![]() When Tolkien left for the Somme as a second lieutenant, he wrote that "Junior officers were being killed off, a dozen a minute. World War I was a meat grinder into which Britain's young men were fed with their eyes open. I was going to type something like "Elves, true love, magical dog, obviously this tale was written in more innocent times" - but that isn't true. The disapproval of Lúthien's father sends the two lovers on a series of perilous quests, but they rescue each other through bravery, music and love - with an assist from a magical dog. The next year, he began composing the earliest version of a tale to which he would always return: The love of Beren, a mortal man, and Lúthien, daughter of the Elven King of the forest realm of Doriath. ![]() They finally married when Tolkien was 24 - just a few months before he was deployed to the Somme. Young Tolkien had fallen in love with Edith when he was 16 and she 19, but his guardian disapproved (both he and Edith were orphans). The tombstone in front of me bore the names of Edith Mary Tolkien and her husband John Ronald, but underneath each name was another: "Lúthien" and "Beren." One night in December of 1993, I stood in a frost-bound churchyard in Wolvercote, near Oxford. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. ![]() Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Beren and Lúthien Author J.R.R. ![]()
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