Ooh la la, Lúthien...

[alatar]

Originally Posted by The Sixth Wizard

One wonders what drove respectable elf women to discard their perfect immortality for the possibility of a hundred years with Men like Turin or Beren.

It's been studied in various species. The female, in order to incorporate new genes into the tribe, will mate with the 'outsider.' There's also the cad-dad theory, which states that females like a cad now and then to just a plain old dad. And what could be plainer than a thousand-plus year old elf?

Luthien, obviously, knew that a hybrid would be more successful, and Beren was just so dashing, and if it didn't work out, he'd surely be dead in a hundred years or two.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by alatar

It's been studied in various species. The female, in order to incorporate new genes into the tribe, will mate with the 'outsider.' There's also the cad-dad theory, which states that females like a cad now and then to just a plain old dad. And what could be plainer than a thousand-plus year old elf?

Luthien, obviously, knew that a hybrid would be more successful, and Beren was just so dashing, and if it didn't work out, he'd surely be dead in a hundred years or two.

In Luthien's case, throw in a bit of rebellion, and I think you're right. Thingol wasn't the most liberal thinker in the Sil. He seemed to me a very strict father-figure, which made it easier for Luth to let her hair down. If it were the 60's, she'd be in Haight-Ashbury as a groupie for the Grateful Dead.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

In Luthien's case, throw in a bit of rebellion, and I think you're right. Thingol wasn't the most liberal thinker in the Sil. He seemed to me a very strict father-figure, which made it easier for Luth to let her hair down. If it were the 60's, she'd be in Haight-Ashbury as a groupie for the Grateful Dead.

Remember, she herself was a hybrid. Plus, she may have been not only looking to further add to the gene pool, but what better way to get dad's attention than to do the worst possible thing (besides hooking up with Melkor, which Thingol may have preferred over Beren)?

[Lush]

You know, after all this time, I have to say... She's not very complicated, but she is probably my favourite character of the "olden days" as it may be.

[Mithalwen]

And I still loathe her completely... possibly more than any other character in the entire opus..... want to smack her hard with the heftiest feminist tract available...

[Lush]

Feminist she ain't, but there's "something in the way she moves."

Says Lush, the hard-bitten cynical eurotrash feminist of her generation.

[Lalaith]

Why not feminist? She did cool stuff. Not just the Morgoth-enchanting....

She acted as ambassador for the peoples of Middle Earth. She moved Mandos as he had never been moved before. She softened the ground for Earendil, IMO.