Now Beren was a Gnome [Noldo] son of Egnor the Forester who hunted in darker
places in the north of Hisilómë. Dread and suspicion there was between the
Eldar and those of their kindred that had tasted the slavery of Melko[r], and
in this did the evil deeds of the Gnomes at the Haven of Swans revenge
itself…[Beren comes into Doriath] Then Beren cared not whether she was Vala or
Elf or child of Man and crept near to see… [Dairon spots Beren and warns
Tinúviel to flee. Beren seeks her out again, finds her, and says:] “Tinúviel”,
for he had caught the name from Dairon’s lips;
Arguably the largest single change through the entire Silmarillion from the
Book of Lost Tales is that Beren is an Elf in the Lost Tales and a Man in the
Sil. Tolkien seemed to waffle back and forth on whether Beren was a Man or Elf
for quite a while, although he seems to have eventually gravitated to his being
a Man more than an Elf. Interestingly, Túrin and Tuor are always Men, so even
were Beren an Elf, Elrond and Elros would still have to make the Choice of the
Half-Elven. Elwing would not have to make that choice, of course. Of course,
Tolkien had no inkling of the Second Age or any of its characters when he wrote
the collection called the Lost Tales.
1. Why do you think Tolkien wanted Beren to be an Elf? Why do you think he
wanted Beren a Man?
2. If Beren were an Elf, just how different do you think the Second and Third
Ages would have been? Would having both of the world’s greatest heroes of all
time being Elves have led Men on a different course, even if the blood of Tuor
left Númenor in the same condition as it was? What do you think would happen
if, for example, in time for the War of the Ring, Beren and Lúthien were
reincarnated as Elves?
3. Beren is a Noldo in the Tale. In most of Tolkien’s special marraiges, it is
the male who is marrying up: Thingol marries up to a Maia, Tuor to an Elf,
Aragorn to an Elf, Celeborn (a Sinda) to a Calaquendë. Here, a male Noldo is
going to marry a female Sinda. Do you think this has significance (perhaps why
Tolkien eventually gravitated toward Beren being a Man)?
4. In this version, it is Dairon from whom Beren gets Tinúviel’s name from,
rather than guessing it himself. Do you think this is an important
change?
