I'd never known what Edith looked like until I saw the linked photo above. I think she was quite beautiful...and her eyes are very...stunning.
I was going to mention the story about the two of them walking in the woods and Edith's dancing being the inspiration for the first meeting of Beren and Luthien but Legoas has already mentioned it.
Legolas said...
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I don't think Tolkien would've been the sort to brag on himself, even if thought himself to be as brave or loyal as Beren. But if Luthien was to be written as such a great character, he couldn't have her falling in love with a lazy, cowardly jerk, could he?
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True, not only would that not make a good story, we would think less of Luthien if she did. She would be some pathetic, desperate girl falling in love with the first man that came her way. I certainly don't think JRT would have thought that, or put Edith in that light. He probably considered himself (as Formendacil has stated) fortunate to be chosen by her.
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but as Thingol points out to him, he is a mere mortal, and is not Lúthien's peer in any way save love.
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Well....what daddy hasn't frowned upon any man their little girl brings home, insisting that no one is good enough for their 'princess'? Humans do it too, not just elf-kings.
Certainly, the tale of Beren and Luthien is not biographical. Certainly there are many similarities between their story and that of Beren and Luthien. Not everything is exact because it was a story BASED on actual events, not an exhaustive retelling of such events. (That would probably get boring.) Why is Beren a 'mere' mortal? Why is Luthien the most beautiful of all the Eldar? I see this story as the confession of a man who loves and is loved by the most beautiful woman in the world (to him) who certainly doesn't feel like he deserves her, but despite all odds is at last able to be with her. The best way he sees to tell the world that story is with a tale like this.
Really, how much more romantic can you get?