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Just borrowed The Silmarillion today...started reading it and it is INCREDIBLE!!  I've read the trilogy, but I think that this is almost better...

On a time of autumn he came in the dusk of evening, and drawing near he saw as he thought a
light at the window; and coming warily he looked within. There he saw Eilinel, and her face was
worn with grief and hunger, and it seemed to him that he heard her voice lamenting that he had
forsaken her. But even as he cried aloud the light was blown out in the wind; wolves howled, and on
his shoulders he felt suddenly the heavy hands of Sauron's hunters. Thus Gorlim was ensnared; and
taking him to their camp they tormented, seeking to learn the hidings of Barahir and all his ways.
But nothing would Gorlim tell. Then they promised him that he should be released and restored to
Eilinel, if he would yield; and being at last worn with pain, and yearning for his wife, he faltered.
Then straightaway they brought him into the dreadful presence of Sauron; and Sauron said: 'I hear
now that thou wouldst barter with me. What is thy price?'

And Gorlim answered that he should find Eilinel again, and with her be set free; for he
thought Eilinel also had been made captive.
Than Sauron smiled, saying: 'That is a small price for so great a treachery. So shall it surely
be. Say on!'
Now Gorlim would have drawn back, but daunted by the eyes of Sauron he told at last all that
he would know. Then Sauron laughed; and he mocked Gorlim, and revealed to him that he had only
seen a phantom devised by wizardry to entrap him; for Eilinel was dead. 'Nonetheless I will grant
thy prayer,' said Sauron; 'and thou shalt go to Eilinel, and be set free of my service.' Then he put
him cruelly to death.

In this way the hiding of Barahir was revealed, and Morgoth drew his net about it; and the
Orcs coming in the still hours before dawn surprised the men of Dorthonion and slew them all, save
one. For Beren son of Barahir had been sent by his father on a perilous errand to spy upon the ways
of the Enemy, and he was far afield when the lair was taken. But as he slept benighted in the forest
he dreamed that carrion-birds sat thick as leaves upon bare trees beside a mere, and blood dripped
from their beaks.

Then Beren was aware in his dream of a form that came to him across the water, and it was a
wraith of Gorlim; and it spoke to him declaring his treachery and death, and bade him make haste to
warn his father. Then Beren awoke, and sped through the night, and came back to the lair of the
outlaws on the second morning. But as he drew near the carrion-birds rose from the ground and sat
in the alder-trees beside Tarn Aeluin, and croaked in mockery.

There Beren buried his fathers bones, and raised a cairn of boulders above him, and swore
upon it an oath of vengeance. First there for he pursued the Orcs that had slain his father and his
kinsmen, and he found their camp by night at Rivil's Well above the Fen of Serech, and because of
his wood craft he came near to their fire unseen. There their captain made boast of his deeds, and he
held up the hand of Barahir that he had cut off as a token for Sauron that their mission was fulfilled;
and the ring of Felagund was on that hand. Then Beren sprang from behind rock, and slew captain,
and taking the hand and the ring he escaped, being defended by fate for the Orcs were dismayed,
and their arrows wild.

Thereafter for four years more Beren wandered still upon Dorthonion, a solitary outlaw; but
he became the friend of birds and beasts, and they aided him, and did not betray him, and from that
time forth he ate no flesh nor slew any living thing that was not in the service of Morgoth. He did
not fear death, but only captivity, and being bold and desperate he escaped both death and bonds;
and the deeds of lonely daring that he achieved were noised abroad throughout Beleriand, and the
tail of them came even into Doriath. At length Morgoth set a price upon his head no less than the
price upon the head of Fingon, High King of the Noldor; but the Orcs fled rather at the rumour of
his approach than sought him out. Therefore and army was sent against him under the command of
Sauron; and Sauron brought werewolves, fell beasts inhabited by dreadful spirits that he had
imprisoned in their bodies.

By the way, why didn't Morgoth just leave Beren to live out his short (human) life in Dorthonion, rather than go through all the trouble of trying to catch him?  <_<

ummmm, have you read the silmarillion?  if so, remember what he does at to morgoth in angband(hope that's spelled right).and he's killing all these orcs and everything and stuff.  of course morgoth's gonna go after him!

