“It is told in the Lay of Leithian that Beren came stumbling into Doriath grey and bowed as with many years of woe, so great had been the torment of the road. But wandering in the summer in the woods of Neldoreth he came upon Lúthien, daughter of Thingol and Melian, at a time of evening under moonrise, as she danced upon the unfading grass in the glades beside Esgalduin. Then all memory of his pain departed from him, and he fell into an enchantment; for Lúthien was the most beautiful of all the Children of Iluvatar. Blue was her raiment as the unclouded heaven, but her eyes were grey as the starlit evening; her mantle was sewn with golden flowers, but her hair was dark as the shadows of twilight. As the light upon the leaves of trees, as the voice of clear waters, as the stars above the mists of the world, such was her glory and her loveliness; and in her face was a shining light.”
(J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion)
And here, my necklace design to honor Beren of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Silmarillion.” He was a mortal of the Elder Days and beloved of Luthien. Beren, whose name means “bold,” spent his early years in battle, hence the rough shield, dinged from battle and edges notched by sword blows. These are necklaces for protection, sterling silver armor to wear upon the chest. Finished in a weathered grey.
After years of war, he had become hardened and was wandering near mad, until he met Luthien Tinuviel. He saw her dancing in a forest glade of Doriath, and knew he wouldn’t be parted from her. He softened in his ardent love for her. Throughout “The Silmarillion,” Luthien is associated with trees in full leaf, bringing forth spring with her singing and light step.
Whenever Beren is in blissful calm, they are in the forest and Luthien is surrounded, shrouded, or set against leaves: “Then suddenly, when her hope was almost spent, he woke again, and looked up, seeing leaves against the sky; and he heard beneath the leaves singing soft and slow beside him Luthien Tinuviel. And it was spring again.”
And so to represent Luthien’s mark on Beren, I have placed impressions of real leaves into the shields. They are set at random to give them the feeling of movement, like leaves falling from a tree. They are lilting and half-hidden, like his first glimpse of her.
And in the center, soothing green prehnites in various cuts, hues, and shapes; different like the various types of trees in the glades beside Esgalduin, where Beren first beheld Luthien.
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There will be a handful of these landing in the Etsy shop TONIGHT at 7pm EST. The first of the final three Mossflower designs before I tuck prehnite and Tolkien away for a few years.
