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A new Tolkien post for today ✨! These were originally separate reviews on Goodreads, but I decided to make a couple of individual longer posts to talk about some of the illustrated Tolkien books published in the last few years: In this post I'll be talking about Beren and Lúthien (which should be frankly rather titled Lúthien and Beren, but ah well), and in the next post I'll be commenting on The Fall of Gondolin from the 'Tales of Middle-earth' series, and the newly illustrated edition of Unfinished Tales from 2020, which I got as a gift after finally defending my Astrophysics PhD thesis.
As a Tolkien collector, I wanted to have all three of these books mainly because of the new illustrations by Alan Lee (alongside John Howe and Ted Nasmith for the latest edition of Unfinished Tales), but in these reviews I'm also going to gauge the pros and cons of these books regarding their material, organization, format and commentary, and how worth it they are, in my opinion, either as reading material for a Tolkienite in general, as source material for a Tolkienite scholar, or as an additional book for a Tolkien book collector. Random feminist ramblings will also feature, of course, and there will be an specific focus on these reviews regarding the representation and portrayal of female characters, as usual.
- 1) Beren and Lúthien
Book: Beren and Lúthien (2017), by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee. The second of the 'Tales of Middle-earth' series edited by Christopher Tolkien (volumes I-III) and Brian Sibley (volume IV, pending publication).
3/5. Goodreads review also here.
- Is buying this book worth it? My opinion on content and format:
To be honest, when I thumbed through this book I felt like it was kind of a rip-off, and, as much as I like Lúthien (not Beren that much, really, or the romance, but more on that below xD), I personally don't quite get the aim of this book, apart from the fact that it contains a series of new illustrations by Alan Lee, and thus it's another book that Tolkien fans can add to their collection (and that the Tolkien State can easily profit from with minimal work, I guess. There I said it 🙃 xD).
The thing that differentiates this second volume of the 'Tales of Middle-earth' series from its predecessor, The Children of Húrin, similarly edited by Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee, is that the rendition of Children of Húrin was a new and expanded one, containing a sizeable amount of new material and commentaries, as well as gorgeous illustrations by Lee. But in Beren and Lúthien (which I was initially pretty hyped about when I heard about its publication because my namesake Lúthien is one of my favourite Tolkien women), all texts found in the book were already published in former books, such as The Book of Lost Tales II, The Lays of Beleriand and other books in the History of Middle-earth series, with minimal or no changes, just a new organization.
However, even so, the idea of a book containing a compendium of all versions of the tale of Lúthien and Beren, alongside updated and expanded commentary, and brand-new illustrations by Alan Lee, does sound pretty amazing and very much worthwhile for Tolkien scholars and fans alike, right? For me, such a book sounds very enticing because it would mean I would have pretty much all material regarding the evolution of the story of Lúthien in one book, something helpful to use as source for my Tolkien women-related personal projects, for example. But the main problem with this book for me is that an organized compendium it is not.
The material included in this book is instead often heavily abridged, featuring selections and excerpts from different versions of the tale of Lúthien, but neither in their entirety (one version was presented in their entirety, and most were not, which seemed odd), nor quite in chronological order of publication, nor in o rather in order regarding the events of the story per se (confusing in the chosen inconsistency).
While the early version of The Book of Lost Tales II is presented in full, whihle no other version is, which seemed odd and strangely inconsistent. the Lay of Leithian from Lays of Beleriand appears only as excerpts and sections that often focus more on tangencial characters and storylines, like Gorlim or the mention of Fingolfin's death, rather than on Lúthien and Beren's story and quest per se, although the selection did include at least part of the sections featuring Lúthien's confrontations with Sauron and Morgoth. The final version from Quenta Silmarillion is mentioned in commentary, but no selections of text appear, and then there are some short excerpts from various books of the History of Middle-earth. The overall format was quite confusing to me, both in the decision to show some versions complete and others simply as excerpts (excerpts which also appear in different sections of the book, interwoven with other versions), as also in the way that the book seems to not quite decide whether it wants to tackle the different versions in chronological order, or rather offer selections from different versions following the events of the tale. And it ended up doing neither in a consistent way.
