How the faithful hound from The Silmarillion ensured a kingly line leading to Aragorn.
By Isaac DeValois
In his tale about Beren, the mortal warrior, and Luthien, the immortal elf maiden, J.R.R. Tolkien delivers an unexpected picture of agency and destiny. Unexpected because we find them in a mysterious character named Huan—the great wolfhound of Valinor.
He was not born in Middle-earth, but came from the Blessed Realm; for Orome had given him to Celegorm long ago in Valinor, and there he had followed the horn of his master, before evil came. Huan followed Celegorm into exile, and was faithful; and thus he too came under the doom of woe set upon the Noldor, and it was decreed that he should meet death, but not until he encountered the mightiest wolf that would ever walk the world. [1]
…[He] comprehended the speech of all things with voice; but it was permitted to him thrice only ere his death to speak with words. [2]
Huan is described as “faithful” and “true of heart,” so it’s no surprise that, when the scheming Celegorm and his brother Curufin imprison Luthien, Huan jumps into harm’s way. With each word he speaks, in every battle with ferocious beasts, Huan inches closer to death. He presses on anyhow.
Later, in their effort to rescue Beren, Huan and Luthien battle Sauron and his army of wolves. When Huan defeats the greatest wolf of the dark fortress, Sauron suddenly remembers the fate “decreed for the hound of Valinor,” and presumes himself to be the slayer of Huan.
Therefore he took upon himself the form of a werewolf, and made himself the mightiest that had yet walked the world; and he came forth to win the passage of the bridge.[3]
Notice the contrast between these characters. Huan maintains prudence, recognizing when the time is right for him to act. Sauron presumes that when his strongest wolf is killed, there must be no stronger creature. He acts in hasty presumption (note that Sauron is not a wolf and must change his form as a sinister shapeshifter) for his own glory—and suffers for it.
Huan maintains a loyalty to his companions and an eye fixed on the times. When he departs Valinor with Celegorm, he never sways from his fealty—until the pure-hearted Luthien is captured by Celegorm’s deceit. Huan swoops into action—not because he sees himself as greater than Celegorm but because the time is right.
When Beren and Luthien consider where they might go to enjoy a life together, Huan speaks for the second time—a costly sacrifice, for he is permitted to speak only three times before his death. The magnanimous wolfhound advises his new friends with courage and wisdom, warning them of the forked road before them.
In the end, Huan is slain as foretold, but not before stopping the destruction and terror of his own slayer. Huan meets an ill-fated death, but out of death comes life. On his back and at his death, the mighty hound of Valinor carries Beren and Luthien who in their lives and in their deaths weave together the “sorrow of the Eldar and the grief of Men.” The Two Kindreds, Elves and Men, are joined together. By the magnanimity of Huan, Luthien chooses her beloved over the final home of her kin, beginning the noble line leading to the great King Elessar—the character many know as Aragorn.
Huan’s life turns out to be a series of small choices made at the right time which are fatefully interwoven with the renewal of Middle-earth. Where Sauron presumed his own glory and fate, Huan maintained wisdom and virtue.
Isaac DeValois is a noncommissioned officer in the Air National Guard and a nontraditional student who writes to understand a life well-lived. Between his active duty and National Guard service he has taken classes through Liberty University, Iowa State University and Davenant Hall. Isaac lives with his wife and kids in Iowa. He writes occasionally on Substack.
[1] Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel, The Silmarillion (George Allen & Unwin, 1977), 172.
[2] Tolkien, 173.
[3] Tolkien, 175.