Most of this derives from Lays of Beleriand and the Author's
Notes that accompany them, as well as the Silmarillion and other
parts of HOME, such as the opening details of Beren's nightmare
before learning of his father's betrayal from Gorlim's shade, while he
slept hidden from Orc-patrols in a badger's den. What does not, comes from
imagination founded on personal experience, not excluding the hearing of
others' experience, and wide reading in many fields across three decades,
not least of expeditions and disasters as well as war. -Some of it also
derives from LOTR:TT, "Cirith Ungol."
The source of the story itself comes from the echoing significance of
two separate lines from the Lays concerning the events at Tol-in-Gaurhoth:
first, that "ten had served their master well," (LB-LL1, Canto IX)
and secondly, that "thither swiftly ran the fame of their dead king and
his great deed," (LB-LL2, Canto X) - words which make little sense
to me if there were not more active contest of dominion than mere endurance
of death. Other lines also bear weighty implications (at least for me)
such as the following, when after (apparently from weakness due to isolation)
the last two survivors accidentally betray their identities in speech,
believing themselves unobserved:
" 'Twere little loss if he were dead,
the outlaw mortal. But the king,
the Elf undying, many a thing
no man could suffer may endure."
For the source of my derivation of the proper name Beren from
the early Elvish word ber see Ardalambion's Nandorin section,
http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/nandorin.htm.
There is a profound historical irony (or perhaps rather a unity)
in this, as the House of Bëor's original culture was strongly influenced
by the Avari, the lost Elven tribes of the East, and there is a tradition
that in his second life Beren became a chief of the Dark Elves of Ossiriand,
the Nandor (or more properly Laiquendi, the Green Elves, or Singers) who
never went to Aman, but preferred the woods of Middle-earth to the long
and dangerous journey to the West. The parallels between this and the lives
of certain other figures of the Arda Mythos would take longer to explore
but are well worth considering. (Someday, someday-)
The fact that Beren was the greatest hunter in his country before giving
up both hunting and meat upon his father's death, slaying only creatures
of the Enemy, is attested in both Silm. and LL 1 & 2.
The image of Emeldir, last Lady of Dorthonion, as blonde, a warrior, and
taller than her menfolk is also founded in the texts of Silmarillion
and
HOME.
The idea that the first ancestors of the Dunedain might decorate their
homes with the apotropaic symbols of stars and eagles is my own, but suggested
by the old custom mentioned by George Bain (Celtic Art: The Methods
of Construction, 1951/Dover 1973) of Scots housewives painting white
clay spirals about the threshold; similar customs in other cultures such
as the mud-walled cities of West Africa where reincarnatory monotheism
is to be found; and a line from an old Mystery song, "Five, for the Symbols
at your door" which also contains the line "Seven, for the Seven Stars
in the sky," as well as the conclusion, "One is One and all alone and ever
more shall be so."
For the offer of a new hröa, I reference the offer made
to Hurin by Morgoth in LB-NIHH, where the Fallen Vala tempts the
mortal warrior with the opportunity of becoming chief of his Balrogs, if
he will only betray Turgon. This might have been a false offer, of course,
but given the canonical description of even his aide, Sauron, as master
of "phantoms and of wandering ghosts" which are after specified to be his
werewolves, and the fact that all of his minions were once various other
kinds of beings to whom he had given bodies of his constructing (whether
biological or mechanical, or both), I think this an extremely likely possibility
- and a very real temptation.
That an Elven-warrior might endure injuries that would kill a mortal
outright, be able to crawl from the battlefield, and recover fully, if
discovered by friends and assisted by healing magic, is found explicitly
in LB-NIHH as well. It would probably take somewhat longer than
a week, for someone less rugged than Beleg Cuthalion, and without Maiar
assistance, but nevertheless … I at least can easily envision how superior
healing ability might not always be to one's advantage. (There was
a chap called Prometheus once, I hear…)
For the question of what forces warred under the foundations of Minas
Tirith (I) I invoke the texts of the Lays, and of the Summaries that Tolkien
wrote to outline what must happen in the story. It is not debatable that
Singing Magic was employed on both sides; it is not debatable that sorcery
was utilized in the binding of the captives; it is not debatable that Sauron's
power is death-magic, and that he used the memories of their own collective
moral failure at Alqualondë to defeat them in combat; it is not debatable
that it was late autumn at a high northerly parallel; it is debatable
but more probable in my mind that the version which states that the King
managed to conceal not merely their identities but the fact of Beren's
mortality is correct; it is most certainly not debatable that he succeeded
in keeping them not only alive but sane for weeks in circumstances of appalling
degradation, sensory deprivation and hopelessness - and most importantly,
that not one turned to the Dark Side.
For the rest - as to how it was done, (at least in general, being
neither Power nor sorcerer myself) I have had recourse to my own invention,
but not without I think at least canonical warrant: much of it drawn out
from very deep implication, but also invoking the immense canopy of the
Tree of Story beneath which all elements of Otherworld magic have their
foundation. There is a great deal of stasis-magic and transformation magic
involving exchange of spirits in the world's mythoi, much found in (but
not limited to) the Indo-European tradition, as well as the traditions
of Egypt, Ugar (and Finland) and Points East. The battle of Powers on the
bridge over the Sirion where shift after repeated shift still fail to shake
the hold of Good is likewise in that same tradition (q.v. "Tam Lin," "Prince
Lindworm," and the Myth of Proteus, the Old Man of the Sea, found in both
the Greek and Arabic legends of wandering Sea-lords.)
As to the ultimate nature of High Elven magic: it is of course both
dil
and mel - that is to say, love. But love which is without
selfishness or desire for control, which appreciates for the sake of that
which is loved alone and not as means to other end, not thought of as cold
and divorced from affection but encompassing it, and which does not seek
to diminish but which rejoices in the good and the glory of that which
is beloved. -Which some of us would consider the only meaning of the word
worth having-
That this is not mine own invention I offer especially Canto XI of the
Lay of Leithian, Fragment 1, of which I provide two most relevant examples
exerpted from much longer passages in the same spirit, the first uttered
at the borders of Angband in anticipation of failure and future captivity,
the second in reply:
"…Though all to ruin fell the world,
and were dissolved and backward hurled
unmade into the old abyss,
yet were its making good, for this-
the dawn, the dusk, the earth, the sea-
that Lúthien on a time should be!"
"…Not thus do those of elven race
forsake the love that they embrace.
A love is mine, as great a power
as thine, to shake the gate and tower
of death with challenge weak and frail
that yet endures, and will not fail
nor yield, unvanquished were it hurled
beneath the foundations of the world.
Beloved fool! escape to seek
from such pursuit; in might so weak
to trust not…"
Thus back to him came Lúthien…
Exerpts from The Lays
of Beleriand, © J. R. R. Tolkien, released by Ballantine/Del Rey,
1985.