The power of the Silmarils was further increased by the Curse of Mandos, and when Thingol named a Silmaril as the price for his daughter’s hand, he embroiled himself in the Doom woven about the jewels with that power, and so brought down his realm and all his people. Melian foresaw that Thingol’s quest would bring down the Doom on himself and his people, and she had not the power to forestall it. Doriath’s fate was sealed as soon as Thingol named the Silmaril as the price for Luthien.
In the end Luthien herself forsook Doriath and aided Beren in his quest. She searched long and far for him, and found him trapped on the isle of Tol Sirion, where Sauron (then but a servant of Morgoth) had taken the Elven fortress of Minas Tirith. Finrod Felagund and Beren lay imprisoned in the dungeons when Luthien and the Valorinorean hound Huan came to the gate of Minas Tirith. As Luthien sang in her grief and hope to be reunited with Beren Sauron sent werewolf after werewolf to take her, and Huan slew them all until Draugluin, the last and most ancient, crept back mortally wounded to gasp at Sauron’s feet, “Huan is here!”
Sauron took shape as a great wolf, hoping to bring about the doom long foretold for Huan. But he was himself defeated, and yielded up mastery of the island and the fortress to Luthien before he fled to Taur-nu-Fuin in Dorthonion:
‘O demon dark, O phantom vile
of foulness wrought, of lies and guile,
here shalt thou die, thy spirit roam
quaking back to thy master’s home
his scorn and fury to endure;
thee he will in the bowels immure
of groaning earth, and in a hole
everlastingly thy naked soul
shall wail and quiver — this shall be,
unless the keys thou render me
of thy black fotress, and the spell
that bindeth stone to stone thou tell,
and speak the words of opening.’
With gasping breath and shuddering
he spake, and yielded as he must,
and vanquished betrayed his master’s trust.
Lo! By the bridge a gleam of light,
like stars descended from the night
to burn and tremble here below.
There wide her arms did Luthien throw,
and called aloud with voice as clear
as still at whiles may mortal hear
long elvish trumpets o’er the hill
echo, when all the world is still.
The dawn peered over mountains wan,
their grey heads silent looked thereon.
The hill trembled; the citadel
crumbled, and all its towers fell;
the rocks yaned and the bridge broke,
and Sirion spumed in sudden smoke.
(Tolkien, “Lays”, pp. 253-4, lines 2774-2803)
The power of Luthien was considerable. She was in every way an Elven enchantress, and the most powerful Elven enchantress of all time:
Now Luthien doth her counsel shape;
and Melian’s daughter of deep lore
knew many things, yea, magics more
than then or now know elven-maids
that glint and shimmer in the glades.
(Ibid., p. 204, lines 1425-9)
While scheming to escape the prison where her father has placed her, Luthien called upon her friend, Daeron the Minstrel, to make a loom for her.
This [Daeron] did and asked her then:
‘O Luthien, O Luthien,
What wilt thou weave? What wilt thou spin?’
‘A marvellous thread, and wind therein
a potent magic, and a spell
I will weave within my web that hell
nor all the powers of Dread shall break.’
Then [Daeron] wondered, but he spake
no word to Thingol, though his heart
feared the dark purpose of her art.
And Luthien now was left alone. A magic song to Men unknown
she sang, and singing then the wine
with water mingled three times nine;
and as in golden jar they lay
she sang a song of growth and day;
and as they lay in silver white
another song she sang, of night
and darkness without end, of height
uplifted to the stars, and flight
and freedom. And all names of things
tallest and longest on earth she sings:
the locks of the Longbeard dwarves; the tail
of Draugluin the werewolf pale;
the body of [Glaurung] the great snake;
the vast upsoaring peaks that quake
above the fires in Angband’s gloom;
the chain Angainor that ere Doom
for Morgoth shall by Gods be wrought
of steel and torment. Names she sought,
and sang of Glend the sword of Nan;
of Gilim the giant of Eruman;
and last and longest named she then
the endless hair of Uinen,
the Lady of the Sea, that lies
through all the waters under skies.
Then did she lave her head and sing
a theme of sleep and slumbering,
profound and fathomless and dark
as Luthien’s shadowy hair was dark –
each thread was more slender and more fine
than threads of twilight that entwine
in filmy web the fading grass
and closing flowers as day doth pass.
Now long and longer grew her hair,
and fell to her feet, and wandered there
like pools of shadow on the ground.
Then Luthien in a slumber drowned
was laid upon her bed and slept,
till morning through the windows crept
thinly and faint….
(Ibid., pp. 205-6, lines 1466-1516)
Luthien’s magic so drained her that she had to sleep after causing her hair to grow. In the morning she took the hair and wove it into a cloak of shadow which enabled her to escape from Doriath. She spent three days working at the loom, having cut her hair close to her ears. And the “Lay” says that her hair when it grew back was ever after darker than it had been before the spell.
In Angband Luthien once more put forth her power, unmasked by Morgoth and faced all around by his minions:
With arms upraised and drooping head
then softly she began to sing
a theme of sleep and slumbering,
wandering, woven with deeper spell
than songs wherewith in ancient dell
Melian did once the twilight fill,
profound, and fathomless, and still.
The fires of Angband flared and died,
smouldered into darkness; through the wide
and hollow walls there rolled and unfurled
the shadows of the underworld.
All movement stayed, and all sound ceased,
save vaporous breath of Orc and beast.
One fire in darkness still abode:
the lidless eyes of Morgoth glowed;
one sound the breathing silence broke:
the mirthless voice of Morgoth spoke.
