If Beren had not died

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Linnahiril Tinnufinwen

I would just like to get something straight before I am able to have a valid opinion on the subject. Am I to understand that, had Beren not been killed and then brought back to life, it would have affected Luthien's fate? She would not have died a mortal death? Or is this merely speculation also?

Luthien was not supposed to die a mortal death. As an Elf (or rather, a half-Elf, half-Maia), she was supposed to be immortal.

However, when Beren died, she "died" in the sense that the Elves do (think of Miriel) and went to Mandos. There, she pleaded her case with Mandos, begging him to bring Beren back to life. Touched, for the only time in his existence, Mandos gave her a choice. She could be reincarnated, in the manner of all the Elves, and live out a blissful life in Valinor with her Maiar and Eldar kin, or she and Beren would both be sent back to life in middle-earth, but it would be a mortal life in the manner of Men, and there would be no guarantees that their lives would be long or happy.

Luthien chose the second choice, and she and Beren returned to life in middle-earth, and there lived happily for many years, before dying once and for all, leaving the circles of the world completely.