Beren

Beren, also called Beren Erchamion, was a man of the First House of the Edain, and a hero whose romance with the Elf-maiden Lúthien was one of the great stories of the Elder Days told for many ages after.
With Lúthien he fathered Dior Eluchîl, whose grandsons would be Elros Tar-Minyatur and Elrond Half-elven.
==Biography==
===Life in Dorthonion===
Beren was one of the Edain (Men), the son of Barahir and Emeldir the man-hearted. He was of the noble House of Bëor of Dorthonion and was the most accomplished hero and adventurer of the First Age. The battle of the Dagor Bragollach befell during his youth, bringing about the ruin of his people. The young Beren lived with his father and eleven loyal followers in the highlands of Dorthonion, and the thirteen of them performed many acts of bravery, to the great frustration of Morgoth, the Dark Lord of Angband.
After the ruin of the XII Bëorings of Dorthonion and the death of his father, Beren hunted the Orcs responsible, killing Gorgol and reclaiming the hand of his father and Ring of Barahir. After this he lived alone off the land in Dorthonion; he came to know the many birds and beasts that lived there, and they helped him when he had need. During this time, he hunted nothing and ate no meat and killed only the creatures of Morgoth that roamed the country. He learned not to fear death, only captivity and bondage; however, things began to grow more difficult for him, for Morgoth put an even greater price on his head and he was forced from the land of his birth by Sauron and Draugluin. He passed through the forests of Nan Dungortheb, then into Doriath, breaching the Girdle of Melian as prophesied, where he saw and fell in love with Lúthien, princess of the Sindar and daughter of Thingol and Melian.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XIX: "Of Beren and Lúthien"
=== Quest for the Silmaril ===
Thingol haughtily refused to give Lúthien's hand in marriage. He said that he would allow the marriage only if Beren brought back a Silmaril from the Iron Crown of Morgoth. The task was intended to be impossible, but Beren and Lúthien, with the aid of Finrod of Nargothrond and Huan the Great Hound, braved many perils (even besting Sauron, then Morgoth's most powerful lieutenant) and took a Silmaril. However, as they escaped from Angband, the great wolf Carcharoth, whom Morgoth had personally bred, awoke. Beren held out the Silmaril, hoping that its radiance would avert the beast, but he was mistaken. Carcharoth bit off his hand, swallowed it and the Silmaril (thus Beren was called Erchamion, One-hand), and proceeded to run rampant through Doriath. Lúthien and the unconscious Beren were rescued by the Eagles of Manwë. When he presented himself to Thingol, he demonstrated to him that he had obtained, then lost the Silmaril at the cost of one of his hands; he was then given the name Camlost, Empty-handed. Beren participated in the hunting of Carcharoth, where the beast was slain and the Silmaril recovered; the quest was accomplished, but in the process Beren was mortally wounded.
=== Second life ===
Lúthien's love for Beren was so strong that, upon hearing of his death, she lay down and died. Her soul went to the Halls of Mandos, where she managed to charm Mandos into granting her a wish. Both she and Beren were miraculously restored to life, but both of them would live as mortals and die the death of Men, and go beyond the walls of Arda to a place unknown. Thus Beren and Lúthien lived again, and dwelt on Tol Galen in the middle of the river Adurant in Ossiriand. There they stayed apart from other mortals; Beren was involved with the events of the First Age only one further time, when he waylaid a group of Dwarves who had sacked Menegroth and stolen the Nauglamír (and the Silmaril with it).
Lúthien bore Beren a son, named Dior, Thingol's heir, considered to be one of the fairest beings to ever live, for in him flowed the blood of Men, of Elves, and of the Ainur. Through his descendants, the blood of Beren and of Lúthien was preserved among the Eldar and the Edain.
=== Legacy ===
Beren's deeds inspired all the peoples opposing Morgoth to unite themselves into a greater force to vanquish his power, resulting in the valiant but doomed Union of Maedhros.The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XX: "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad" His romance and love for Lúthien Tinúviel and what he was willing to do to ensure it helped foster greater respect for men amongst the Elves. 
The union of Beren and Lúthien was the first between a mortal Man and an Elven maid. His granddaughter Elwing married Earendil, son of Tuor and Idril, thus becoming the great-grandfather of Elrond and Elros, the first being one of the most influential figures of the Second and Third Age and the second the first King of Númenor. Her lineage passed down to the royal House of Elros of Númenor, and then to the House of Elendil, and on to the Kings of the Reunited Kingdom and beyond. Beren's romance with Lúthien is one of the great stories of the Elder Days, and it is mirrored by the later romance between their descendants Aragorn and Arwen Evenstar. According to legend, his line would never be broken as long as the world lasted.
