Lay of Lúthien

The Lay of Lúthien,The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A: Annals of the Kings and Rulers, (v): "Here Follows a Part of The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen" also known as the Lay of Leithian: Release from BondageThe History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III: "The Lay of Leithian" or the tale of Tinúviel, was a lengthy sad tale made in the ann-thennath Elvish verse mode telling the story of Beren, Lúthien, and the Quest for the Silmaril.The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Ch. XI: "A Knife in the Dark", pgs. 203-6
==History==
Sometime between the years 503Lay of Leithian (note 1) on The Encyclopedia of Arda and 538Lay of Lúthien (note 1) on The Encyclopedia of Arda of the late First Age, the Lay of Lúthien was likely among many tales and songs that were made in the Havens of Sirion. It was said to be the second longest lay; only being beaten in length by Dírhaval's Narn i Chîn Húrin.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Two: "Valinor and Middle-earth before The Lord of the Rings", VI: Quenta Silmarillion", pg. 296
By the time of the late Third Age, the ending of the lay was forgotten and only Elrond in Rivendell could remember it "as it was told of old".
When Aragorn II saw Arwen in Rivendell for the first time, he sang an excerpt from the Lay of Lúthien telling of Beren and Lúthien's first meeting in the Forest of Neldoreth.
In the year 3018, Aragorn sang the same excerpt on Weathertop in the Weather Hills to distract Frodo Baggins, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took, and Samwise Gamgee from their fears. Afterwards, Aragorn summarized the lay and explained its history and form to the hobbits. He also comments that his Westron-translated excerpt was "but a rough echo of" the original since the lay is difficult to translate.
==Text==
The leaves were long, the grass was green,
The hemlock-umbels tall and fair,
And in the glade a light was seen
Of stars in shadow shimmering.
Tinúviel was dancing there
To music of a pipe unseen,
And light of stars was in her hair,
And in her raiment glimmering.
There Beren came from mountains cold,
And lost he wandered under leaves,
And where the Elven-river rolled
He walked alone and sorrowing.
He peered between the hemlock-leaves
And saw in wonder flowers of gold
Upon her mantle and her sleeves,
And her hair like shadow following.
Enchantment healed his weary feet
That over hills were doomed to roam;
And forth he hastened, strong and fleet,
And grasped at moonbeams glistening.
Through woven woods in Elvenhome
She lightly fled on dancing feet,
And left him lonely still to roam
In the silent forest listening.
He heard there oft the flying sound
Of feet as light as linden-leaves,
Or music welling underground,
In hidden hollows quavering.
Now withered lay the hemlock-sheaves,
And one by one with sighing sound
Whispering fell the beechen leaves
In the wintry woodland wavering.
He sought her ever, wandering far
Where leaves of years were thickly strewn,
By light of moon and ray of star
In frosty heavens shivering.
Her mantle glinted in the moon,
As on a hilltop high and far
She danced, and at her feet was strewn
A mist of silver quivering.
When winter passed, she came again,
And her song released the sudden spring,
Like rising lark, and falling rain,
And melting water bubbling.
He saw the elven-flowers spring
About her feet, and healed again
He longed by her to dance and sing
Upon the grass untroubling.
Again she fled, but swift he came.
Tinúviel! Tinúviel!
He called her by her elvish name,
And there she halted listening.
One moment stood she, and a spell
His voice laid on her: Beren came,
And doom fell on Tinúviel
That in his arms lay glistening.
As Beren looked into her eyes
Within the shadows of her hair,
The trembling starlight of the skies
He saw there mirrored shimmering.
Tinúviel the elven-fair,
Immortal maiden elven-wise,
About him cast her shadowy hair
And arms like silver glimmering.
Long was the way that fate them bore,
O'er stony mountains cold and grey,
Through halls of iron and darkling door,
And woods of nightshade morrowless.
The Sundering Seas between them lay,
And yet at last they met once more,
And long ago they passed away
In the forest singing sorrowless.
==In other versions==
In June of 1925, a poem that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote that year,The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III: "The Lay of Leithian", Canto I: (Of Thingol), Commentary on Canto I, pg. 159 (footnote) Light as Leaf on Lindentree, appeared in a volume of The Gryphon Magazine, a Leeds University publication.The Gryphon Magazine, New Series: Vol. VI, no. 6, pg. 217 The poem was revised and incorporated into an early version of the Narn i Chîn Húrin where one of Morwen's servants sang the poem as they entered Doriath with Túrin. In this version, Tolkien gave the poem many variations of names including As Light as Leaf on Lindentree, Light as Leaf on Linden-tree, As Light as Leaf on Linden-tree, and Light as Leaf on Linden. This scene in The Lay of the Children of Húrin was deduced by Christopher Tolkien as being the predecessor of the scene of Aragorn singing the excerpt "before the attack of the Ringwraiths" on Weathertop Hill.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, I: "The Lay of the Children of Húrin", I: "Túrin's Fostering", pgs. 108-10, 120-6
Tolkien later reworked the poem into Canto III of The Lay of Leithian.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. III: The Lays of Beleriand, III: "The Lay of Leithian", Canto III: (Beren's meeting with Lúthien), Commentary on Canto III, pgs. 181-2
While writing The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien made another variation of the poem's name, Light on Linden Tree, and revised it until it came close to the published version.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, "The First Phase", X: "The Attack on Weathertop", pgs. 179-80, 184, 187
In an early version of the Rivendell chapters, Bilbo Baggins was to sing Tinúviel, an excerpt from the Lay of Lúthien which may possibly have been the same as Light as Leaf on Lindentree. Tolkien decided against this, having Bilbo sing an early version of The Short Lay of Eärendel: Eärendillinwë instead.The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, "The Story Continued", XXIII: "In the House of Elrond", pg. 412 (note 6)
==In adaptations==
===The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring===
In the first film of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, after passing through the Midgewater Marshes, Aragorn sings a song in Elvish while keeping watch during the night. He tells Frodo that it is "the lay of Lúthien, an Elf-maid who gave her love to Beren, a mortal" man.
==References==
Category:Poems in The Fellowship of the Ring
Category:Poems in The Lays of Beleriand
Category:Tales
de:Lied von Beren und Lúthien
it:Canzone di Beren e Lúthien