An interview on the importance of Arwen Undomiel and the intentions of Tolkien on her character. The following interview shows us why Tolkien had the character of Arwen, why he wrote about the love between elf-kind and mankind, how Luthien and Beren was created and how all this intermingles with Professor J.R.R Tolkien. Interviewees: Tom Shippey, Brian Sibley, John Garth, Collin Duriez, Philippa Boyens, Jude Fisher, Rayner Unwi, Viggo Mortensen. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Sibley - "…So he started developing this elaborate idea of creating appendices to the book" Shippey - "The whole tale of Aragorn and Arwen is moved into an appendix. It clearly ought to be a part of the story, but how are you gonna tell it? Sibley - "He did think about how he could work her (Arwen) into the body of the text and never found a satisfactory way of doing it". Fisher - "It would have slowed the story down completely and been out of place". Shippey - "But, actually, Arwen is a very important figure…because she introduces the theme of death". Fisher - "The fact that Arwen casts off her immortality for the love of a mortal Man, is truly the greatest sacrifice in the entire story". Viggo Mortensen - "The condition that Elrond puts on Aragorn is that he may not have his daughter Arwen’s hand in marriage until he defeats Sauron, essentially, and becomes king. And once he’s earned that, then he’s earned the right". Shippey - "Stories about a mortal and an immortal pairing, you know are there in the folklore of northern Europe. But they’re, I think, especially important to Tolkien. One of them is Aragorn and Arwen, but there are others back in his mythology. There’s the union of Beren and Luthien. Luthien is a very high-ranking Elf princess. Beren is a survivor from a human group which has been almost wiped out". Fisher - “And Beren stumbles upon her while she’s dancing in a woodland glade and he’s never seen anything so beautiful in his life. And his heart is struck still by the sight of her”. Shippey – “And her father, of course, has no intention of giving up his daughter to a raggrd stranger from the wilderness, and a human at that”. Duriez – "This story not only was very important in the early tales of Middle Earth, but it had particular meaning for Tolkien in his life. As a young man, he had fallen in love with Edith Bratt. Unwin - "They fell in love, but Tolkien’s guardian said that he couldn’t marry until he was 21. Shippey - "And Tolkien, being the stubborn pigheaded sort he was, waited till one minute after midnight on his 21st birthday and then wrote her a proposal of marriage and posted it. And she accepted it. Sibley - "Their love is something we know very little about. But we do know that he and his young wife took a walk in a wood that was filled with hemlock and that she danced for him and sang for him. And that image, that very, very personal image of the woman he loved became the image that he used to describe the meeting of Beren and Luthien". Garth - “Tolkien identified so closely with this story that when Edith died, he had the name ‘Luthien” written on her tombstone.    Tombstone of Edith Mary 'Luthien' Tolkien & John Ronald Reuel 'Beren' Tolkien ... interview continued ...