Beren and Lúthien

By: Christopher Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien

Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West

Presented for the first time on audio, the epic tale of Beren and Lúthien will reunite fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves, Men and Orcs and the rich landscape unique to Tolkien’s Middle-earth in this unabridged recording read by critically acclaimed father and son, Timothy and Samuel West.

Beren was a mortal man, but Lúthien was an immortal Elf. Her father, a great Elvish lord, was deeply opposed to Beren, and imposed on him an impossible task that he must perform before he might wed Lúthien.

Undaunted by Lord Thingol’s challenge, Beren and Lúthien embark on the supremely heroic attempt to rob Morgoth, the greatest of all evil beings, of a Silmaril, one of the hallowed jewels that adorn the Black Enemy’s crown.

The tale of Beren and Lúthien, which was written shortly after J.R.R. Tolkien returned from the Battle of the Somme in 1916, was an essential element in the evolution of The Silmarillion. In this book Christopher Tolkien has extracted the various versions of Beren and Lúthien from the comprehensive work in which they are embedded.

To show something of the process whereby this Great Tale of Middle-earth evolved over the years, he tells the story in his father's own words by giving, first, its original form, and then passages in prose and verse from later texts that illustrate the narrative as it changed. Presented together for the first time, they reveal aspects of the story, both in event and in narrative immediacy, that were afterwards lost.

©2017 HarperCollins Publishers Limited (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"A seamless editorial construct, the capstone to a job Christopher Tolkien began with The Silmarillion." (New Statesman)

Good listen if a bit scattered in presentation.

While narration was very listenable, the story was a little unreachable as it has been too many years since I was a more enthusiastic fan of The Sillmarilion.

More like a thesis reading rather than a story

Don't get me wrong , the information presented here are great and you gain great insight about the myth of Beren and Luthien and how it came to pass BUT it is not -at least for my taste- a good audiobook in a sense that there is a lot of "commenting" by Cristopher rather than actual storytelling. I picked this up (and was very excited) after listening to The Children of Hurin audiobook and was a bit dissapointed as I expected a bit more. But it is great!

Beren and Luthien

it's great I love these books, very much and I want to hear more about the characters alit more.

Maybe not for everyone but definitely for me!

Listening to the same story retold and it's various forms as it shaped and grew throughout the years may sound repetitive. There are some elements in the retellings that are phenomenal and I am so glad I took the time. I struggled as a teenager with the poetic form of the Lays of Beleriand, as an adult and a lover of poetry I was enthralled at this retelling.

Fantastic Look Into The Evolution Of The Tale

While not for everyone, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The two narrators did a wonderful job going back and forth between Tolkien's writing and his son's editorial notes. Beren and Lúthien has always been one of my favorite tales of Middle Earth, and I enjoyed getting a look behind the scenes on how it developed over the years.