The Silmarillion and The Rings of Power‘s ability to create a prequel series that pays respects to Middle-earth’s history before The Lord of the Rings trilogy is mired in legal red tape. As lucky as it is that a lot of historical references to the events of The Silmarillion are mentioned in The Lord of the Rings, there is plenty of the lore’s connective tissue that isn’t, and that’s where Prime Video meets its challenges. Prime Video is only able to feature parts of Middle-earth’s history that are referenced in The Lord of the Rings books, but the rest must be kept in obscurity and written over. Luckily, one very romantic and melancholic character could still make their way into The Rings Of Power as a sort of inspiration to the show’s characters as they navigate the chaos that Sauron has unleashed.

Lúthien was an Elf born in the First Age long before the creation of men. She was considered the most beautiful of the Elves and her heartfelt and tragic love story between her and the human Beren is legendary, and their memory is carried on in stories and songs. She would also be the great-grandmother to one of the key characters in The Lord of the Rings, Elrond, whose line would eventually echo a similarly romantic fate. Of course, The Rings Of Power hasn’t dwelled too much on romantic story arcs yet, so why is Lúthien important? For starters, her love story isn’t just about the loss of her immortality, but it involves a dangerous quest against Morgoth and a fight with Sauron which could be integral to Elrond and Galadriel’s plans for fighting Sauron in their own time.

How Lúthien Could Fit Into The Rings Of Power

Character’s Names
Lúthien, Tinúviel

Age(s) lived
Birth in Y.T. 1200, final death in F.A. 503 at the age of 3,377

Relatives
Elrond (Great-grandson)

Aragorn recounts singing about Lúthien when he first sees Arwen in Rivendell in The Fellowship of the Ring. In The Lord of the Rings extended trilogy, Aragorn sings the song of Beren and Lúthien while camping with the hobbits on the road. These mentions make the character able to be used in The Rings of Power in a more prevalent way. Of course, Lúthien even at this time is long dead, and her great-grandson, Elrond, is the main character that survives her legacy. Although her story of forbidden love isn’t as prevalent in the current Rings of Power storyline, her great deeds against Morgoth and Sauron, stealing a Silmaril from Morgoth’s own crown, could prove inspiring and useful to Elrond. As the armies of Elves and Men ready themselves for war against Sauron, they will need all the cunning and morale-boosting they can to face off against the Dark Lord.

Lúthien was the daughter of Thingol, and Beren refused Lúthien’s hand in marriage unless he could bring him one of the Silmarils from Morgoth’s iron crown. Thingol believed this an impossible task, and fitting of a bride price he was unwilling to grant. So Beren and Lúthien set out to achieve it, with the help of Huan of Valinor, a massive hound blessed by the Valar to be nearly invincible and granted the ability to speak three times in its life. Lúthien and Beren went to Morgoth’s court, and she offered a song to Morgoth, which he lustfully accepted. However, the beautiful song put him and all around them to sleep. That is when Lúthien woke Beren, and they took the Silmaril off of the sleeping Morgoth’s crown. Of course, despite their initial success that led to their marriage, Beren and Huan went back to defeat Morgoth’s werewolf Carcharoth, who had bitten off Beren’s hand during their escape. After a heroic fight, both Beren and Huan died of their wounds despite defeating Carcharoth. It is at this juncture in the epic tale, that the love story of Beren and Lúthien becomes cemented in their surviving legacy.

The Legacy of Lúthien and Beren’s Love Story

Elrond comes from Lúthien’s bloodline.
The Rings of Power features Lúthien and Huan’s statue in Valinor.

When Beren dies, Lúthien lies next to him and dies from her grief. She is sent to the Halls of Mandos where she petitions for the life and love she never could have with Beren in a song. Mandos is heavily moved and agrees to revive them, but both as mortals. That is when Lúthien gives up her immortality to live life with her beloved Beren. Their lives together also rendered the presence of another item that contained a Silmaril that Thingol installed himself, the necklace known as Nauglamír, a Dwarven work that was heavily contested until it was spirited away to the lands of Doriath. The Nauglamír seems to fade from memory and possession once Doriath’s leader, Dior, dies. This could be a good creative through-line for The Rings of Power series to explore as a potential tool of power to use against Sauron in their coming conflicts, using a happy end to a legendary story to use it as a weapon or shield against Sauron. However, such a mix of craftsmanship from Dwarves and Elves could create tension with the Dwarves if it’s used in the open.

Beren and Lúthien’s story echoes that of Aragorn of Arwen later in The Lord of the Rings. Just like the ancient couple, Arwen, a descendant of Lúthien, gives up her immortality to live alongside Aragorn and forgoes the privilege of going to the undying lands with the rest of the Elves. Aragorn eventually dies before Arwen does, and she sadly withers away her last years on her own. The children they leave behind end up taking the throne of Gondor, but it eventually ends in political strife, complacency, and internal politics as written in Tolkien’s unfinished Lord of the Rings sequel. Although this is somewhat of a bittersweet end to such an epic legacy, it spans the races of Men and Elves over thousands of years and impacts major players in the history of Middle-earth’s creation and growth.

Lúthien’s Story Could Be Useful In The Rings Of Power

Nauglamír is a Dwarven-crafted necklace that has changed hands between the Dwarves and Elves a few times, being the cause of much bloodshed.
Thingol had a Silmaril encrusted into the necklace by his crafters. It was the same one that was recovered by Beren and Lúthien.

Whether Nauglamír still exists or not, the search for the Silmaril attached to it may still be active somewhere on Middle-earth for Elrond and Galadriel to use. It poses an interesting thought of whether The Rings of Power may use this legally-mentioned storyline to justify writing in Beren and Lúthien’s story as a plot device. With so much focus on Elrond, a direct descendant of Lúthien, and the subtle display of her and Huan’s statue in Valinor planting the seed of legacy into audiences’ curious minds, it’s very possible that this forlorn love story could play a role in the battles to come.

Whether the story itself or the Silmaril in question is plucked from the legend’s details, the tale of Beren and Lúthien is a love story fans of The Lord of the Rings have loved for a long time. From its heroic hound Huan using all of its limited speech during the quest, right to his last breath, on top of the already exciting details between the lovers themselves, it’s a story that deserves some sort of visual representation, whether on The Rings of Power or some other form of Lord of the Rings media.