V. Determining Content of the Beren & Luthien Tale.

When time permits I scan a page or two for my third scroll. It is the tale of Beren, Luthien and the quest to wrest the Silmaril from Morgoth's crown. It is a major epic of the First Age. Again, a prime factor is the availability of interesting artwork to enhance the story. The Tale of Beren & Luthien has many fine paintings depicting dramatic scenes in the story. This section describes the decisions required to present the story in scroll form.

A. Selecting a Version

The first decision is selecting one of the versions of the Beren & Luthien tale. I found three versions in three books. There is the Tale of Tinuviel in The Book of Lost Tales Vol. 2, Of Beren and Luthien in The Silmarillion, and The Lay of Leithian in The Lays of Beleriand Vol 3. I want a version of the story that has dialog and reads like a narrative. As I mentioned earlier, the story version should be witnessed by the reader as it unfolds. The story should also be of epic scope. There is an unattainable quest and many setbacks before the conclusion.

For these reasons I did not select the first two versions listed above. The version from volume 2 of the Book of Lost Tales is an early draft that is missing many of the later elements of the tale:

• the chief lieutenant of Melko is a cat named Tevildo, not Thu (Sauron);
• Beren is an Elf (Gnome) not mortal; and
• the conflict with the sons of Feanor is absent.

B. Ending the Lay of Leithian

The second decision is determining an ending to the poem. The Lay of Leithian has the full scale epic proportions I am looking for in a scroll. But the major problem with the Lay is that it is unfinished! Professor Tolkien made a couple of different versions as well as revisions over the years. However, the poetic tale ends abruptly at the entrance of Thangorodrim when Beren & Luthien, with a Silmaril, confront Carcharoth as they flee Morgoth.

My tentative solution is to make a transition from the poetry form of the Lay and then to include a prose version of the ending. It will be a description rather than an actual narrative. The Silmarillion version fits the requirements nicely and so I plan on using that to conclude the scroll. For the transition I think some hand-written comments by either Bilbo, one of Sam Gamgee's children, or even Aelfwine would be appropriate. The appropriate 'translator' will comment

...that the original ending to the poem was lost or damaged and that other sources indicate the Tale of Beren & Luthien ends in the following manner...

C. Editing the Lay for Length

The third decision concerns the length of the Lay. It is very long consisting of 14 cantos and 4,223 lines! There are four full or partial versions or amendments to the Lay labeled A, B, C, and D. I generally used later-written cantos or shorter sections from versions C & D, substituting them into the B version to make a 'latest version' of the Lay. The B version is a full length revision of the original A text.

The physical scroll for Beren & Luthien may be too long. The Tuor scrolls have between 60 to 80 pages each. The Tuor stories are manageable for the physical size of the scroll - dowel rod diameter, end caps, and 8.5 inch vertical height. But the Lay of Leithian is much longer and I am concerned it will become unwieldy. I have three alternatives to try either alone or in combination.

One is to break the Lay into two scrolls. But I do not see a logical breaking point such that each scroll will provide a self-contained story. Beren is on the quest for the Silmaril most of the Lay. I might break the story at the point where Beren and Felagund are captives in Sauron's Sirion lair - and Beren is rescued by Luthien. However, Beren got captured on his way to Thangorodrim to get a Silmaril and will continue the quest later with Luthien. So I do not see breaking the Lay into two physical scrolls.

Two is to cut the Lay by removing cantos that are digressions from the main plot of the story. There is a canto on the first meeting of Thingol and Melian, the parents of Luthien. There are also many lines in Canto XII that are a retrospective about Morgoth's battle with Fingolfin and Morgoth's doubts about raising Carcharoth. I think these and some others could be safely removed in order to make the story a manageable length. The excised material could also be reused in the scroll borders.

Three is to format the scroll in three columns instead of only two. I may have to use a smaller size of the Lucida font instead of 12 point in order to fit three columns on each page.

D. Selecting Storylines for the Scroll Border

The fourth decision is to select the border stories. The meeting of Thingol and Melian is one possibility. I will examine the poetry stanzas and see if they will work when printed horizontally. If not, there may be a prose version in one of the books which may flow better as a border story. A preliminary idea for the second border is the events that led Finrod Felagund to leave or lose Tol Sirion and move to his stronghold of Nargothrond. These two locations and Finrod all are important elements in the Beren and Luthien tale.

E. Selecting Illustrations

Badlands National Park South Dakota, USA

The last decision is selecting appropriate pictures. There are many illustrations of the Beren and Luthien tale to choose from. At present, I have just a couple of points to make for this scroll. First, Mr. Alan Lee's painting of Luthien will work very well. The part of this tale where Luthien will not dance anymore because she is saddened by Beren's absence is just the place for Mr. Lee's portrait. This is not to say Mr. Lee's picture is of a sad Luthien per se. My interpretation is that even in her sadness she is still the most lovely Elf in Middle-Earth. Second, I will be scrounging for illustrations of the Anfauglith, or wasteland that surrounds the approach to Thangorodrim. Beren & Luthien must travel through it to reach the gates. I have several pictures taken in the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. One is shown here. I will use it to show the rugged, barren landscape through which they must travel.

NEXT: Planning Additional Scrolls