Beating Fate by Paul Williams  

Appendix

For those who think she is turning her back on Beren here, she might be, she might not be. I do not know.

She might chose to follow him. But it will be on her terms. She owns her own choice.

The story, as written by Tolkien is pretty damning to the males in her life, except for Huan, who actually sees HER; and is pretty damning to her, and Melian, who seem to just accept their lot.

Tolkien said Beren & Lúthien was his most important work. We all know the parallels, which is why (for me) it is so flawed. He never published it because it was never finished. In each iteration Lúthien becomes more and more powerful, while Beren becomes less and less. Yet her power just highlights the ridiculous social constraints both she and Melian endure. Treated as an object when men are present, given agency when not, treated as an object, given agency, .. always a thing desired, seen through male eyes, through the male gaze, except by Huan.

For the longest time, circa 40 years, I have thought about rewriting the whole thing, just for me. It is possible. You can ‘fix’ Beren and in so doing, ‘fix’ Lúthien, while remaining true the story. I have the outline and it does not really break anything - save diminishing Huan slightly. But then what would I be doing? Just repeating the same mistake. Someone else ‘fixing’ her.

I realised that the only way to save her is for her to save herself. And the only way she can save herself is to step outside the music, outside fate.

Death is not (her following) to be with Beren (that is all she ever seems to do, follow. Pick up the pieces). Death is the only way to a freedom to forge her own fate. 

She might decide that Beren is all she ever wanted, that fate kept forcing him into a shape he didn’t want either. That underneath all that faux heroism, the greed, the pride, there is a man worth loving, who can be loved and can love back.

Only she knows. 

But for me,

why does Huan wait? Why is it that, in my telling, he's the one at the arch?

Not because he's a consolation prize. Not because Beren failed, and so she settles for the hound. But because Huan never wanted to own her.

He followed her to Sauron because she was going, and he would not let her go alone. Not to possess her. Not to protect her like property. Just to be there. To fight beside her. To die for her if it came to that—and it did.

And when it was over, when they woke in Doriath, he didn't ask for anything. Didn't demand her time, her attention, her gratitude. He just stayed. Slept beside her while Beren dragged her to his island.

He understood something Beren never could: that loving someone means letting them be free. Means being present without grasping. Means waiting without demanding. Means seeing them before you see yourself. Beren loved her without knowing her. That is not love, that is need.

So Huan waits at the arch. Has always been waiting. And when she finally steps through—outside the Music, outside fate, outside everything that ever caged her—he's there.

Not to claim her.

Just to walk beside her, wherever she goes next. Even if it is to Beren. And even if it is not.