienced so much in such a short period of time and hasn’t been cowed yet serves as both character development (better understanding that the world can be very harsh and deceiving) and speaks of her bravery.

After that, Luthien and Beren are minding their own business when Celegorm and Curufin appear out of literally nowhere and attempt to nab Luthien again (leave her alone for God’s sake). They come close, as Curufin actually manages to get Luthien up onto his horse. This is the Tolkien equivalent of being shoved into the car of the person who has deceived and kidnapped you once before, and is clearly attempting to do it again. This, combined with the horror of seeing that your other kidnapper is trying to run your lover down and squash him, is pretty damn horrifying. But then Curufin tries to shoot an arrow at Luthien and presumably kill her (though Huan intercepts the arrow with his jaws). If this isn’t scary enough, Curufin tries his luck a second time and would have succeeded in killing Luthien (or at least wounding her seriously), had Beren not stepped in front of her and gotten hit in the chest. Double, triple horror - in the span of a few seconds, you almost died, then you almost died again, but now your boyfriend is critically injured trying to save you.

So basically, the Jerkwad Duo’s attempts at kidnapping/killing Luthien are foiled, Huan chases them off (ha), Beren now has an arrow in his chest, and all the readers are smh-ing at Celegorm and Curufin, thinking:

After this drama, Huan brings Luthien herbs to treat Beren, and treat him she does, with those herbs, and with magic.

Fast forward to when Luthien and Huan are pursuing Beren, who ran off while Luthien was sleeping, in another attempt to keep her out of the fire line. Luthien and Huan, knowing they would look far too out-of-place going into Morgoth’s realm the way they were, (cosplayed) donned disguises of Thuringwethil and Draugluin respectively. Obviously, Luthien knows into where (Morgoth’s realm) she’s headed, but she doesn’t let that dissuade her from her mission (to help Beren). Considering Morgoth and all that he’s done, that’s impressive. I mean, if Sauron’s malice knocked her out, what might his boss be able to do? Yet Luthien remains undaunted. That’s brave.

Still not the apex of her bravery, though. Let’s continue. Luthien and Huan keep chasing Beren through a dark forest “filled with horror” that, like everything else, fails miserably in cowing Luthien. Once they reach Beren, Huan says he can go no further with the two of them, so Luthien, still (cosplaying) disguised as Thuringwethil, and now Beren, who is now (cosplaying as) disguised as Draugluin, since Huan’s absence leaves the skin suit available for him. The two go over deeper in Morgoth’s domain, probably once again facing a bunch of horrifying crap, if the comment that they endured “through all perils” is anything to go by.

Eventually, at the gate of Morgoth’s lair (fortress? Stronghold? Whatever he wants to call it), Beren and Luthien are halted by Carcharoth, who’s perplexed at the sight of them, probably squinting at (cosplaying) Beren and thinking “Dad?” (Draugluin was likely his sire.) Luthien uses the opportunity to reveal herself, which is kind of courageous considering where the fuck they are, and, as stated before, casts a sleep-spell Carcharoth.

Luthien and Beren then continue deeper into Morgoth’s fortress. I can’t imagine the kind of fear that they’d be feeling as they progress further, considering that they know their quest requires them to steal from Morgoth. (And Thingol is probably shaking his head violently back at Doriath.) But they keep going - again, brave - and at least, arrive directly in front of Morgoth, sitting on his throne, with his grotesque minions around him. And then this happens:

‘For they came to the seat of Morgoth in his nethermost hall that was upheld by horror, lit by fire, and filled with weapons of death and torment. There Beren slunk in wolf’s form beneath his throne; but Lúthien was stripped of her disguise by the will of Morgoth, and he bent his gaze upon her. She was not daunted by his eyes; and she named her own name, and offered her service to sing before him, after the manner of a minstrel.’

Beren, understandably, is cowed, but Luthien, who is “stripped of her disguise by Morgoth’s will”, remains unflinching under and endures the force of his gaze. I repeat: she remains unflinching under and endures Morgoth fucking Bauglir’s gaze. This is the origin of all evil in the universe, the entity that Sauron is afraid of disappointing. And Luthien stands her ground. Not only that, she tells him who she is and offers to sing for him, for the sake of distractions. Holy shit. This here is one of the most astounding displays of courage in the entirety of Tolkien’s universe - a girl traveling deeper and deeper into (basically) the Devil’s stronghold, being revealed before and facing him, who has so many people cowering in terror. And she stands firm. She retains who she is, what she wants, and acts upon what she wants, all as he stares down at her. She’s experienced Sauron, and he’s a servant in comparison to this guy. And still, she’s not deterred from her goal, which, I may add, includes thieving away something he treasures. I cannot emphasize enough how awesome this is.

