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Inspiration
The Tale of Beren and Lthien was regarded as the central part of his legendarium by Tolkien. The
story and the characters reflect the love of Tolkien and his wife Edith. Particularly, the event when
Edith danced for him in a glade with flowering hemlocks seems to have inspired his vision of the
meeting of Beren and Lthien. Also some sources indicate that Edith's family disapproved of Tolkien
originally, because he was a Catholic.[3] On Tolkien's grave, J. R. R. Tolkien is referred to as Beren
and Edith is referred to as Lthien. [3]
The tale of Beren and Lthien also shares an element with folktales such as the Welsh Culhwch and
Olwen,[4][5] maybe its main literary inspiration, and the German The Devil With the Three Golden
Hairs[6] and The Griffinnamely, the disapproving parent who sets a seemingly impossible task (or
tasks) for the suitor, which is then fulfilled. The hunting of Carcharoth the Wolf may be inspired by
the hunting of the giant boar Twrch Trwyth in Culhwch and Olwen or other hunting legends. The
quest for one of the three Silmarils from the Iron Crown of Morgoth has a close parallel in the search
for the three golden hairs in the head of the Devil. The sequence in which Beren loses his hand to
the Wolf may be inspired by the god Tyr and the wolf Fenrir, characters in Norse mythology. Tolkien
also got inspiration from the great love story of Romeo and Juliet.