So I have my own theory about Tolkien's time in Yorkshire, when he was Professor at the University of Leeds (and lived in the city). Back in the Early Middle Ages, West Yorkshire was covered in forest, which until the early 7th century - when it was annexed by Anglo-Saxon Northumbria - was the Kingdom of Elmet, the last Celtic kingdom in England (in Welsh/Brythonic, Elfed). At the centre of the kingdom was a manor holding, Loidis, which eventually became Leeds. Big forest, last of the old race who hadn't gone into the West? Familiar? Tolkien would have been, he was an active member of the Yorkshire archaeological society. I'm surprised not to see this mentioned more often, maybe it's a dumb correlation. And yet.
Metamorphosis in general, and Sauron's defensive transformation into multiple forms in particular, puts me in mind of Tam Lin; I wonder if the Child Ballads were on Tolkien's radar.
(the Anne Briggs text is probably the most readable)
Also, in cautious defence of JRRT, I wouldn't (and didn't) assume that a woman would give up her surname on marriage, but I don't think it was widely considered a power-play in 1916. Besides, the inscription on the tombstone reads "Edith Mary Tolkien / Luthien". But perhaps it didn't always.
You're right that I'm being a little uncharitable to Tolkien. A woman adopting her husband's surname was, as you say, no "power play" in 1916; although leaving her religion to adopt her husband's was a big deal. And as I say in the post, I've no idea how Edith herself felt about it: likely she was perfectly happy. But as a writer, whose work has sometimes been inspired by my wife (as how could it not) the idea that I would, unilaterally, after her death, and without having previously consulted her, memorialise her via one of my invented fictions does strike me as dodgy.
My father became a Catholic in order to marry my mother. In retrospect I would very much have preferred it if she had joined the C of E. (I would much rather be a Protestant atheist than a Catholic atheist).
In addition to all the parallels you mention between the Beren and Luthien tale and Lord of the Rings, there is of course the way in which the romance of Aragorn and Arwen recapitulates and re-weaves the story of Beren and Luthien (the union of a scion of royal human line with a flowering of the elven line). Of course, both Arwen and Aragorn are actually descended from Beren and Luthien, so they weave the story back together in that sense as well.
Also! Luthien's mother is one of the Maiar (the lesser order of angelic beings, basically)... and so is Gandalf, though he has taken human form for the purposes of his mission and work in Middle Earth. (Is it possible that this might count as a kind of shape-shifting as well, in both stories?)
Nitpicky comment: I'm pretty sure Beorn does get mentioned in LOTR... the "beornings" continue to live on the far side of the mountains, and have filled that region, as the dwarves tell us in Rivendell. They are led by a descendant of Beorn himself. (Though, as you note, the shape-shifting human-bear aspect doesn't really come in anymore.)
So I have my own theory about Tolkien's time in Yorkshire, when he was Professor at the University of Leeds (and lived in the city). Back in the Early Middle Ages, West Yorkshire was covered in forest, which until the early 7th century - when it was annexed by Anglo-Saxon Northumbria - was the Kingdom of Elmet, the last Celtic kingdom in England (in Welsh/Brythonic, Elfed). At the centre of the kingdom was a manor holding, Loidis, which eventually became Leeds. Big forest, last of the old race who hadn't gone into the West? Familiar? Tolkien would have been, he was an active member of the Yorkshire archaeological society. I'm surprised not to see this mentioned more often, maybe it's a dumb correlation. And yet.
Not enough attention is paid to the influence of his time in Leeds on Tolkien's developing imagination. And not just Yorkshire: there's also this: https://profadamroberts.substack.com/p/tolkienian-lincolnshire
Metamorphosis in general, and Sauron's defensive transformation into multiple forms in particular, puts me in mind of Tam Lin; I wonder if the Child Ballads were on Tolkien's radar.
See https://mainlynorfolk.info/sandy.denny/songs/tamlin.html
(the Anne Briggs text is probably the most readable)
Also, in cautious defence of JRRT, I wouldn't (and didn't) assume that a woman would give up her surname on marriage, but I don't think it was widely considered a power-play in 1916. Besides, the inscription on the tombstone reads "Edith Mary Tolkien / Luthien". But perhaps it didn't always.
Tan Lin: yes, very likely.
You're right that I'm being a little uncharitable to Tolkien. A woman adopting her husband's surname was, as you say, no "power play" in 1916; although leaving her religion to adopt her husband's was a big deal. And as I say in the post, I've no idea how Edith herself felt about it: likely she was perfectly happy. But as a writer, whose work has sometimes been inspired by my wife (as how could it not) the idea that I would, unilaterally, after her death, and without having previously consulted her, memorialise her via one of my invented fictions does strike me as dodgy.
My father became a Catholic in order to marry my mother. In retrospect I would very much have preferred it if she had joined the C of E. (I would much rather be a Protestant atheist than a Catholic atheist).
In addition to all the parallels you mention between the Beren and Luthien tale and Lord of the Rings, there is of course the way in which the romance of Aragorn and Arwen recapitulates and re-weaves the story of Beren and Luthien (the union of a scion of royal human line with a flowering of the elven line). Of course, both Arwen and Aragorn are actually descended from Beren and Luthien, so they weave the story back together in that sense as well.
Also! Luthien's mother is one of the Maiar (the lesser order of angelic beings, basically)... and so is Gandalf, though he has taken human form for the purposes of his mission and work in Middle Earth. (Is it possible that this might count as a kind of shape-shifting as well, in both stories?)
Nitpicky comment: I'm pretty sure Beorn does get mentioned in LOTR... the "beornings" continue to live on the far side of the mountains, and have filled that region, as the dwarves tell us in Rivendell. They are led by a descendant of Beorn himself. (Though, as you note, the shape-shifting human-bear aspect doesn't really come in anymore.)