Nicholas Palazzo
Well-Known Member
I would argue that if Beren was pro-escape prior to the massacre, his guilt would keep him there, while if he were pro-remain, the death of the entire party would demonstrate how useless that proposition is.
Session 6-07: Beren and Lúthien, Part 1
- Thread starter MithLuin
- Start date
I would argue that if Beren was pro-escape prior to the massacre, his guilt would keep him there, while if he were pro-remain, the death of the entire party would demonstrate how useless that proposition is.
Odola
Well-Known Member
Why? If he was pro-escape the others died not because of his advice but because they choose to ignore it. As such it was their own choice. So no guilt for him. He is free to follow his own conviction now, as there is nobody left to overrule him.
Were he the one to advocate for staying then their death is at least partially his fault and he would have surviver's guilt.
The reverse would only make sense of they have died trying to escape following his advice to escape.
Guilt can be complicated. He could feel obligated to carry on their legacy, and therefore feel very guilty about leaving once they are dead. He could regret not trying harder to get everyone to leave. There are plenty of ways his departure from Dorthonion can carry a weight.
In the TV show Supernatural, the brothers' father dies at the beginning of the 2nd season. The younger son, who had always been rebellious and fought with his dad, was suddenly all concerned about what his dad would have wanted. He felt guilty that the last conversation he had with his father was a fight where they yelled at each other. The older son, meanwhile, had always been dutiful and obedient. But now, he felt betrayed and angry. He doesn't agree with his father's final decision. Both brothers are adults in their 20's. Their opinions towards their father and his legacy continue to change and evolve in the years after his death. The immediacy of grief brings out extreme emotions, and that's not necessarily the final word on how a character will view someone else.
So, yeah, it might sound logical to think, well, they should have listened to me. Not my fault they all died. But that isn't the thought going through someone's mind in the moment when they discover the dead bodies. Much more likely to be thinking "I should have been here." That is a common thread among the survivors of the Peoples Temple who were not present at the Jonestown massacre. Because even if it is clear that being there wouldn't have stopped anything, people still feel like...maybe I could have done something. Saved someone. And so there is that mixed feeling of being relieved to have survived, but then feeling guilty for being relieved.
Regardless of which direction we go with the Outlaw's mission and Beren's role in it, Beren is definitely going to experience survivor's guilt. In the Lay, he hears the carrion birds mock him - too late, too late. He was not there, and even though he was warned, he still arrived too late to help, too late to save anyone. That is going to haunt him.
In the TV show Supernatural, the brothers' father dies at the beginning of the 2nd season. The younger son, who had always been rebellious and fought with his dad, was suddenly all concerned about what his dad would have wanted. He felt guilty that the last conversation he had with his father was a fight where they yelled at each other. The older son, meanwhile, had always been dutiful and obedient. But now, he felt betrayed and angry. He doesn't agree with his father's final decision. Both brothers are adults in their 20's. Their opinions towards their father and his legacy continue to change and evolve in the years after his death. The immediacy of grief brings out extreme emotions, and that's not necessarily the final word on how a character will view someone else.
So, yeah, it might sound logical to think, well, they should have listened to me. Not my fault they all died. But that isn't the thought going through someone's mind in the moment when they discover the dead bodies. Much more likely to be thinking "I should have been here." That is a common thread among the survivors of the Peoples Temple who were not present at the Jonestown massacre. Because even if it is clear that being there wouldn't have stopped anything, people still feel like...maybe I could have done something. Saved someone. And so there is that mixed feeling of being relieved to have survived, but then feeling guilty for being relieved.
Regardless of which direction we go with the Outlaw's mission and Beren's role in it, Beren is definitely going to experience survivor's guilt. In the Lay, he hears the carrion birds mock him - too late, too late. He was not there, and even though he was warned, he still arrived too late to help, too late to save anyone. That is going to haunt him.
Odola
Well-Known Member
Oh, it is always possible to overcompliacate things. Especially in modern stories where the character is the story, not so much the deeds themselves. It is also true in modern times we are trained to overthink everything. In former times people were more used to death as it was natural to be confronted with it from a very young age and to consider it "fate".
In the text - where you have the "to late" mocking carrion birds - Beren does stay in Dothonion for years and him leaving it finally is a reaction to being hunted and not so much his free decission. The Tolkien Professor wants leaving Dorthonion to be of Beren's own valition and we have decided to let him make it immediately. The most coherent, fastest and easiest way to make this happen is if he has been convinced that leaving is the right action for some time already and was staying only for the others and having now burried them he considers his bonds with Dorthonion finally cut off completely and himself free to go.