Furthermore, I felt like the commentary in this book didn't add a lot of new information
either, and I didn't find it very engaging or informative, as I was expecting
something more in-depth about the tale, the characters and/or the evolution of
the different existing versions, Children of Húrin style. That alone would have made this book rather more worth it, but to me it fell very short both regarding content, format, organization, and the quality of the commentary. When I bought the book, I already knew this was no Children of
Húrin and so wasn't expecting to find a lot of new material, but I
did expect a better format and more engaging commentary, and the book did not deliver those for me. So frankly,
I don't think it's fair to ask for (the original price of) 20 pounds for a not that well-organized,
abridged, selected remix of existing material 😕.
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| Alan Lee's watercolour painting of Lúthien dancing in the forest of Neldoreth, from LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring. |
- How is Lúthien portrayed in this book? Text selections and illustrations:
Still, I didn't want to give this book less than 3 stars on Goodreads because it has Lúthien in it. However, the way the texts are selected, there isn't as much emphasis as there should be about Lúthien's power and overall badassery, in my opinion. Both the text and the illustrations (more on that below) tend to focus instead on the more traditional aspects of her character, societally: Her beauty, her romantic plot, her dancing skills and her singing (but not so much her singing Songs of Power that topple down the fortresses of Dark Lords! 😐). Then again, that's what I'm always thinking practically every time I encounter something Lúthien-related. Most emphasis is often on the romance and her beauty and dancing, not on her power, magic and epic confrontations against Sauron, Carcharoth and Morgoth, which for me are the absolute highlight of Lúthien's character ✨✊.
✨ILLUSTRATIONS✨
Alan Lee's illustrations were easily my favourite part from this book - and the main reason why I got it, apart from the inclusion of Lúthien -, although I also ended up a bit disappointed about the selection of illustrations for this book as well, as I had overrated the hype of the excellent combo that Alan Lee+Lúthien would make, especially considering that I adore his watercolour painting of Lúthien from The Fellowship of the Ring (see above).
Firstly, quite a lot of the selection of illustrations for this book - including at least four colour plates - choose to depict male Elves, wolves, ravens and the like (not even Beren) instead of Lúthien. Lúthien does appear in six colour-plates and three graphite drawings. But, somehow bafflingly, in three of these six colour-plates, she is drawn small and hard to distinguish, with the main focus given to the scenery around her or to other characters. And in six out of the nine depictions of her, she is shown in the traditional mode mentioned above: Dancing - both in a graphite sketch (Fig. 1, below), and in a colour plate (Fig. 2) which focuses more on the forest of Neldoreth than in Lúthien herself, shown quite difficult to distinguish -; cowering in Tevildo's palace (Fig. 3) (and yes, she shows continuous agency in getting in there in the first place, but she was portrayed in a less badass manner in that particular version with Tevildo compared to the final one with Sauron); thrown to the ground in the very background (again, very hard to distinguish) after the attack of Celegorm and Curufin (Fig. 4); looking after wounded Beren (Fig. 5); and on the main illustration from the cover (Figs. 6a and 6b), where Lúthien does take center stage, but is also shown sitting sidesaddle on Huan (I've personally always imagined practical, intelligent Lúthien to ride Huan astride instead of sidesaddle, similarly to Ted Nasmith's illustrations), and holding hands with Beren, focusing on her role as romantic interest.
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| Fig. 1: Graphite drawing - Lúthien dancing in Neldoreth with Daeron playing the pipes. Beren being creepy eavesdropping somewhere. Is stalking and invading women's personal spaces unsolicited romantic? Hardly. |
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| Fig. 2: Watercolour plate - Lúthien dancing among the hemlocks in the forest of Neldoreth. Lúthien is painted small and hard to distinguish (I think that if she were dressed in her frequent azure and flax blues she would be easier to spot), alongside Daeron at the harp. The main focus is on the forest glade itself. |
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| Fig. 3: Watercolour plate - Lúthien, discovered in spite of her shadowy cloak, cowers from Tevildo, Prince of Cats, the predecessor of Sauron. |
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| Fig. 4: Celegorm and Curufin, creeps extraordinaire, shoot Beren after trying to kidnap Lúthien. Lúthien is with Beren and Huan in the background, hardly visible, the focus being on Celegorm and Curufin riding away after their attack. |
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| Fig. 5: Graphite sketch - Lúthien uses her healing skills and magic to cure Beren |
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| Fig. 6a: Cover of Beren and Lúthien (earlier version than the final painting shown in the actual cover), with Lúthien riding Huan sidesaddle and holding hands with Beren. |
While there's obviously nothing inherently wrong in being beautiful, enjoying dancing, possessing healing abilities or engaging in a romantic relationship (although I tend to draw the line at problematic relationships 🙃), it's often telling how it's the more traditionally feminine attributes and characteristics of Lúthien the ones which are depicted and highlighted the most often both in the text selections and in art. This is particularly baffling to me in Lúthien's case because she literally has goddess-level magic powers (she and her mother Melian - an actual Maia, technically a goddess - are the most powerful enchantressses and magic-users in Beleriand, and the fact that Lúthien bests both Sauron and Morgoth means that yes, she's more powerful than both of them as well). Lúthien also often puts to use her 'traditionally feminine' skillset to create magic that is incredibly powerful both in the offensive and defensive areas, and is characterized in a subversive way as someone who wears flowing dresses and likes dancing and singing, *and* (not 'but') she is also incredibly courageous, capable, powerful, and continuously shows agency and an active, determined will wherever she goes (until she is eventually shoehorned in her own story into a traditionally romantic story with all its tropes, even with all her badassery, but ah well, that's my pet peeve xD).
