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FAQ / What happened to Beren and Lúthien after they died

Beren died at the Hunt of the Wolf, Carcharoth, in Doriath, after being bitten in the breast.

When the hunters bore Beren’s body back to Menegroth, Lúthien was stricken with grief,

and soon her spirit departed from her body, for she had asked Beren to wait for her at the halls of Mandos

before departing to go wherever it is that Men’s souls go. Lúthien then came before Mandos and sang a song of pity

for the two kindreds, Elves and Men, the likes of which had never been heard in Valinor, and Mandos himself,

who never before was moved to pity, took pity upon them.


However, not even Mandos could change the fates of Men, and keep the soul of a Man in Arda after death.

And so he went to Manwë in search of counsel, and Manwë asked Ilúvatar in his inmost thought.

And so a choice was given to Lúthien: either to live in Valinor until the end of the world, being freed from the strifes of

Middle-earth, and healing her griefs – but if she chose that, Beren could not follow her, for the souls of Men

must ultimately depart from Arda; or she would return to Middle-earth,

and take Beren with her, without any guarantees of life or joy – and in that case she would be counted among Men,

and become mortal, and she would leave Arda after ther death and remain only as a memory for the Elves.


Lúthien chose the second option, forsaking the BlessedRealm, so that her fate could be tied to Beren’s; and this is why,

alone of the Eldar, Lúthien Tinúviel truly died and is no more in this world. Her fate was counted among Men,

and therefore after their second deaths they departed to wherever it is that Men’s souls go.


The two came back to Middle-earth and dwelt together for a time as man and woman, in bliss,

living in the green island of TolGalen in Ossiriand, and that country was then called Dor Firn-i-Guinar,

The Land of the Dead that Live; there were born Dior, their son, who later became the ruler of Doriath

after Thingol’s passing. No one saw Beren and Lúthien leave the world, and no grave marked the spot where their bodies lay.


Authored by TTFMember:Eriol
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