(Ibid., p. 298, lines 3977-93)
Great though he was, even Morgoth eventually succumbed to Luthien’s spell. Here a rare element is brought into the enchantment: Luthien dances upon the wing for Morgoth and his horde. She flies around the caverns of Angband, draping her magic cloak across their eyes, and one by one they drop off to sleep. Her song was not enough, she had to strengthen it with the dancing “such as never elf nor fay before devised, nor since that day”.
As previously cited, in Letter 155 Tolkien attempts to distinguish between the abilities of Men and Elves, and thinking of Aragorn he raises the issue of Aragorn’s descent from Luthien:
Anyway, a difference in the use of ‘magic’ in this story is that it is not to be come by by ‘lore’ or spells; but is in an inherent power not possessed or attainable by Men as such. Aragorn’s ‘healing’ might be regarded as ‘magical’, or at least a blend of magic with pharmacy and ‘hypnotic’ processes. But it is (in theory) reported by hobbits who have very little notions of philosophy and science; while A. is not a pure ‘Man’, but at long remove one of the ‘children of Luthien’.
(Tolkien, “Letters”, Letter 155)
Perhaps, but in the margin next to this paragraph Tolkien then wrote: “But the Numenoreans used ’spells’ in making swords?” Indeed, they seem to have done so. Perhaps the smith who made the Barrow blades was a descendant of Luthien as well — Tolkien never returns to the subject. But he has struck down with that one thought the entire argument that Men cannot use magic. In fact, Tolkien says:
Beorn is dead; see vol. I p. 241. He appeared in THE HOBBIT. It was then the year Third Age 2940 (Shire-reckoning 1340). We are now in the years 3018-19 (1418-19). Though a skin-changer and no doubt a bit of a magician, Beorn was a Man.
(Ibid., Letter 144)
Luthien practiced skin-changing: she assumed the bat-hame of Thuringwethil when she and Beren went to Angband. And she was certainly a female magician of great power. But it is highly unlikely that Beorn was a descendant of Luthien’s, though he is thought by Gandalf to be descended of a race of Men who lived in the Misty Mountains. Could those Men have mingled with the Dunedain of Eriador? Perhaps, but not likely. Beorn’s magic seems to have been shamanistic in some ways. He dealt with animals and had a kinship with them unlike any other Man:
Inside the hall it was now quite dark. Beorn clapped his hands, and in trotted four beautiful white ponies and several large long-bodied grey dogs. Beorn said something to them in a queer language like animal noises turned into talk. They went out again and soon came back carrying torches in their mouths, which they lit at the fire and stuck in low brackets on the pillars of the hall about the central hearth. The dogs could stand on their hind-legs when they wished, and carry things with their fore-feet. Quickly they got out boards and trestles from the side walls and set them up near the fire.
(Tolkien, “Hobbit”, pp. 135-6)
These are remarkable creatures, but undoubtedly Beorn has something to do with their abilities, though whether his speaking to them “in a queer language like animal noises turned into talk” could be a spell is debatable. At night Bilbo hears a scraping and shuffling sound outside Beorn’s house, and the second night he is there the Hobbit dreams of bears dancing in the courtyard before he wakes up and hears the noise again. The dancing may be a sign of Beorn’s magic, though he produces no great artifacts like the Elves.
Magical Elvish artifacts are not all great and powerful things. There are the Palantiri, the Stones of Far-seeing, the Silmarili, and the Rings of Power. But the Elves seem to make many other things of lesser power: there are the swords of the Noldor which glow when near evil creatures such as Orcs, and the swords of Eol which seem to wield great power; there are the gold and silver lamps the Elves use that never seem to dim or require fuel. The ropes and boats given to the Fellowship of the Ring seem magical in various ways, for they enable the Company to accomplish tasks that otherwise would be impossible, and one boat even survives the dreaded Falls of Rauros, preserving the body of Boromir. And the grey cloaks the Elves of Lorien give to the Fellowship clearly have a magical ability in the eyes of Mortals: they nearly render the wearers invisible to Mortal eyes, at least.
‘Are these magic cloaks?’ asked Pippin, looking at them in wonder.
‘I do not know what you mean by that,’ answered the leader of the Elves. ‘They are fair garments, and the web is good, for it was made in this land. They are elvish robes certainly, if that is what you mean. Leaf and branch, water and stone: they have the hue and beauty of all these things under the twilight of Lorien that we love; for we put the thought of all that we love into what we make. Yet they are garments, not armour, and they will not turn shaft or blade. But they should serve you well: they are light to wear, and warm enough or cool enough at need. And you will find them a great aid in keeping out of the sight of unfriendly eyes, whether you walk among the stones or the trees. You are indeed high in the favour of the Lady! For she herself and her maidens wove this stuff; and never before have we clad strangers in the garb of our own people.’
(Tolkien, “Fellowship”, p. 386)
By merely putting the thought of all that they love into what they make, the Elves are able to imbue the cloaks with “the hue and beauty of” things like “leaf and branch, water and stone”. As Luthien thought of sleep and hiding, so the cloak she wore gave her the ability to pass unseen amongst her own people, and to enchant even Morgoth into a deep, deep sleep. This was the Elvish way, to practice their “art” in all that they did.
The only other true artifact makers of Middle-earth are the Dwarves. Their motivations, however, were different from those of the Elves. They did not reach so high, nor become so arrogant as to seek to hold back time and preserve the past against the future. Dwarves seemed far more willing to accept their fate than either Elves or Men. Thus we find no attempts among Dwarves to create enchanted refuges, or to extend or preserve their lives.
Dwarves were given to more pragmatic matters. We think of them as the weapon-smiths of Middle-earth, and they were ofte