And so, in light of the fact that Lúthien is also often characterized in an incredibly badass and subversive manner in the Lay of Leithian, one thing that will forever mystify me about Tolkien artists - both professional and hobbyists - when it comes to depicting Lúthien Tinúviel is why they hardly ever fully exploit ✨✊the gold mine of awesome✨✊ that is portraying Lúthien going through all the badass af actions she can add to her personal CV: From bringing down the whole fortress of Sauron with a Song of Power (#BossLady, she created the hashtag alongside Galadriel), to escaping single-handedly from her imprisonment in Doriath with just her hair, to smiting down Carcharoth, to using her shapeshifting magic to create disguises to enter Angband, to performing her sadly rarely depicted magically-charged, literally 'winged dance' around Morgoth, the Balrogs and all the Orcs in Angband while singing more Songs of Power and kicking another Dark Lord's ass (in contrast to the more frequently portrayed male-gazey 'seductive dance' she initially entinces Morgoth with as her cover), reimagining Lúthien as a warrior as well as a powerful enchantress, there are so many options here. And yet, for each artwork that depicts one of these scenes, there's a handful with Lúthien being beautiful, being a romantic love interest, being sad, dancing and singing in a non-offensive manner, looking after Beren, being sad again. I personally think it's a shame and a waste.
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| My cosplay of Lúthien, badass magical edition. Source |
Going back to the illustrations of this book, Alan Lee does choose three of these scenarios for his selection, in two colour plates and one graphite drawing, and does depict Lúthien in her more active, badass roles. But I still found these examples to be fewer than I expected, and sometimes also executed in a way that didn't quite focus primarily on Lúthien or do her full justice, in my opinion. In one
colour plate (Fig. 7) she's shown suspended in the air against Morgoth, showing the surprisingly rarely depicted scene of Lúthien rising 'wingéd' in front of the Dark Lord of Angband while singing her Song of Power. Lúthien does radiate power and agency in this illustration, my favourite from the whole book. In another graphite sketch, Lúthien is shown transformed into the female bat Thuringwethil, servant of Sauron, flying alongside transformed Beren towards Angband (Fig. 8). But in another
plate (Fig. 9), Lee chooses to show the fortress of Sauron from a full panoramic view with Lúthien standing on the
bridge as a mere blob, focusing more on Sauron's fortress instead of depicting the also massively underused-in-artwork
epic moment where Lúthien takes down Sauron's fortress with her singing magic. While I also get the effect of showing Lúthien as a barely discernible speck in the midst of this huge dark fortress she is going to destroy just by singing, don't tell me that's not a freaking epic scene to fully paint, with Lúthien front and center and zoomed-in, because it is. My favourite Lúthien cosplay pictures are a tribute to that xD (see above).