And so, Luthien dances for Morgoth and uses her magic singing and her sleeping-spell-cloak to put him (and everyone around them) to sleep. Beren takes a Silmaril by forcing it out of Morgoth’s crown with his knife, but then attempts to take the rest as well. Very unfortunately, while he’s trying to remove the second one his knife breaks and a shard of it pierces Morgoth’s cheek. Morgoth starts to stir, and at that point Beren and Luthien quite sensibly nope the fuck out.

They encounter Carcharoth again, Beren’s hand is bitten off along with the Silmaril, and Luthien treats him (let me just gush over the fact that she sucked the poison out of a bloody, gaping stump again) and binds his wound, then Thorondor and two other Eagles rescue them just when it looks like Morgoth’s minions have surrounded them. Thank you Huan! (He asked his animal-friends to keep watch for Beren and Luthien and help them if need be.)

Then passes all craziness of the hunt for Carcharoth, and Huan and Beren’s deaths. Luthien, as well, dies of heartbreak, and as I stated before, sings to Mandos and manages to get herself a choice: live in Valinor in happiness for the rest of eternity or live by Beren’s side, become mortal with him, and follow his spirit beyond Arda upon their deaths. Now Luthien’s actions when facing Morgoth were brave, but here, I think she shows a different kind of courage in choosing the latter.

She’s leaving behind everything she knows, for the rest of time. All her life Luthien believed that even if she does die, she’ll be reborn in Valinor, and there’ll be an opportunity for her to meet her mother, father, and friends (Daeron was her close friend, she probably knew Galadriel as well, and considering Beleg and Mablung’s positions as chief of the marchwardens and chief captain of Thingol respectively, might have known them as well) again. If she chooses mortality with Beren, there will be none of that. She’ll literally have to exit the planet and leave all of her kin behind, never able to see them again, never able to reunite with them. She doesn’t know what lies beyond Arda, what awaits the souls of mortals - no one does. And even before death, she has absolutely no certainty that she will be happy. Perhaps she and Beren will fall apart and she’ll have sacrificed everything for nothing. But she willingly turns down the guarantee of eternal happiness, and chooses the uncertainty and pain that comes with morality, because she just loves Beren that much. And I think that’s touching.

To recap:

Runs away from home, alone, leaving it for one of the few or possibly the first time, in order to rescue Beren from the clutches of Sauron

Is not dissuaded from her quest despite the first major thing to happen to her once she leaves her father’s kingdom is kidnapping

Doesn’t give up her mission when faced with violence and blood and death for the (presumably) first time, when seeing Huan fighting the werewolves

Faces Sauron and the full potency of his evil and yet comes out of it relatively undaunted, going as far as to give Sauron some rather scornful “advice” (in warning him that if he runs back to Morgoth with his tail between his legs, Morgoth will be extremely displeased with him), then continues on her quest

Despite all she’s faced, firmly tells Beren that if he wants to continue his potentially suicide quest to steal from Sauron’s boss, she’ll do it with him

Is nearly kidnapped again by the same people who kidnapped her before, then almost dies, then almost dies again, then sees her lover shot in the chest right before her eyes, but still doesn’t waver

Endures the horrors of Morgoth’s realm without faltering

Remains composed before Morgoth himself and the rest of his monsters and dances while they’re all staring at her

Chooses to become human with no guarantees of happiness, and after death, pass beyond the spheres of Arda and face whatever comes afterwards, leaving her kin and friends behind forever, for the sake of Beren

So, Luthien Tinuviel - indisputably one of the most courageous and resilient elves to ever walk the face of Arda.

3. She has this remarkable ability to stay calm in terrifying situations

Once more, I emphasize that Luthien has probably lived a very sheltered life. Yet she remains quick-thinking in pressurizing moments. After she’s nearly been kidnapped for a second time by Celegorm and Curufin, who have already kidnapped her once, and Beren is dying with an arrow in the chest, Luthien still keeps her head on her shoulders and heals him. This either means that she has medicinal knowledge to be able to know which herbs she needs (more likely since you still need education to use herbs), or Huan knew himself and brought them to her (less likely). But in any case, the fact that Luthien had the clarity of mind to treat Beren in that situation is impressive. She not only needed to use herbs, but also had to use magic, and for a princess who’s not very experienced with battle and blood and death, the fact that she pulled it all off successfully is notable.

Then later, under the pressure of Carcharoth’s suspicion, Luthien is still quick-thinking enough to use his distraction to her advantage and put him to sleep. Keep in mind that not only are she and Beren under Carcharoth’s scrutiny, they’re deep in Morgoth’s sphere of influence. I image it to be something like the tension and nervousness of breaking into and sneaking around a serial killer’s house and trying to remain quiet, multiplied by a thousand. Personally I would curl up in a ball and cry, but Luthien remains fairly level-headed.

