Who are Beren and Luthien?
Beren and Luthien are characters created by J.R.R. Tolkien for his work The Silmarillion. Their story is also frequently referred to in The Lord of the Rings. It parallels the central love story in Rings of Arwen and Aragorn. In brief, the story of Beren and Luthien is of the first marriage between an immortal elf, Luthien, and a mortal man, Beren. Elves had immortality, which they could forsake if they chose a married life with a mortal. Beren and Luthien fall in love, and then commence a dangerous rescue mission to steal a silmaril, a special stone, from the enemy at Angband. However, the mission is less perilous than Luthien’s choice. She willingly gives up living forever in order to love Beren, whose life is cut quite short. According to Tolkien, prior to Arwen, Luthien is the only elf to have truly died. In The Lord of the Rings Beren and Luthien are frequently compared to Aragorn and Arwen. Arwen too has the choice of remaining immortal or marrying Aragorn. She chooses Aragorn an
