Beren and Lúthien

This volume traces one beloved tale through the whole span of Tolkien’s writing life. It begins with the early prose of “The Tale of Tinúviel”, moves through the poetry and the later revisions, and shows how a mortal man, Beren, and the Elven-princess Lúthien won a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown. The central story is simple and profound: Beren and Lúthien’s love survives a quest that outdoes any of the great heroes, and Lúthien, aided by the hound Huan, sings Morgoth himself to sleep. Christopher Tolkien prints the variants largely without harmonising them, so the reader sees the story evolving — a memorial to the tale that his parents had carved on their own tombstone.

The First Age of Beleriand: the forests of Doriath, the fortress of Tol-in-Gaurhoth and the throne of Morgoth himself.