The quest for the Silmarils was a doom that plagued the Eldar throughout the First Age, but Beren and Lúthien’s part in it constitutes one of Tolkien’s most sweeping pieces of writing. Their final fate at the end of the world is unknown. These exiles built great kingdoms in Middle-earth, but all Elves are doomed to desire the Undying Lands, and either depart for those shores or burn away their bodies and linger in Middle-earth as invisible spirits. A good portion of the Elves, the Eldar, traveled there in the First Age, only to rebel under the influence of the lies of Morgoth, the great evil of the mythology.

The bounds of Arda include the Undying Lands wherein dwell the Valar (analogous to archangels) and their attendant Maiar (lesser angelic spirits). They may be slain, but their spirits remain bound to Arda (the Earth).

They are, in the author’s words, the human race in an idealized state, possessed of a greater level of beauty, powers of mind and art (including arts that Men and hobbits took as “magic”), and life unmarred by old age or disease that will endure until the end of the world. She is then able to rescue him from his cell, and they go to the great hall together to cut a Silmaril from Morgoth's crown.Elves, in Tolkien’s mythology, are the elder race, firstborn into Middle-earth even before the sun and moon. Luthien, having had a vision of her love, rushes to his rescue, tricking the enemy into a deep sleep with her beautiful voice. The theme of being captured and escaping is an important recurrence throughout Middle Earth, as can be seen by Gandalfs torment on the tower of Orthanc, and Eowyn's fear of a cage, and the noble Beren is no exception as he is incarcerated by the dark lord and his assistant Sauron, who later becomes the creator of the One Ring.

The same can be said of Beren and Luthien, who are also kept apart by war and captivity, after Luthien’s father sends Beren on an impossible mission to retrieve a Silmaril from the crown of the evil Morgoth, in order to receive his blessing to wed his daughter.

Although the portrayal of the elves is different in the books and the films, this fading of the Evenstar and her immortality remains consistent in both. Throughout much of the trilogy, Aragorn is away fighting in the battle of the war of the ring, whilst Arwen is fading away in Rivendell. Beren and Luthien’s story, like that of Arwen and Aragorn, is a tale of two lovers who are destined to be torn apart, but ultimately always find their way back to one another.

The tale of beren and lúthien