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| Fig. 7: Watercolour plate - Lúthien is shown center-stage in this painting rising with a powerful, defiant pose in her 'wingéd dance' and singing her Song of Power against Morgoth. Various creatures are shown asleeep inside Angband, and Beren is huddled in the forefront alongside asleep Balrogs, Orcs and the like. |
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| Fig. 8: Graphite drawing - Lúthien flies towards Angband transformed into Thuringwethil, bat servant of Sauron, with Beren disguised as a werewolf below her. |
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| Fig. 9: Watercolour plate - Lúthien approaches Tol-in-Gaurhoth,
the fortress of Sauron, determined to free Beren even if that means
crushing the whole fortress down to its foundations (queen xD). The
focus of the painting is the fortress rather than Lúthien, however. |
Some examples of why I don't really like this romance (I was initially supposed to review *three* books here lol, but then a feminist analysis appeared xD):
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| All extraordinary women deserve to be admired and respected the way Galadriel is, to be honest. Become even 1% less extraordinary just because of a relationship? She says nope can do. |
-It's the epytome of the trope of the extraordinary woman whose considerable powers and skills (be they magical, warlike, intellectual, or a combination of all these) are at the service of the more objectively mediocre man. A man who 99% of the time also ends up - or even begins by - being in a romantic relationship with her simply because he's worth it (being a man), and also because the extraordinary woman often and very bafflingly (well, men often write them, so that's why) doesn't have standards, doesn't recognize red flags and accepts the first dude that falls for her no matter what 🙃 (if we ignore the Friendzoned Nice Guy act of Daeron, that is :S xD). I'm sorry, but that's the tea. I love Lúthien's epicness and power, but she basically does all Beren's work, with the added aggravating fact that said more mediocre man is often talked about as the actual main character and hero, both in the tales, in the commentary, by Tolkien in his letters, by part of the fandom.
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| And your treatment in Multiverse of Madness wasn't fair either, Wanda. |
Related to this, in one of the quotes selected for this book, in one of his letters Tolkien actually refers to Lúthien, with all her power, 'a mere maiden even if an elf of royalty', and centers his conversation on how heroic Beren is: "Beren is the outlawed mortal who succeeds (with the help of Lúthien, a mere maiden even if an elf of royalty) where all the armies and warriors have failed: he penetrates the stronghold of the Enemy and wrests one of the Silmarilli from the Iron Crown. Thus he wins the hand of Lúthien". Um, wtf. Lúthien's literally a powerful half-goddess with way more offensive capabilities, experience and wisdom than Beren ever had, but she's also called a 'mere maiden' who 'helped' Beren the Hero out because of her gender, while the mortal, power-free male is hailed as the brave hero, and nothing 'mere' about it, apparently, in spite of doing like 5% of the work during the Quest, and that's being generous (Lúthien allowed them to be able to enter Angband!). And let's also remember that in the fandom Lúthien's also often branded as a 'Mary Sue' because of the sheer power she wields and her many capabilities - because the Valar forbid a powerful woman (whose power and skills make total sense in terms of her nature and characterization) exist among an ocean of societally-accepted powerful men, am I right?
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| River relates and yes, I am right. |
-The romance and the dynamic between Beren and Lúthien (or rather, of Beren with Lúthien) is just problematic when you delve minimally into it, quite frankly. They look like a power couple, but are they really? Prior to even meeting and during their very first meeting, Beren shows more than one sign of male entitlement and the consistent red flag behaviour of a creep and a stalker, spying and following her around while she thinks she's dancing and singing alone in her forest (the audacity of women being alone and tempting men with their looks and songs, am I right), and then, in all versions of the tale, basically sexually assaulting her when he calls to her, pursues her, grabs her and kisses her without a by your leave. Why Lúthien would find that attractive is beyond me (well, a man did write her, and, even taking into account her subversive active personality and amazing skill, that shows).
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| If powerful demigoddesses aren't safe dancing alone at night in a realm magically protected by another goddess, who is?? |
One quote from an early version from The Book of Lost Tales II describes the interaction thusly: "Thus suddenly did he lay his hand upon her slender arm beneath the leaves, and with a cry she started away from him and flitted as fast as she could in the wan light (...). The tender touch of her arm made Beren yet more eager than before to find her, and he followed swiftly and yet not swiftly enough, for in the end she escaped him, and reached the dwellings of her father in fear; nor did she dance alone in the woods for many a day after." I think all women can relate to this feeling. And yet the interaction is painted as high romance, the ultimate heroic fantasy romance. In the very same page of this version, Tinúviel keeps getting stalked by Beren for months, and yet she grows fond and unafraid of him because of his 'sad, yearning face' and, without even knowing who he is or what his intentions are (I mean, those are clear anyway, he's obsessed with her :S) ends up feeling flattered that he likes to observe her dancing. That is so not relatable. Male writing in action.
