Editing Lúthien and Beren (section)

=== Classical myth ===

{{further|Tolkien and the classical world}}

Peter Astrup Sundt draws multiple parallels between Beren and [[Orpheus]]. More precisely, he compares both Beren and Lúthien and the classical character, as it is Lúthien not Beren who has magical powers, and far from playing a passive [[Eurydice]] to be rescued, or not, from the underworld, she too goes to sing for [[Mandos]], the Vala who watches over the souls of the dead.<ref name="Sundt 2021">{{cite book |last=Sundt |first=Peter Astrup |title=Orpheus and Eurydice in Tolkien's Orphic Middle-earth |pages=165–189}} in {{harvnb|Williams|2021}}</ref> Ben Eldon Stevens adds that Tolkien's retelling contrasts sharply with the myth. Where Orpheus nearly manages to retrieve Eurydice from Hades, Lúthien rescues Beren three times – from Sauron's fortress-prison of Tol-in-Gaurhoth, involving singing; from Morgoth's Angband, with the Silmaril; and by getting Mandos to restore both of them to life. In the original myth, Eurydice meets "a second death", soon followed by the griefstruck Orpheus, whereas Tolkien has Lúthien and Beren enjoy "a second life" after their "resurrection".<ref name="Stevens 2021">{{cite book |last=Stevens |first=Ben Eldon |title=Middle-earth as Underworld: From Katabasis to Eucatastrophe |pages=113–114}} in {{harvnb|Williams|2021}}</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#153, September 1954 to Peter Hastings }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
|+ Peter Astrup Sundt's parallels between Beren/Lúthien and [[Orpheus]]<ref name="Sundt 2021"/>
|-
! Action/theme !! Beren !! [[Orpheus]] !! Lúthien 
|-
| Bond with nature || Yes || Yes || Yes 
|-
| Desperate search for lover || Yes ([[Lay of Leithian]]) || Yes ||  
|-
| Repeated calling of her name || Tinuviel! Tinuviel! || ''[[Eurydice]]n ... Eurydicen''<br/>([[Virgil]]'s ''[[Georgics]]'') ||  
|-
| ''[[Katabasis]]'',<br/>descent into underworld || "Go[es] down" into [[Doriath (Middle-earth)|Doriath]],<br/>the "perilous, terrible, forbidden" city || Yes ||  
|-
| Magical, musical mother ||  || The [[Muses|muse]] [[Calliope]] || The [[Maiar in Middle-earth|Maia]] [[Melian in Middle-earth|Melian]]
|-
| Powerful song ||  || Yes || Yes 
|-
| Magical powers ||  || Yes || Yes 
|-
| Pleads for return of lover ||  || To [[Pluto (mythology)|Pluto]] and [[Proserpina|Proserpine]] || To [[Mandos]] 
|}