He could even see it as a confirmation of his intuition that his father's goals were unchievable from the start and that they were only "wasting their time" here. A confirmation of his feeling that this is not where they (and especially he himself) should be.
As I wrote above, this would different if Beren were to stay for those several years as stated in the text - but if we are cutting those years out then this is the most unproblematic way to close Beren's Dorthonion chapter. We are changing tho story as stated in the text already - as such not all elements of this part of it do fit anymore - they need to be adjusted also to make sense.
Of course he would be grieving and regretting not having made in in time.
But death in combat is no stranger to a warrior but an expected result.
So him being extremely conflicted about it seems "too modern" and "out of place" for his context imho.
Last edited:
Nicholas Palazzo
Well-Known Member
I don't think a cold "Well, I guess that's it then" is the sort of attitude we are looking for from Beren.
I also don't think that if Beren is pro-staying, his guilt would any more likely lead him to stand guard over the graves than to leave as many of his companions had wanted to.
I also don't think that if Beren is pro-staying, his guilt would any more likely lead him to stand guard over the graves than to leave as many of his companions had wanted to.
Ange1e4e5
Well-Known Member
But that almost seems like the way Beren would be thinking should he be the one who is the main voice against staying and defending Dorthonion; it would be kind of like "They didn't listen to me, now this is what happened. Peace out."
Odola
Well-Known Member
If he was ready before to risk his and other people's lives for a purpose of a greater value to him than those said lives then this exact purpose does not vanish just because they are dead now. That makes no sense.
I understand that 'survivor's guilt' sounds modern, as the term didn't exist before the 1960's or so. But that doesn't mean that it's solely a modern experience. It's a symptom of PTSD, so anyone who lives through a traumatic event could potentially experience it. Obviously, not every Holocaust survivor experienced survivor's guilt for surviving the concentration camps. But many did.
I also am familiar with the idea of fate dictating a person's life - it being your day to die, etc. A small bird can fly into a lit hall and then out into the night, and no one knows where it goes...one can accept that a human's life is like that too. Certainly, there have been cultures that have praised an acceptance of the inevitability of death, or have had the focus on it being a 'good' death - so death in battle is acceptable. And in a situation of prolonged warfare, one may become more accustomed to violent death.
And yet....
No one was more accustomed to prolonged warfare than Alexander the Great, whose entire (short) adult life was spent in campaigning and conquest. He was involved in brutal conflict from the age of 16 to his death at 32, and of course personally ordered the conquest of many places and the execution of many foes and former allies. He even executed a critic who had formerly saved his life. One could think that after a time he would have become inured to violence. And yet...that is apparently not so. We know of multiple occasions where he struggled with situations of his own making, having regrets. As one 'for instance,' the burning of Persepolis. He reportedly ordered his troops to try to put the fire out, or at least regretted the destruction the next day. And he was famously devastated by the death of Hephaestion, who did not die in battle, but of illness/poisoning. Alexander only outlived Hephaestion by 8 months.
Beren is going to show grief for the deaths of his companions. He's not going to just be like, oh well, that happens. For one thing...it really doesn't. In Silm Film, the House of Bëor was sheltered in Nargothrond for generations, and it was not uncommon for folks to live into their 90's. And when they did move to Ladros and the front lines, Barahir was a 5 year old child. The elves were still assisting, and we still observe people living to very old age (Andreth and Bregolas' father Boromir, for instance). So, really, the first sign of death by violence, death in warfare...is the Dagor Bragollach. Which was sudden and cataclysmic and like nothing in the experience of the people of Bëor. The war definitely counts as a traumatic experience, but in the aftermath, the Outlaws all survive until the time when Beren comes back to find them slaughtered. So, again, even if they certainly know they are living a dangerous lifestyle, this is the first time since the war that Beren has witnessed the death of a companion, and the war was the first time ever. So...no, it's not something he's going to be blasé about. He doesn't have to be modern about it, but he isn't going to be unfeeling or consider this an 'expected result.' It's traumatic, and he's going to express grief.
...and then he's going to avenge his companions and leave Dorthonion.
But the reason we want to show his grief, to show him conflicted about the decision to leave...is so that we can show his healing in Doriath. He isn't just physically worn out and now in a place of safety with enough food. He's met Lúthien, and she heals his grief and allows him to overcome that guilt and experience joy in life again. If we don't show the hurt that he has suffered, we won't be able to depict his healing from it.