Finally, when Luthien dances for Morgoth, she, once again shows a shocking ability to stay rational in the face of utter terror, when most people lose their sense of logic. She uses Morgoth’s lust and dark appreciation to her advantage, using her magic singing and her sleeping-spell-cloak to put him to sleep. Never mind the fact that most people would be too scared to even dance or sing properly; Luthien actively schemes while being watched by the culmination of evil in Arda.

4. She shows surprising mercy

Amazingly, this isn’t discussed much, but I find it mind-bogglingall the same. In the second instance that Celegorm and Curufin attempt to kidnap Luthien, Curufin ends up pinned to the ground by Beren - and Luthien demands that the son of Fëanor be spared. Why is no one talking about this? Curufin (and Celegorm) has lied to, kidnapped, and held her against her will. They just attempted to do so a second time, and tried to kill her lover simultaneously. Yet she wants Beren to spare him. If it were me, I wouldn’t give a shit. In fact, I would cheer as Beren strangles the life out of that asshat. Don’t get me wrong, I do find Curufin and Celegorm to be nuanced and complex characters, but from Luthien’s perspective, these men have been nothing but liars to her at their best, and outright attempted murderers at their worst. I wouldn’t be too concerned with their safety or their lives if I were in her place.

To me, those are the four fundamental strengths, the beauty, of Luthien’s character. Yet all of these traits, except for the third one (ability to remain calm in tense and even terrifying situations) are juxtaposed with the fact that, when interpreted negatively, they can be considered flaws. Here we go.

Reason 1. Her determination = selfishness?

Perhaps not all aspects of Luthien’s determination can be considered selfishness. After all, we can hardly call her selfish for the inherent actions of escaping from her captors (Celegorm and Curufin) and defeating Sauron, nor can we fault her resilience and refusal to give up despite how potentially traumatic some of her experiences are. Yet all of these actions, as well as her running away from home, her journey into Morgoth’s realm, her dancing in front of Morgoth and putting him to sleep, and her decision to forsake the immortality of elves are incredibly hurtful and even insensitive towards the two people I think Luthien wronged most - her parents, Thingol and Melian.

I doubt I need to elaborate much on this. Luthien put herself in such mortal danger time and time again with her “determined” (in quotes, because, while they indisputably make her an extremely resolute person, it’s not supposed to be a compliment in this context) actions, and I can’t even begin to imagine how worried Thingol and Melian were. Perhaps Thingol more so than Melian, since Melian seemed to have some kind of foresight about Luthien’s fate.

But then again, maybe that would have brought her even more sorrow - knowing her daughter’s eventual fate. And imagine how Thingol felt, hearing that his daughter chose to follow Beren into a mortal’s fate, and that once she dies, he’ll never see her again. Ever. It’s clear through his controlling actions (imprisoning her in a treehouse) just how much Thingol loves Luthien and wants desperately to protect her.

One could interpret what was above called Luthien’s “determination” as egocentricity that spat in the face of her mother and father, especially the latter, who wanted so much to keep her safe. You could see it as a sort of, “They did so much for you, and this is how you repay them”? After all, she chose to separate from her parents for all of eternity, just because of her love for Beren. When things are taken that way, it doesn’t exactly paint Luthien in the best light; it makes her look selfish and ungrateful. So Luthien is indeed determined, but she’s also self-centered as well, in a way.

Reason 2. Her bravery = foolishness?

Like I discussed in (excessive) detail above, Luthien is brave. Like, seriously, awe-inspiringly, astoundingly brave. And while I think she’s very well capable of being clever in the moment, she doesn’t strike me as being particularly wise overall. All of her “brave” actions are surprisingly rash and have zero pragmatic basis. Why would anyone run away from home, alone and without assistance, to face Sauron? Her desire to rescue Beren is understandable, but she’s putting a lot at risk by going against such slim odds alone.

Time and time again, Luthien throws herself headlong at seemingly impossible problems and tackles them one by one. Time and time again, she manages to come out relatively unscathed, but never does she have any prior guarantee that she will. Even when she chose mortality with Beren, she had no certainty that they would remain together; that everything she sacrificed for their love might end up being pointless. Being an INTP, I find myself questioning that recklessness a lot. As amazed as I always am at her courage, I’m also reminded that, in my opinion, courage should ideally be balanced with logic, and most of Luthien’s decisions don’t strike me as being particularly logical. (If I could diagnose her MBTI personality type I’d definitely say she’s an xxFx.) So, Luthien is awe-inspiringly courageous, but may rightfully come across as very rash as well.

At the same time, though, Luthien may have been fully aware of the impossibility of what she was trying to do, but she felt that her father just wouldn’t allow her and Beren to be a thing. Therefore, from her perspective, she was doing the one and only thing that she really could do: take matters into her own hands, no matter how colossal the odds stacked against her were.

Nevertheless, the lack of practicality in her actions also ties into the next topic…

Reason 4 (like I said, Reason 3 really has no equivalent). Her compassion = naivety? (Kind of; at least, the more apt name is “Her bravery - again = naivety?”)

