Beren And Lúthien Quotes
"It is done partly for my own satisfaction in getting things right, and because I wanted to know how the whole conception did in reality evolve from the earliest origins."
"The textual and other discussions are far too detailed and minute; the size of it is (and will become progressively more so) prohibitive."
"If there is a future for such enquiries, I want to make as sure as I can that any later research into JRRT’s 'literary history' is not turned into a nonsense by mistaking the actual course of its evolution."
"The chaos and intrinsic difficulty of many of the papers is simply inexaggerable."
"I had altogether forgotten it, until I came on it by chance when this book was all but completed."
"What then is the need, now, for such a book?"
"The idea of a book devoted to the evolving story of ‘Beren’ that I ventured to mention to Rayner Unwin as a possible publication would have brought to light much hitherto unknown and unavailable writing."
"The fluidity should not be exaggerated: there were nonetheless great, essential, permanences."
"It is undeniable that there are a great many readers of The Lord of the Rings for whom the legends of the Elder Days are altogether unknown."
"The Valar would hearken at last to the tears of the Noldoli, and would arise and bind Melko and open Valinor once more to the weary Elves, and great joy should come back upon Earth."
"I have now abandoned this rendering as too misleading."
"It is a primary purpose of the History was to try to disentangle it: thereby (it may seem) exhibiting the tales of the Elder Days as a creation of unceasing fluidity."
"Yet they in no way resembled the Gnomes either of learned theory or popular fancy."
"For I am Huan of the Dogs, chief foe of Tevildo."
"Speak not thus to me, O cat, mighty Lord of Cats though thou be, for am I not Tinúviel Princess of Fairies that have stepped out of my way to do thee a pleasure?"
"Beneath his chair the adders lay like stones, and the wolves before his feet yawned and slumbered."
"Then began Tinúviel to dance a yet swifter dance before his eyes, and even as she danced she sang in a voice very low and wonderful."
"Suddenly Tinúviel ceased. In the hall no sound was heard save of slumbrous breath."
"Then did Melko fall forward drowzed, and sank at last in utter sleep down from his chair upon the floor."
"Great is the frenzy of their fear as in that dark hall of sleeping evil Beren labours as noiselessly as may be."
"Tinúviel smothers a cry thereat and Beren springs away with the one Silmaril in his hand."
"Content now with that one flashing gem those twain fled desperately from the hall."
"Straightway Beren thrust himself before Tinúviel although she said him nay."
"Then Karkaras seized that hand in his dreadful jaws, and it was the hand wherein Beren clasped the blazing Silmaril."
"Yet even as they expect to feel the teeth of the wolf a new thing strange and terrible comes to pass."
"Then did Tinúviel and Beren flee like the wind from the gates."
"So great indeed was the hue and cry that Huan learnt of it far away."
"‘Wherefore this surliness, Karkaras?’ said Tinúviel."
"The eyes of nightingales were in it, and many subtle odours seemed to fill the air of that noisome place as she trod the floor lightly as a feather in the wind."
"Nor has any voice or sight of such beauty ever again been seen there."
"Nay, but I fashioned it not with words of myself; but it is dear to me."
"Nay, now is my heart changed, and if thou dwellest in the woods, O Beren Ermabwed, then so will I."
"The magics of Melian that were woven about the borders of Doriath fenced evil from his halls and realm."
"Then Felagund swore an oath of undying friendship and aid in time of need to Barahir and all his kin."
"Huan was true of heart, and he loved Lúthien from the hour that he first found her in the woods."
"Sudden he sprang, and Huan leaped aside in shadow."
"Beneath the stars there shuddering rang the cry of hunting wolves at bay."
"Then suddenly Huan holds and throws his ghastly foe; his throat he rends, choking his life."
"From shape to shape, from wolf to worm, from monster to his own demon form, Thû changes."
"‘O demon dark, O phantom vile of foulness wrought, of lies and guile, here shalt thou die.'"
"‘Huan, Huan, among the dead must we then find him whom we sought, for love of whom we toiled and fought?'"
"‘A! Beren, Beren!’ came her cry, ‘almost too late have I thee found?'"
"‘We will remember it,’ they said, and turned upon their heels, and sped."
"‘Long are the paths, of shadow made where no foot’s print is ever laid, over the hills, across the seas!'"
"‘Farewell sweet earth and northern sky, for ever blest, since here did lie, and here with lissom limbs did run beneath the moon, beneath the sun, Lúthien Tinúviel.'"
"‘Not yet farewell, not yet we part! Not thus do those of elven race forsake the love that they embrace.'"
"‘Yet my heart tells that at the gate what there ye find, ’twill be my fate myself to see, though to that door my feet shall bear me nevermore.'"
"‘For never more to Doriath can Beren find the winding path.'"
"‘For safe thou’rt come to borderlands o’er which in the keeping of the hands of Melian thou wilt walk at ease and find thy home and well-loved trees.'"
"‘Alas, Tinúviel, here we part and our brief song together ends, and sundered ways each lonely wends!'"
"‘For never more to Doriath can Beren find the winding path, though Thingol willed it or allowed.'"
"But the folk of Sirion would not yield that jewel which Beren had won and Lúthien had worn, and for which fair Dior had been slain."
"And yet the sons of Fëanor gained not the Silmaril; for Elwing cast the Nauglamír into the sea."
"But Maidros took pity upon her child Elrond, and took him with him, and harboured and nurtured him."
"Great was the sorrow of Eärendil and Elwing for the ruin of the havens of Sirion, and the captivity of their sons."
"But Elwing answered: ‘Then would our paths be sundered for ever, but all thy perils I will take on myself also.’"
"He built a tower in the Northern Seas to which all the sea-birds of the world might at times repair."
"On those journeys Elwing did not go, for she might not endure the cold and the pathless voids."
"It is told among the Elves that after Eärendil had departed, seeking Elwing his wife, Mandos spoke concerning his fate."
"Then Eärendil said to Elwing: ‘Choose thou, for now I am weary of the world.’"
"Now fair and marvellous was that vessel made, and it was filled with a wavering flame, pure and bright."