In our previous episode, we detailed the great flame which emerged from the North with such
brutal ferocity that it threatened to overcome the combined might of Elves and Men despite
their supposed dominance of Middle Earth. The aftermath of this fourth great battle in the
war of the jewels was dark, as the free peoples were now hard-pressed on all fronts with little
more than their valor and strength at arms to hold back the tide. In this bleak epoch,
a man and elf were to reignite the hope which had urged the Elves ever onwards
despite the doom of Mandos. In this episode, we will cover the tale of Beren and Lúthien
and the unsurpassed courage of a man and elf to make their way into the very depths of Angband.
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down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy
and under the shadow of death light that endures. And of these histories most fair still in the ears
of the Elves is the tale of Beren and Lúthien." We pick up our story in the immediate aftermath
of the Dagor Bragallach, two years after the initial conflict had devolved into a stalemate.
The Isle of Tol Sirion bore upon it the finely wrought fortress of Minas Tirith,
which had resisted this initial assault under the capable stewardship of Orodreth, nephew of Finrod.
Still, the island, which guarded one of the most assailable routes into Beleriand,
was never far from the gaze of Morgoth. So, the Dark Lord sent his most able servant,
the greatest of the Maia, who turned aside from the light, Sauron, to take it. Orodreth could
not withstand the assault despite his best efforts and withdrew from the island to Nargothrond with
what forces now remained to him. What had once been a fair isle was despoiled by Sauron and
would be known Tol-in-Gaurhoth, a haven for his werewolves, a home to foul magic. On this Isle
of the Werewolves, Sauron began to consolidate his power with his two mightiest servants; Draugluin,
the sire and mightiest of the Werewolves, and his very herald, the vampire Thuringwethil.
However, in the highlands of Dorthonion, the resistance of Barahir and his companions was
unrelenting despite their increasingly difficult situation. The outlaw band consisted of Barahir's
son Beren, his nephews Baragund the elder and Belegund the younger, Rahruin, Dairuin,
Dagnir, Ragnor, Arthad, Urthel, Hathaldir the Young, Gildor, and Gorlim the Unhappy.
This group caused untold damage to the forces of Morgoth in the area from their base of operations
in Tarn Aeluin, infuriating the servants of the Dark Lord. In response, they were unrelenting
in the attempts to hunt down the final remnants of this proud people. Their methods were brutal,
as they effectively treated their prey as mere animals, but they were continually frustrated
in each attempt to bring Barahir's band to retribution. The company continued the fight for
some five years, killing an immense number of the Orcs, yet this could not continue indefinitely,
as courage alone could not turn back the unending Orcish tides that desolated their homeland.
In FA 460, one of the last men of Ladros left in Dorthonion, Gorlim, son of Angrim, went out
to hunt while the company was camped in the South of Ladros. Before the coming of the great flame,
this had been Gorlim's home, and while out on the hunt, he went to see the ruin of what had once
been his home. He gazed through a window and was treated to a vision of his wife, Eilinel, who was
supposedly dead. This vision had dire consequences for Barahir's company, as Gorlim decided to search
for his wife in his heartbroken state. He came out of hiding and was soon waylaid and
taken captive by Orcs, who brought him in chains before the Lieutenant of the Dark Lord, Sauron.
The latter's cunning in those days was unmatched, and he poured honeyed words
into this forlorn man of Ladros, promising that Eilinel would be returned to him.
All that would be required of him was to give up the location of his friends.
With a heavy heart, Gorlim agreed and revealed the position of Barahir and his companions.
Yet it seemed that in these days, betrayal could only be rewarded with further betrayal.
Sauron told Gorlim that the vision he had come across was naught more than a specter that he had
devised: his wife - the most precious thing Gorlim had believed to be left to him- was already dead.
"Nonetheless, I will grant thy prayer," said Sauron, "And thou shalt go to Eilinel and
be set free of my service." And so Gorlim was executed without mercy as Sauron turned
his eyes upon one of the greatest thorns in the side of the armies of Morgoth.
Sauron's forces ambushed the men of Barahir upon the Tarn Aeluin, and they were slain to
a man except for Barahir's son Beren. Fortunately for father and son alike, Beren had been engaged
in an errand away from the camp when the Orcs assaulted and brutally destroyed the company.
Beren came upon the remains of his father and was stricken with grief. He knew that such a great
man required a fitting burial. Yet his father's hand had been severed, and with it, the greatest
heirloom of their house - Ring of Barahir was lost without any chance of reclamation.
As Beren set himself to the task of raising a cairn for his fallen father, Gorlim appeared
before him as a specter. The traitor revealed his misdeeds and attempted to make amends.
He informed Beren of what had happened to the ring and then bid him farewell before returning
hopefully to the side of his slain wife. With this information in hand, Beren would
return the favor in kind for his Orcish foes. He hunted down the band responsible for the
murder of his father and friends, killing the Orc chieftain Gorgol the Butcher. In doing so,
he achieved what solace he could attain given the circumstances and reclaimed his father's
severed hand and the Ring of Barahir with it. In the aftermath of this successful ambush, Beren
would make a life for himself as he slaughtered many of Morgoth's servants. He became a friend
of the birds and animals of the forest during his four years in which he acted as a solitary outlaw.
Beren would not hunt nor kill any of these beasts, reserving his strength at arms solely for the
servants of Morgoth. This son of Barahir feared not the final embrace of death, only that he would
be taken captive by those he sought to receive the ever-growing price now put on his head.
