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"I don't remember this bit. None of it's familiar." The majority of this article or section is of questionable accuracy; please either remove or correct false information, adding references as appropriate. |
| This article is about the chapter in The Lays of Beleriand. For the in-universe lay, see Lay of Lúthien. |
The Lay of Leithian is the third chapter of The Lays of Beleriand in The History of Middle-earth series. The chapter focuses on an unfinished poem of the same name in rhyming couplets written by J.R.R. Tolkien during the 1930s. It contains the story of Beren and Lúthien, a mortal Man and an immortal Elf maiden. It was published after Tolkien's death in The Lays of Beleriand, the third volume of The History of Middle-earth. The poem is divided into thirteen Cantos, each followed with commentary by Christopher Tolkien.
The battle of Finrod Felagund and Sauron in songs of power is a poem from the Lay of Leithian, published in The Silmarillion:
He chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape,
Of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps.
Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.
Then the gloom gathered; darkness growing
In Valinor, the red blood flowing
Beside the Sea, where the Noldor slew
The Foamriders, and stealing drew
Their white ships with their white sails
From lamplit havens. The wind wails,
The wolf howls. The ravens flee.
The ice mutters in the mouths of the Sea.
The captives sad in Angband mourn.
Thunder rumbles, the fires burn--
And Finrod fell before the throne.
Cantos[]
| Canto # | Summary of Events |
|---|---|
| Canto I | Introduction of Thingol, Lúthien, Doriath, and Melian, as well as a light history on the surrounding regions of Beleriand. |
| Canto II | History of Beren, the betrayal of Gorlim to Morgoth, the death of Barahir and the XII Bëorings. Beren becomes an outlaw, wandering the lands between the Iron Hills and Doriath. He nears Doriath. |
| Canto III | The history of Thingol and Melian. Describes the joy of Doriath, a stronghold against the pain of Morgoth. Beren sees Lúthien dancing to Dairon's tune, and steppes into the clearing. Dairon runs in fear, but Lúthien hides. Beren touches her arm while she is hiding, and she flees. Beren lingers in the woods, and eventually finds Lúthien again. He calls her Tinúviel! and at the call of her name she does not flee. He catches her, and kisses her. |
| Canto IV | Beren falls asleep near where he met Lúthien, and wakes up alone. He waits there, until she returns at dusk, and dances before him. This happens for many days in a row. But Dairon sees, and casts a curse of silence over the forest, so that the birds don't sing, and the leaves make no sound. Thingol summons Daeron, and asks him why the wood is silent. Daeron says, 'Where one went lonely two now go'. Thingol is angered for Dairon's riddle-speak. Lúthien then speaks, and tells of Beren. She has Thingol swear not to kill Beren nor chain him, before she leads him to Thingol. Beren then asks for Lúthien's hand, and Thingol tells him if he should claim a Silmaril, he could wed her. Beren leaves. |
| Canto V | Daeron releases the curse of silence. Lúthien speaks to Melian, and learns that Beren was captured by Thû. Lúthien tries to leave, but tells Dairon, who betrays her to the King. Thingol then imprisons Lúthien in Hírilorn. She then uses a powerful spell that makes her hair grow, then weaves it into a cloak. She casts a spell of sleepiness on the cloak, which hides her, and uses the excess hair as a rope to escape. |
| Canto VI | Light history of the Sons of Fëanor and their Oath, the saving of Finrod and his company in the Nírnaeth Arnoediad, and Finrod's oath to help Barahir's kin. Beren is Barahir's son. Beren finds his way to the lands near Nargothrond, the Elves of Nargothrond are about to capture Beren, but he holds up Barahir's ring. They then led him into Nargothrond, where he told his tale. Finrod desires to join his quest in homage of his oath to Beren, and tries to get a large number of Elves to follow; but Celegorm and Curufin speak, and so only ten leave with Beren. Orodreth rules in Finrod's stead. |
| Canto VII | Finrod, Beren, and his ten companions travel towards Angband. They encounter a caravan of twelve Orcs, and kill them all, and disguise themselves as Orcs. Finrod then sings a Song of Power, which configures their features to look like Orcs. Thû sees their coming, and has them brought to his tower. He interrogates them, and finds holes in their story. He then engages Finrod in a battle via Songs of Power (in which Finrod's power is very great), and defeats him. They were revealed, and Thû forcefully interrogates them again, and threatens them with pain. They will not tell. |
