The Lays of Beleriand

The Lays of Beleriand by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


this third installment makes it abundantly clear that some of Tolkien's tales may well havbe more then 3-4 versions, each one with different ending, character names and what not. None the less It is still enjoyable to read. Tolkien wrote several of his stories in poetry form. Now normally I am not a fan of reading poems as their meaning is totally lost on me. With JRR Tolkien I can grasp what he is saying. The explanatory notes by Christopher help fill in any gaps. Clearly Christopher is showing improvement in this area or I am just getting used to it. They were useful and painless.

Every Tolkien fan should be familiar with the Children of Hurin. He tells it a little bit differently every time. In this version all of mankind abandon the elves to fight Morgoth alone, except for Hurin and his army. Thingol is the elven king I believe and he has an underground kingdom that or an enchanted kingdom that Morgoth cannot find. the names get confusing as not only are they elvish but in different versions they are quite interchangeable. Hurin is captured and Morgoth want him to reveal the location of turgon's kingdom but Hurin is steadfast. Hurin's wife is sick with worry and knows not where Hurin is whether alive or dead. Turin grows up in poverty and eventually the mother the mother sends him to Thingol's kingdom to grow up. Turin knows the pain of loneliness and being different. He still becomes and awesome warrior. Things go awry when a royal guest mocks him. Turin throws a drinking stein in his face thus destroying his face and killing him. Turin flees. He joins an individual hunter who and they hunt orcs and goblin. This unit of hunters will be betrayed. Vengeance will bee had. Turin gets captured and rescued by his hunter friend. Turin kills him on accident. The poem ends with him going to another kingdom and his mom visting Thingol's realm. The least complete of the versions.

In the Lay of Lethian, Bern a Mortal comes to Doriath which Thingol is king and Melian is queen. Their daughter Luthien falls in love with the mortal Beren. This differs from the Tale of Tinuviel. Beren is not an elf and Queen Melian is not fae. Thingols does not approve of Luthien's love for Beren so Thingol sends Beren off on a suicide mission to get 0ne of the Simarrilion of Morgoth's crown. Beren and a group of people from Norgrothond ambush a bunch of orcs take their uniforms and infiltrate the Wolven island. they are discovered and imprisoned. The wolf Thu eats one of them every evening, In the Tale of Tinuviel there was no wolf but Teveldo the cat. Noorgrathond is lead by Cuiven and Celigwen stand inplace rulers while the king rots in Morgoth's prison. Needless to say Huam the hound kills the wolves rescues beren but the real king of Norgrthiond dies Luthien gets them back in and there is a battle with werewolves at the end with a wolf swallowing a Simaril along with Beren's hand. THey get the Simaril and in the end Beren and Luthien become Mortals.



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