I also am familiar with the idea of fate dictating a person's life - it being your day to die, etc. A small bird can fly into a lit hall and then out into the night, and no one knows where it goes...one can accept that a human's life is like that too. Certainly, there have been cultures that have praised an acceptance of the inevitability of death, or have had the focus on it being a 'good' death - so death in battle is acceptable. And in a situation of prolonged warfare, one may become more accustomed to violent death.
And yet....
No one was more accustomed to prolonged warfare than Alexander the Great, whose entire (short) adult life was spent in campaigning and conquest. He was involved in brutal conflict from the age of 16 to his death at 32, and of course personally ordered the conquest of many places and the execution of many foes and former allies. He even executed a critic who had formerly saved his life. One could think that after a time he would have become inured to violence. And yet...that is apparently not so. We know of multiple occasions where he struggled with situations of his own making, having regrets. As one 'for instance,' the burning of Persepolis. He reportedly ordered his troops to try to put the fire out, or at least regretted the destruction the next day. And he was famously devastated by the death of Hephaestion, who did not die in battle, but of illness/poisoning. Alexander only outlived Hephaestion by 8 months.
Beren is going to show grief for the deaths of his companions. He's not going to just be like, oh well, that happens. For one thing...it really doesn't. In Silm Film, the House of Bëor was sheltered in Nargothrond for generations, and it was not uncommon for folks to live into their 90's. And when they did move to Ladros and the front lines, Barahir was a 5 year old child. The elves were still assisting, and we still observe people living to very old age (Andreth and Bregolas' father Boromir, for instance). So, really, the first sign of death by violence, death in warfare...is the Dagor Bragollach. Which was sudden and cataclysmic and like nothing in the experience of the people of Bëor. The war definitely counts as a traumatic experience, but in the aftermath, the Outlaws all survive until the time when Beren comes back to find them slaughtered. So, again, even if they certainly know they are living a dangerous lifestyle, this is the first time since the war that Beren has witnessed the death of a companion, and the war was the first time ever. So...no, it's not something he's going to be blasé about. He doesn't have to be modern about it, but he isn't going to be unfeeling or consider this an 'expected result.' It's traumatic, and he's going to express grief.
...and then he's going to avenge his companions and leave Dorthonion.
But the reason we want to show his grief, to show him conflicted about the decision to leave...is so that we can show his healing in Doriath. He isn't just physically worn out and now in a place of safety with enough food. He's met Lúthien, and she heals his grief and allows him to overcome that guilt and experience joy in life again. If we don't show the hurt that he has suffered, we won't be able to depict his healing from it.
Odola
Well-Known Member
I was not at all talking about grief. Grief he feels for sure. One reason why he stays for years in the texts.
Still the mechanism to make him leave immidietaly - as after our change - if he was the one who has insisted on staying before makes no sense if we focus on his grief.
Grief is debilitating, anger is motivating - but he has spend his anger already on his revenge.
There must be a strong motivation to "pull" him out of Dothonion - at if it is strong enough to make him risk passing Nan Dungortheb now why was it not present before - and how comes he suddenly abandoning his previous strong motivation to stay?
This seems random and capricious - not attitudes we want to associate with Beren?
It could be explained but:
-this is convoluded as such it would take time to explain
-delving so much into his incoherences makes him less defined and attractive as a hero
-he is alone,so he has no way to explain himself to anybody on screen
the purpose of making him leave immediately was to simplify the story and to focus more on B&L - this would be contadicted by making Beren's choice difficult to get without a lengthy explaination
All of this is avoided by making him wanting to leave for some time now feeling that his fate calls him to be somewhere else.
Edit: making of of his companion being not dead yet when Beren arrives and making him commanding Beren to leave as his last death wish would work, but that would seem very cheesy as this has been done so many times before in movies...
Being through Nan Dungortheb is taumatic and poisonous enough in itself to be in need of heailing when Beren meets Luthien.
Being heavely impaired already when Beren enters Nan Dungortheb makes it unbelievable that he is able make it through this evil place at all.