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| *channelling Thranduil's I'm done with everything 24/7 attitude* Sure thing, serial stalking and non-con grabbing and kissing is romantic af. Why Tolkien, why. |
After this non-consensual grabbing and kissing as a means of romantic meeting (not), Lúthien is
then supposed to fall in love with him completely at first sight (because that's the natural reaction when a male stranger who's obsessed with your beauty and little else stalks you for months and then grabs you and kisses you when you were just minding your business), then she's putting all her power at the service of a quest devised by men who presume to treat her as a possession which passes from one man (Thingol the father of the millenium) to another (entitled lover-husband wannabe Beren) as recompense in exchange for a pretty jewel, and ultimately expected to sacrifice her everything, losing her actual
lifestyle and immortality for this man who met her by forcibly kissing her. Romantic? Not to me.
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| And that's the tea |
And then the woman who's being treated as a thing by near everyone in this tale does the majority of the work to succeed in this quest, involving a lot of misogynistic-flavoured obstacles and a lot of hard work, including but not limited to (brace yourselves):
- Having to break free of her father's imprisonment (because men still think they own women no matter how powerful they are, and Thingol sucks as a father)
- Being kidnapped and forcibly detained by rapey Feänorians (a dog is literally her only ally. Celegorm was so set on raping Lúthien that Huan had to literally stand guard at her door 24/7 till they escaped, and bare his teeth and snarl at his former master so that he would leave her alone. Yay :|)
- Having to destroy Sauron's fortress to rescue her lover while Sauron is beeing leery about what he would do with her (didn't know what was coming for him, did Mairon)
- Curing said injured lover from another attack from the Feänorians who intended to kidnap her again (side note, they suck big time, but so do many men in The Silmarillion welp)
- Transforming herself and Beren into servants of Sauron (10 points to cosplay magic xD)
- Taking down a huge wolf guarding the gate of Angband (Lúthien literally multitasking with the badass shit and taking down dark creature after dark creature, and Beren literally wanted to abandon her and go alone lol)
- Feigning to have come all the way to Angband to seduce the leery creep Morgoth into complacency (totally empowering for women, huh! And the entitled idiot believes her)
- And then throwing all her singing and epic flying dancing magic at him and literally putting him and every creature in Angband to freaking sleep, Balrogs and all (after which Beren cuts the Silmaril from the crown because he wants to be helpful and get brownie points or something, but then again, he also causes the whole of Angband to wake again because he's kinda dumb with his plans, so maybe not)
- Then curing Beren again when his hand is bitten by Carcharoth because he woke up the whole of Angband again (seriously, Lúthien should have cut the Silmaril from the crown while she was at it)
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| "Beren is the hero of the Quest of the Silmaril" Dude, Lúthien is literally *right there*. She literally does *everything* and doesn't at least get hyped and praised, as she should? I'm suing. |
Lúthien then of course also gives away her immortality in exhange of a mortal life with Beren because Elven women do that as an instinctual feminine thing when they're in love, we're told, but male Elves are rather more reticent about it (ahem, Aegnor). And she ends up living a very traditionally-structured life isolated from her mother (do I care about Thingol? Nope), friends and family, as a wife and a mother and a beautiful woman who dances and sings for Beren but never again shows the amazing feats of power featured in the Quest, with a short life and a very beautiful Silmaril to briefly wear until it shortens her already brief new mortal life. Yay!
While there's nothing wrong per se with actually choosing to marry, be a mother or partake in traditional activities that one may actually enjoy, having such an incredibly powerful woman simply end up like that because that's the societally accepted happy ending? Anticlimactic is the word (and Galadriel didn't have to tone down shit when she got married, btw, so it's doable). And all this time? Beren of course deserves such an extraordinary woman as Lúthien, so much so that she as a result should certainly work so much and sacrifice so much for him because he's so worth it. Because everything is of little value in exchange for the promise of the traditional married heternormative life every woman longs for from the beginning (this is literally what Tolkien says in the infamous letter 42 - Tolkien's work is great and all, but if you also want a taste of stagnating conservative values about gender roles and relationships, that's the letter you want to peruse :S!).