| Canto VIII | Light history of the past of Huan. Curufin leaves with Huan to go 'hunting', really desiring to watch for Felagund, should he return. Huan then sees Lúthien disguised in her cloak, chases her down, and brings her back to Curufin, who falls in love with her. Curufin and Celegorm keep her prisoner, to force Thingol to give Lúthien's hand in marriage. Lúthien forms a deep bond with Huan. Huan speaks for the first of three times, and says, 'Lady beloved, whom all Men, whom Elfinesse, and whom all things with fur and fell and feathered wings should serve and love- arise! away! Put on thy cloak! Before the day comes over Nargothrond we fly to Northern perils, thou and I'. |
| Canto IX | Thû sends a wolf to kill Beren and Finrod. Finrod kills the wolf, but dies in the process. Lúthien arrives in the tower, and sings to him; he sings back, but in a stupour caused by grief over Finrod. Thû addresses Lúthien, asking why she came; like 'the foolish fly to the web unsought'. Thû sends many wolves after her, but Huan kills them all. Thû releases Draugluin, the lord of werewolves, who gives a harder fight, but Huan still wins. Thû then takes the shape of a wolf, and assaults Huan himself; but even then Huan wins. Lúthien tells Thû to give her the 'words of opening'. She then finds Beren near Finrod's corpse, and wakes him from his stupour. She sleeps in Beren's arms. |
| Canto X | Beren and Lúthien wander in the woods, happily together; and Orodreth, hearing news of Finrod's death, expels Celegorm and Curufin from Nargothrond. Beren and Lúthien travel towards Doriath. When they near, Beren tries to convince Lúthien to return to Doriath, and Lúthien then likewise tries to convince Beren to give up his quest for the Silmaril. Their debate is interrupted by Celegorm and Curufin attacking them. A large, long battle ensued; but ended when they defeat Celegorm and Curufin. But as they retreat, Celegorm shoots an arrow at Lúthien; but Beren blocks it with his chest. The arrow is poisoned, but Lúthien heals him. Huan forsakes his master Curufin. They spend the night on the eaves of Doriath. Beren wakes himself faster than Lúthien, and leaves her there in safety so he might not worry about her. |
| Canto XI | Description of Dor-na-Fauglith. Beren nears Angband, but Lúthien catches up to him. Huan arrives, carrying Draugluin and a cloak of 'bat-like garb'. They wear the skins as cloaks of disguise. They enter Angband. |
| Canto XII | Recounting of Fingolfin's duel with Morgoth. Morgoth creates Carcharoth as he hears news of Huan at Thû's tower, and sets Carcharoth as his door-warden. In Draugluin's skin, Beren speaks to Carcharoth, and tries to persuade him to open the door. Carcharoth grows suspicious, and distrusts Lúthien, who is disguised as a vampire. Lúthien casts off her bat-skin, and uses her cloak of enchanted sleep to put Carcharoth to sleep. |
| Canto XIII | Description of Angband. Beren and Lúthien enter Morgoth's throne-room. Morgoth espies Lúthien flying above in her bat-skin, and sees through it. He bade her to come down. Lúthien comes down and casts off her bat-garment. Morgoth then speaks of her to be used like a flower 'Honey-sweet to kiss, and cast then bruised', and reaches towards her. She shies away, and dances a magical dance of sleep; she quickly puts to sleep Orcs and Balrogs, but not yet Morgoth. Then, after long dances, he finally nods off to sleep. Beren uses a knife which he took from his confrontation with Curufin and cuts out a Silmaril. He then tries to cut another, but the knife snaps and embeds itself in Morgoth's brow. |
| Canto XIV | Beren and Lúthien try to run, but are stopped by Carcharoth. Beren moves to protect Lúthien from Carcharoth, and grasps the wolf by the throat, and strikes it with his right hand, which contains a Silmaril; but Carcharoth bit off his hand, and the Silmaril with it. |
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Albanian | Kënga e Leithianit |
| Bavarian | Leithianliadl |
| Catalan | Lai de Leithian |
| Danish | Laiet om Leithian |
| Dutch | Ballade van Leithian |
| Finnish | Leithianin laulu |
| French | Lai de Leithian |
| Georgian | სიმღერა ლეითჰიანზე |
| German | Leithian-Lied |
| Italian | Canto di Leithian |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Песна на Леитиан |
| Norwegian | Sangen av Leithian |
| Persian | سروده لیثیان |
| Polish | Ballada o Leithian |
| Portuguese | Balada de Leithian |
| Russian | Песнь Лейтиане |
| Slovenian | Leithianova pesem |
| Spanish | Balada de Leithian |
| Thai | ลำนำแห่งเลย์ธิอัน |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Пісня Леітіана |
External links[]
- Of Hunters Lore... OpenMic Video: Excerpt of the Lay of Leithian (Canto II) by Loren & Strumstick Messiah