All that land was now become filled with evil, and all clean things were departing from it; and
Beren was pressed so hard that at last he was forced to flee from Dorthonion. In time of winter and
snow he forsook the land and grave of his father, and climbing into the high land of Doriath. There
it was put into his heart that he would go down into the Hidden Kingdom, where no mortal foot had
trodden. Terrible was his southward journey. Sheer were the precipices of Ered Gorgoroth, and
beneath their feet were shadows that were laid before the rising of the Moon. Beyond lay the
wilderness of Dungortheb, where the sorcery of Sauron and the power of Melian came together, and
horror and madness walked. There spiders of the fell race of Ungoliant abode, spinning their unseen
webs in which all living things were snared; and monsters wandered there that were born in the long
dark before the Sun, hunting silently with many eyes. No food for Elves or Men was there in that
haunted land, but death only. That journey is not accounted least among the great deeds of Beren,
but he spoke of it to no one after, lest the horror return into his mind; and none know how he found
a way, and so came by paths that no Man nor Elf else ever dared to tread to the borders of Doriath.
And he passed through the mazes that Melian wove about the kingdom of Thingol, even as she had
foretold; for a great doom lay upon him.

It is told in the Lay of Leithian that Beren came stumbling into Doriath grey and bowed as
with many years of woe, so great had been the torment of the road. But wandering in the summer in
the woods of Neldoreth he came upon Lúthien, daughter of Thingol and Melian, at a time of
evening under moonrise, as she danced upon the unfading grass in the glades beside Esgalduin.
Then all memory of his pain departed from him, and he fell into an enchantment; for Lúthien was
the most beautiful of all the Children of Ilúvatar. Blue was her raiment as the unclouded heaven, but
her eyes were grey as the starlit evening; her mantle was sewn with golden flowers, but her hair was
dark as the shadows of twilight. As the light upon the leaves of trees, as the voice of clear waters, as
the stars above the mists of the world, such was her glory and her loveliness; and in her face was a
shining light.

But she vanished from his sight; and he became dumb, as one that is bound under a spell, and
he strayed long in the woods, wild and wary as a beast, seeking for her. In his heart he called her
Tinúviel, that signifies Nightingale, daughter of twilight, in the Grey-elven tongue, for he knew no
other name for her. And he saw her afar as leaves in the winds of autumn, and in winter as a star
upon a hill, but a chain was upon his limbs.

There came a time near dawn on the eve of spring, and Lúthien danced upon a green hill;
and suddenly she began to sing. Keen, heart-piercing was her song as the song of the lark that rises
from the gates of night and pours its voice among the dying stars, seeing the sun behind the walls of
the world; and the song of Lúthien released the behind the walls of the world; and the song of
Lúthien released the bonds of winter, and the frozen waters spoke, and flowers sprang from the cold
earth where her feet had passed.

Then the spell of silence fell from Beren, and he called to her, crying Tinúviel; and the
woods echoed the name. Then she halted in wonder, and fled no more, and Beren came to her. But
as she looked on him, doom fell upon her, and she loved him; yet she slipped from his arms and
vanished from his sight even as the day was breaking. Then Beren lay upon the ground in a swoon,
as one slain at once by bliss and grief; and he fell into a sleep as it were into an abyss of shadow,
and waking he was cold as stone, and his heart barren and forsaken. And wandering in mind he
groped as one that is stricken with sudden blindness, and seeks with hands to grasp the vanished
light. Thus he began the payment of anguish for the fate that was laid on him; and in his fate
Lúthien was caught, and being immortal she shared in his mortality, and being free received his
chain; and her anguish was greater than any other of the Eldalië has known.

Beyond his hope she returned to him where he sat in darkness, and long ago in the Hidden
Kingdom she laid her hand in his. Thereafter often she came to him, and they went in secret through
the woods together from spring to summer; and no others of the Children of Ilúvatar have had joy
so great, though the time was brief.
But Daeron the minstrel also loved Lúthien, and he espied her meetings with Beren, and
betrayed them to Thingol. Then the King was filled with anger, for Lúthien he loved above all
things, setting her above all the princes of the Elves; whereas mortal Men he did not even take into
his service. Therefore he spoke in grief and amazement to Lúthien; but she would reveal nothing,
until he swore an oath to her that he would neither slay Beren nor imprison him. But he sent his
servants to lay hands on him and lead him to Menegroth as a malefactor; and Lúthien forestalling
them led Beren herself before the throne of Thingol, as if he were an honoured guest.

the "rabid murderous trees"were ents. and they didn't eat the orcs, they more crushed them and stuff because they hated the orcs for senselessly chopping the trees down.