==Weapons==
As an outlaw in Dorthonion, Beren used the sword Dagmor and a bow to aid him in his journey. Later, he carried the knife Angrist, which he used to cut the Silmaril from Morgoth's crown.
==Etymology==
In Ñoldorin, Beren means "bold".The History of Middle-earth, Vol. V: The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies"
His epithets, Erchamion ("one-handed") and Camlost ("empty-handed"), both contain the Sindarin word cam ("hand").The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin names
== Inspiration and evolution of character ==
The story of Beren and Lúthien, though mentioned only briefly in The Lord of the Rings, was a central part of the legendarium. J.R.R. Tolkien once referred to it as "the kernel of the mythology".The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 165 He went on to say that it "arose from a small woodland glade filled with 'hemlocks', which he visited while serving in the Humber Garrison in 1918 (during World War I).
Tyr, a god of Norse Mythology, was a possible literary inspiration for Beren's loss of his hand to the wolf.
When Tolkien died in 1973, he was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery (North Oxford). The inscription on his gravestone reads:
:JOHN RONALD REUEL TOLKIEN Beren 1892 - 1973
The name of Lúthien also appears on the stone of his wife Edith:
:EDITH MARY TOLKIEN Lúthien 1889 – 1971
== In other versions ==
In the earliest version of the legendarium, Beren was going to be human, but Tolkien erased over the original versions and wrote over much of the text. The details of the original version of the story are little known.Beren and Lúthien
In the written draft, and published version Beren was changed to a Gnome (a Ñoldorin Elf), son of Egnor bo-Rimion (which might have been an early name for Aegnor).The History of Middle-earth, Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Part One, chapter X: "Gilfanon's Tale: The Travail of the Noldoli and the Coming of Mankind" According to Beren and Lúthien Egnor and Egnor (Aegnor) are two separate persons. Due to Christopher's plan to avoid too much editorial influence, he does not 'fix' or edit Beren's race to be consistent between different chapters of the story, but retains whatever race his father had used at the time of wring each section of the story for what he considers the 'continuous and standalone story' derived from all the sources.
Some of the artwork included in the book (all of which is drawn by Alan Lee) seems to reflect Beren's interchanging Elven ancestry - in particular the cover artwork, which appears to portray a scene from The Tale of Tinúviel with Beren, Lúthien, and Huan.
==Translations==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Amharic 	በረን
Arabic 	بيرين
Armenian 	Բերեն
Assamese 	বেৰেন
Belarusian Cyrillic	Берен
Bengali 	বেরেন
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Берен (Beren)
Берен Ерхамион (Beren Erchamion)
Cambodian 	ប៊ែន
Chinese (Hong Kong)	貝倫
Georgian 	ბერენი
Greek 	βερεν
Gujarati 	બેરેન
Hebrew 	בירין
Hindi 	बेरेन
Japanese 	ベレン
Kannada 	ಬೆರೆನ್
Kazakh 	Берен (Cyrillic) Beren (Latin)
Konkani 	बेरेन
Korean 	베렌
Kyrgyz Cyrillic 	Бэрэн
Macedonian Cyrillic	Берен
Malayalam 	ബെരെൻ
Marathi 	बेरेन
Mongolian Cyrillic 	Бэрэн
Nepalese 	बेरेन
Pashto 	بېرېن
Persian 	برن
Punjabi 	ਬੇਰੇਨ
Russian 	Берен (Beren)
Берен Эрхамион (Beren Erchamion)
Sanskrit 	बेरेन्
Serbian 	Берен (Cyrillic) Beren (Latin)
Sinhalese 	බෙරෙන්
Tajik Cyrillic 	Берен
Tamil 	பெரெந்
Telugu 	బెరెన
Thai 	เบเรน
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Берен (Beren)
Берен Ерхаміон (Beren Erchamion)
Urdu 	باران
Uzbek 	Берен (Cyrillic) Beren (Latin)
Yiddish 	בערענ
==References==
Category:Bëorians
Category:Lords of Ladros
Category:Elf friends
Category:The Silmarillion characters
Category:Characters in The History of Middle-earth
Category:Characters in Beren and Lúthien
Category:Edain
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uk:Берен Ерхаміон