His position within the only land he had known as home became untenable when Sauron
began to pursue him. A price had been placed upon his head by Morgoth, which was matched
by the bounty placed upon the crowned head of Fingon Felagund. Beren proved so effective in
his guerrilla tactics that Sauron was granted an army to track down the last of Barahir's company.
He would supplement this force with werewolves, among them the greatest of
their number Draugluin the sire of their kind, and such fell beasts that contained within
their being spirits of a horrifying nature, which Sauron had bound within their bodies.
Therefore Beren was forced to flee South through the horrors of the Ered Gorgoroth
and the forests of Nan Dungortheb into Doriath, where he was able to breach the Girdle of Melian.
The Ered Gorgoroth and the Dungortheb, in particular, would have caused any lesser
man's imminent and brutal slaughter. In this dark and terrible place, the offspring of Ungoliant
now made their home, trapping all living beings who foolishly delved too deeply into the area.
These spiders were monsters of such a dark and ancient nature that they were born in
the long dark before the sun's rising, and they hunted Beren silently throughout his journey.
Yet he would endure and make it through relatively unscathed to Doriath, where
he would meet and become instantly entranced by Lúthien. Lúthien was a princess of the Sindar and
the beloved daughter of the elvish king Thingol and the Maia Melian. This chance meeting would
begin the greatest love story in all of the great ages of Middle Earth while simultaneously setting
in motion events that would have devastating consequences for the race of Elves and the Edain.
Lúthien also called Tinúviel – the nightingale by Beren was known as the most beautiful of all the
Children of Ilúvatar, embodying the grace and perfection most characteristic of the
Elvish peoples in their heyday. She was the only daughter of one of the greatest Elvish
Kings in all Beleriand and a being of immense power due to her mother being of the Maia,
so it came as a shock to everyone that she fell in love with an Edain outlaw who had nothing more
to his name than his courage and strength at arms. The news garnered a particularly frosty reception
from Thingol, who tacitly accepted their betrothal should Beren meet the bride price. This price,
however, was one even a man of Beren's stature and courage could not possibly hope to attain,
as Thingol wished to receive a Silmaril from Morgoth's iron crown in return for
his daughter's hand. Yet Beren had once known anguish and despair, yet Lúthien provided the
salve for such woe, and even faced with the impossible, Beren would not allow the darkness
of his fate to overwhelm him so long as the chance of a life with Lúthien lay before him.
"For little price,' he said, 'do Elven kings sell their daughters: for gems, and things made by
craft. But if this be your will, Thingol, I will perform it. And when we meet again my shall hold
a Silmaril from the Iron Crown; for you have not looked the last upon Beren so of Barahir."
With this talk of defiance, the Quest of the Silmaril began, and Beren immediately made haste
for Nargothrond. Here he asked for the counsel of Finrod Felagund, the Elf who owed his very
life to Beren's forebear Barahir. Felagund knew that such oaths as the one he had sworn on that
bloody day could not be set aside so quickly, and as such, he passed to his brother Orodreth
the crown of Nargothrond. The sons of Feanor, who dwelled within his Kingdom Celeform and Curufin,
watched proceedings keenly as Finrod, Beren, and ten loyal companions set out along the Narog and
traveled to its very source within the Falls of Irvin. There they came upon and slaughtered a
band of Orcs. Afterward, Finrod utilized all of his craft to disguise the company as the
now-deceased Orcs, to potentially pass through the Tol-in-Gaurhoth without being detected.
Yet the cunning of Sauron was too great. Having had his suspicion aroused by their conduct,
the greatest servant of the Dark lord stripped the companions of their disguises and took them
prisoner, following a long and protracted duel with Finrod through song. In the deepest pit
of the fortress, Sauron sent his werewolves to devour the brave companions of Finrod one by
one to ensure they divulged the purpose of their quest. Yet they remained loyal; before long, the
only two survivors were Beren and Finrod. When the time came for Beren to be eaten, Finrod Felagund,
unwilling to let the son of the man who had saved his life be murdered before his very eyes,
attacked the werewolf with his bare hands. The struggle was fierce, with the unarmed Finrod
eventually striking down his foe, though at a high cost, as he was mortally wounded in the encounter.
In the deepest darkest pit of the very fortress he had once constructed, one of the wisest and
most beloved of the Noldor's life ended, but he kept his oath with his final breath.
Hope had just been extinguished for the son of Barahir, yet upon his capture,
Lúthien had felt a crushing weight upon her heart and set out in pursuit of her great love.
Unfortunately, she met Noldorin princes Celegorm and Curufin alongside their hound Huan.
The princes offered their help, but Celegorm fell in love with the princess, captured her,
and took her to Nargothrond. Yet the great hound Huan had become entranced by the Elf and
spoke aloud for the first time. He granted her his counsel and helped her to escape.
They made with great haste to Tol-in-Gaurhoth, arriving at the hour of Felagund's death.
This arrival drew a cruel smile to the lips of Sauron, who foresaw the great reward he would
receive for Lúthien's capture. Morgoth would look upon his servant with great favor if he were to
bring such a prize. Beren's quest now hung upon a knife's edge, with no more than the Hound of
the Valar Huan standing in Sauron's way. Yet despite the desperate situation,
hope remained for both Beren and Lúthien, even if it was little more than a fool's hope.
However, this is the story for our next documentary on the history of the First Age. The
next few videos in this series will be dedicated to the continued battles of the War of the Jewels,
but we are planning to cover the battles of many other fantasy, sci-fi, and space opera universes,
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