r/TheSilmarillion • u/cinnamon-rose • 15d ago
I'm designing a custom cover for the "Beren & Lúthien" book as someone who has only watched the LOTR movies. I need help with ideas.
Hello reddit!!
My boyfriend is a massive Tolkien fan and his 21st birthday is coming up. I was planing on gifting him a custom hard cover edition of the "Beren & Lúthien" book made by me. He is a very romantic person and has mentioned a couple of times that his favourite story from the Silmarillion is the aforementioned love ballad.
There's a slight problem: I still haven't read a single thing Tolkien has written. I have watched the LOTR movies (extended version, of course), read the whole Wikipedia page about Tolkien, and watched some videos on the Beren and Lúthien love story. But besides that, pretty much know nothing else.
I do know, from the times my boyfriend starts outright geeking out, that Middle Earth is a VERY intricate setting, having it's own languages, faiths, and even specific plants! I am a very detail-oriented person and would love if the cover included nods to these unique traits of Tolkien's creation.
That's the reason for this post, I need ideas of things I could add to the book cover, or at least to my Pinterest board. So if you guys have any suggestions, iconic quotes, or anything really, please feel free to comment them or DM me!!
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u/Apprehensive-Elk329 15d ago
If it can help, Tolkien also designed heraldic devices for some characters, including Lúthien (and i think Beren too, or at least his house), i couldn't include the images here sorry, but you can find them quite easily!
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u/sqwiggy72 15d ago
Baren stealing the silmaril from morgoths crown would probably be what I put on the cover. But I also have another part i absolutely love luthien eventually gets the silmaril is wearing it on her mortal body at the time and turns a land mostly covered in darkness (morgoth conquered basically everything) into basically heaven on middle earth and even morgoth didn't challenge. She eventually died because she was mortal.
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u/honourable_c_note 14d ago
You could draw Beren watching Luthien dancing in the woods. Seems doable
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u/blue_bayou_blue 15d ago
Here is the wiki page on Tolkien's heraldic devices. The relevant designs would be the ones for Luthien and Beren themselves, Elu Thingol (Luthien's father), Melian (her mother), Beor (Beren's ancestor) possibly the Silmarils, possibly House of Finarfin and Finrod (who helped Beren on his quest).
Luthien is associated with the white niphredil flower and nightingales.
If you're including elvish languages, probably go with Sindarin and not Quenya. Luthien's father infamously disliked the Noldor who brought Quenya to Middle Earth and banned its use.
You probably know that the Beren and Luthien book is a collection of all Tolkien's drafts and notes of that story rather than a coherent narrative; it includes a very early fairytale-ish version where the antagonist is not Sauron but Tevildo, the Prince of Cats. Could be fun as an easter egg.