There’s far more to Luthien’s possible naivety then merely her sparing of Curufin, but nonetheless, it is important; this “compassion” nearly gets her and Beren killed. After all that they did to her, we have to wonder, why in the world did Luthien think that Curufin was worth sparing? Did she believe that everyone has good in them and everyone deserves a second chance? That sounds pretty naive (though arguably not so out-of-place with Tolkien’s narrative, where such notions of compassion and forgiveness are central themes).

However, this situation can be considered rather shaky grounds for indicating that Luthien is naive. We don’t know what transpired between Luthien, Curufin, and Celegorm when they held her hostage. Perhaps she learned a little bit about them somehow and recognized that they weren’t totally evil (not in the way Morgoth and Sauron are, anyway) and came to care about them, prompting her to demand that Beren spare Curufin. We don’t know.

But her “brave” actions, again, draw a fair bit of skepticism. Along with making her look courageous, yet reckless all at once, add naive to that list; Why is she doing all this? We get that she loves Beren, but does she seriously think that things will end all well and good for them? Usually the world rarely works the way we want it to.

You would think Luthien would consider that one of them might actually die trying to pull everything off. Perhaps this can be attributed, again, to her sheltered life; being an elf, surrounded by elves, and the daughter of a minor deity and an elven king, I seriously doubt that Luthien really understood the concept of death and just how final it is for humans - especially given that elves don’t stay deceased permanently. This can point to more naivety on her part; naivety that places both herself and Beren in danger.

Her decision between the Fate of Men and the Fate of Elves might also be something else that is indicative of naivety, for the same reasons that I noted above that they might be indicative of foolishness as well: Did she consider that she and Beren might not have a happy ending, even if she chose the Fate of Men? Did she think about the possibility that all of her actions might be in vain? Who knows? We have absolutely no insight on Luthien from her perspective; all we can do is speculate and interpret. Personally, I think she knew and was willing to risk it all, and I find that beautiful, but it may come across negatively to some.

One possible (quite morbid) interpretation for Luthien that erases her flaws of being reckless and/or naive, but serves to make her a much darker character and appear even more selfish, is that she knew exactly how little chance she had of succeeding in her quest, and how much chance she and Beren had of dying. Perhaps, she didn’t care. Perhaps, to her, as long as she and Beren could prove their love, it didn’t matter to her if one or both of them died along the way. Even this interpretation of her makes her an extremely heavily flawed individual, increasing her selfishness by a drastic amount.

That’s why, in my personal opinion, Luthien is far from being perfect and I don’t quite understand how the notion that she’s flawless came about. Personally, when I first read about her in The Silmarillion, she struck me as more of a child, a hopeful and idealistic girl, than a mature, adult woman. Sure, she’s insanely beautiful and has a level of luck that’s out of this world, but that doesn’t make her perfect (imo), not with so many flaws in her character.

There’s one last criticism of Luthien that I’ve noticed in the fandom: That her story begins and ends with a man (Beren), and that her entire character revolves around him. I disagree.

In my opinion, Luthien’s story begins in her father’s kingdom, long before she met Beren. She was sheltered and doted upon, and didn’t know much about the outside world. Her father was a powerful king, and her mother was a literal angel; they were both good parents and both treated her with overflowing love and affection. That was the world that Luthien knew.

Enter Beren, a scruffy, sweaty, vagabond mortal man from the outside world, someone who has endured a tough, tribulating life in the wilderness, betrayal, and the death of his father and his companions, someone who is being pursued by Morgoth. He falls in love with her, and Luthien falls in love with him. How exactly Luthien fell in love with Beren is never elaborated upon by Tolkien.

But in my personal opinion, imagine being in Luthien’s perspective, looking at this man - the first of the Secondborn that she’s ever encountered in her long life. Imagine how utterly fascinating he would be; at his (to her) young age, he’s endured more hardship than she, who was born into peace and privilege, can understand. He brings her stories about the world outside, a world that she can only imagine. And he’s kind to her. He’s in love with her. This man who has been through so much is in love with her.

Beren was Luthien’s first contact with the outside world - the real world, not the one that her father tried to keep her safe and sheltered in. He introduced to her just how dangerous and harsh it can be, but it was because of how perilous the world is that Luthien was able to develop as a character, overcoming hurdle after hurdle. In my opinion, that’s a part of why Luthien loved Beren so much. He connected her with the rest of the world and enabled her to form her own perspective of it, outside of where Thingol wanted to protect her. And I think that’s heartrending; he showed her the world, and she’s willing to give up the world for him.

I’ll tag my friend @martaaa1506 in this, because one of the few Tolkien topics we (happily and amicably, I still love her no matter what) disagree on is Luthien, and I want to hear things from a different perspective.

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