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| Totally a 100% great deal for every woman! |
When it comes to this tale, I would honestly, really love to see a power couple with two people who work together and take down the bad guys and go through obstacles as a tandem, and genuinely appreciate and love each other. But in this case, that's not what I see, unfortunately. While I love Lúthien being a badass who ends up doing nearly all the heavy lifting, the balance dynamic still comes off quite unequal instead of just subversive and indicative of a more egalitarian dynamic, and this is because the motivations for the Quest are masculine codes of 'honour' and female ownership, and she multitasks through it all at the service of said men, who just seem to see her as a pretty object.
And the famed romance is still based on 'she's beautiful and he wanted a piece of that, and she fell in love at first sight in response because a man wrote her', and that isn't deep enough ot believable enough for me, I have to say. Because we also need to highlight the fact that Beren's main motivation to want to marry Lúthien is that she's incredibly beautiful, dances really well, and well, that's all there needs to be! He does call refer to her as brave sometimes, if I remember correctly (although Huan is the one who's mainly hyping her up), but in a truly equal dynamic firstly he would not have outright stalked and assaulted her, right? 🙃
Secondly they would preferably have things in common that would help build a significant relationship, but their dynamic post-stalking and pre-quest involves Lúthien dancing for him (mainly) and sporadically with him, and them 'being in love' in a generic way. Which I guess could work in a kinda bland way (except for the fact that Lúthien's dancing wasn't originally intended to entertain or titillate a man - although Nice Guy Daeron might have thought otherwise as well :S), but there are other red flags, as we have discussed. And thirdly, if he really liked her as a person, he would very probably want to hype her up and talk to her and about her regarding how badass, witty and powerful she is, and...he doesn't really do that, and if he did it was so sporadical I have forgotten about it (Lúthien's dog friend Huan does hype her up, a lot more. Heh). Because she's beautiful, and that's the main reason why this romance exists for him, it seems ("I desire thy daughter Tinúviel, for she is the fairest and most sweet of all maidens I have seen or dreamed of", he says in Book of Lost Tales II, for example).
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| This gif is a must, come on xD |
In conclusion, I love the character of Lúthien in itself, how utterly powerful and capable she is, but I resent and hate the way her character is made to revolve around entitled problematic men, and how all the men in the tale are constantly throwing obstacles in her path. No to Thingol, the controlling father. No to Daeron, the 'friendzoned' Nice Guy who doesn't get any in spite of offering free music for her dancing (the audacity. Pay me back for my free karaokes!). No to Beren, the stalker entitled guy who thinks he deserves the extraordinary woman just because she's beautiful and he called to her, who insists on the stupid quest when he could have opted out and stayed with Lúthien on their own terms, and who then made dumb decisions in the midst of Lúthien's unlauded multitasking (let's leave Lúthien asleep because I can totally handle Angband after the Sauron fiasco she rescued me from! Then let's sing so loud the creatures of Morgoth might hear me, and Lúthien too! Then let's prick Morgoth's foot after Lúthien's hard work while trying to pry off a second Silmaril you didn't even need!). No to Celegorm and Curufin, the rapey entitled brats. Yes to Huan, the only ally Lúthien seems to have, a freaking giant hound. Yes to Melian, who does support her daughter, but who, in spite of being an actual goddess, seems to need to answer to the commands of her Elven husband (hello, Patriarchy). And of course, no to Sauron and Morgoth, who get their asses kicked by Lúthien's badassery but not before they can tell the readers and Lúthien about their creepy lustful and rapey intentions towards her. But hey, at least the narration is honest about it and Lúthien is adequately creeped out and responds by taking them down. Beren basically stalks the shit out of her for months and assaults her by taking her in his arms and kissing her without her freaking consent, and it's all apparently 'so romantic'? So much that as a response she sacrifices her everything for him, including her freaking immortality? For a dude apparently only interested in how beautiful she is?? Yep, after so many years I'm still so not getting it, but now I'm kinda repeating myself xDD.
I could definitely go on about how the fact that JRR Tolkien considered his wife Edith to be the inspiration for Lúthien and called himself Beren in association, and how we can definitely see a projection of some points of their dynamic (not all of them unproblematic) and his idea of an ideal F/M romantic relationship by comparing his real life relationship with his story of Lúthien and Beren as a romantic duo. But that is a whole different (but related) can of worms to analyse, and I do have at least a post about Edith planned, so that's enough controversial Tolkien women opinions for today, folks 😅 😂 xD!
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| Lúthien out xD |
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