Hello, with all of the talk about whether ROTK will be accurate to Tolkein, etc. I fear I must make a comment of which many diehard LOTR book lovers will hate me for. But first let me say I LOVE Tolkein's books. He was a literary genius. Maybe that will help you understand I do love the book and mean nothing ill by what I'm about to say.

You see, many people believe PJ should have kept the movies strictly to the book, play by play. Well, first I must point out that if he did so, because there is so much that happens, there would be no depth. One of the reasons it probably hasn't won an oscar (though I daresay it deserves it!) is because the in film, deep character depth and psychological understanding of a character is very important. Now, drama is basically a showcase for acting. Movies like A Beautiful Mind are excellent acting. People come away going "Wow, that man is so talented, he completely disappeared into the character." Unfortunately, while this same skill may be applied to fantasy, it is less noticed because a lot of the film is telling just what happened, not what it meant . Now, ELijah is one of those actors who can invoke the ""Wow", but just the events actually take away from getting to really see Frodo as well as in say, a Drama (interesting side thought, what sort of drama would Frodo be in?) Basicallly, what I am trying to say is that if PJ had done TOlkein event for event, we would not have time to know the characters at all and would feel disconnected and would frankly not care what was happenning. It would fail to capture our interest. We NEED to know Frodo in an intimate way that that would not provide. A movie is different than a book, it is not something that can be read over the course of a month when a viewer has time. It has to fit into certain time restrictions, or no one will watch it (perhaps with the exception of people like us  ) People expect a book to be more in depth. But that kind of depth just isn't practical in a movie. Does anyone get what I'm trying to say?

So, movies and books are different, what does that mean to diehards like us? What it comes down to is just seperating the movie and film in your mind as entirely seperate entities. Seems difficult? of course, as they both follow roughly the same story. But do you have trouble watching, say, All I Want because it is not like the classic Romeo and Juliet? Of course not. They're entirely different. Well, try and apply the same thing. The movie is so different, just forget it's based on a book while we watch it. Just experience the movie, get lost in it, and don't think about alternate plots, or what they've changed, but what they've created within itself.

I don't know if anyone understands a thing I've saide, but I shall refrain from going on incase I'm boring everyone. If you want me to explain it more I'll try. I just know I've pretty much managed to accomplish this, and I have a passion for both the movie and the book, and neither one upsets me. I left the theater from Two Towers with the same thrill Tolkein's work gives me. There just different, perhaps better suited to their own genres.

Kelsey

Then Thingol looked upon Beren in scorn and anger; but Melian was silent. 'Who are you',
said the King, 'that come hither as a thief, and unbidden dare to approach my throne?'
But Beren being filled with dread, for the splendour of Menegroth and the majesty of Thingol
were very great, answered nothing. Therefore Lúthien spoke, and said: 'He is Beren son of Barahir,
lord of Men, mighty foe of Morgoth, the tale of whose deeds is become a song even among the
Elves.'
'Let Beren speak!' said Thingol. 'What would you here, unhappy mortal, and for what cause
have you left your own land to enter this, which is forbidden to such as you? Can you show reason
why my power should not be laid on you in heavy punishment for you insolence and folly?'

Then Beren looking up beheld the eyes of Lúthien, and his glance went also to the face of
Melian and it seemed to him that words were put into his mouth. Fear left him, and the pride of the
eldest house of Men returned to him; and he said: 'My fate, O King, led me hither, through perils
such as few even of the Elves would dare. And here I have found what I sought not indeed, but
finding I would possess for ever. For it is above all gold and silver, and beyond all jewels. Neither
rock, nor steel, nor the fires of Morgoth, nor all the powers of the Elf-kingdoms, shall keep from me
the treasure that I desire. For Lúthien your daughter is the fairest of all the Children of the World.'