Last edited:
I feel like Barahirs troupe was still as a unit more attached to Dorthonion, as long as they could do the guerilla warfare against Sauron and be a real problem for him that made sense. I think totally independent from his guilt and regret and how Beren felt about their situation before, he after the massacre is a free agent who is remarkable for not being caught, always moving around and being still, an issue for Sauron. But he is not anymore capable to defend a territory. So I think his move can be also explained by that, being cut lose from some prior anchor, and then his other goals and possible paths take over "the lead"
Okay regarding this ep of the podcast I've had to think about Luthien's characterisation again because there were two things that were bothering me:
a) character vs character development: Corey talked a lot about how he didn't wanna give her a lot of character development before she meets Beren. I do agree with that in a way because she is like Doriath in a more stagnant place, and she is of course much older than Beren and not in a coming of age tale anymore. But I do disagree strongly about that we shouldn't show her story at all with her as an actor in a scene before the meeting with Beren, because I do think we should take time to build her character. No moving from one state of character to another, but showing who she is and in what state of mind she goes into the meeting. Because let's be honest, Luthien is already very much the passive person in the text of the meeting, and this is really one of the only little parts about B&L i don't like as much. Usually I just read over it as if the summary style of the Silm just kind of "cuts" it, but I imagine something instead. In a visual, like, real-time adaptation we don't have that wiggle room, we either show her as a character or not. And I am very in favor of her having some strong moment of seeing where she is at, but not having any character development.
b) stagnation vs ignorance: Similar for her outlook on Beleriand and her, let's say, general state of maturity. I also strongly dislike the notion of her being an almost childlike dancing pretty princess that knows about nothing until she meets Beren. She is 3000 years old, she has walked the realms of Beleriand before the wars, she is not totally ignorant. She is probably also not totally held in the dark about what's happening. But her knowledge about current events and her attitude about how she relates to Beleriand is all theoretical and distant. So I would want to show that, maybe she talks to Daeron, her parents, someone else, about the situation in Beleriand, but all of that is completely incomparable to when she meets Beren and meets a survivor of the horror and grief of all that's happened. But it is not just that she has never known about it or didn't care. That would make Luthien incredibly shallow and apparently completely uninterested.
Anyway... just was circling around in my head & had to dump it here.
a) character vs character development: Corey talked a lot about how he didn't wanna give her a lot of character development before she meets Beren. I do agree with that in a way because she is like Doriath in a more stagnant place, and she is of course much older than Beren and not in a coming of age tale anymore. But I do disagree strongly about that we shouldn't show her story at all with her as an actor in a scene before the meeting with Beren, because I do think we should take time to build her character. No moving from one state of character to another, but showing who she is and in what state of mind she goes into the meeting. Because let's be honest, Luthien is already very much the passive person in the text of the meeting, and this is really one of the only little parts about B&L i don't like as much. Usually I just read over it as if the summary style of the Silm just kind of "cuts" it, but I imagine something instead. In a visual, like, real-time adaptation we don't have that wiggle room, we either show her as a character or not. And I am very in favor of her having some strong moment of seeing where she is at, but not having any character development.
b) stagnation vs ignorance: Similar for her outlook on Beleriand and her, let's say, general state of maturity. I also strongly dislike the notion of her being an almost childlike dancing pretty princess that knows about nothing until she meets Beren. She is 3000 years old, she has walked the realms of Beleriand before the wars, she is not totally ignorant. She is probably also not totally held in the dark about what's happening. But her knowledge about current events and her attitude about how she relates to Beleriand is all theoretical and distant. So I would want to show that, maybe she talks to Daeron, her parents, someone else, about the situation in Beleriand, but all of that is completely incomparable to when she meets Beren and meets a survivor of the horror and grief of all that's happened. But it is not just that she has never known about it or didn't care. That would make Luthien incredibly shallow and apparently completely uninterested.
Anyway... just was circling around in my head & had to dump it here.
Ange1e4e5
Well-Known Member
Something else what I was thinking about: what about Beren is attractive to Lúthien and vice versa? Compared to most Elves, Beren is a rugged, scruffy interloper with a wicked amount of presumption. Lúthien would be unlike any woman Beren had ever met among mortal women.
Take the Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame; Esmeralda and Phoebus are attracted to each other's compassion and spirit in the face of strong opposition from Frollo. Phoebus is attracted to Esmeralda after she cuts Quasimodo free during his humiliation by the crowd at the Feast of Fools and subsequent trouncing of Frollo's men (and a duel in Notre Dame herself), while Esmeralda witnesses Phoebus refuse to burn down a mill with a family inside and then rescues the occupants when Frollo burns it down himself; after that, she saves Phoebus twice by knocking Frollo off his horse so Phoebus can escape and then pulling him from the river after he gets shot and falls off the bridge. This is also seen with Quasimodo as he is attracted to Esmeralda because she was nice to him.
Take the Disney Hunchback of Notre Dame; Esmeralda and Phoebus are attracted to each other's compassion and spirit in the face of strong opposition from Frollo. Phoebus is attracted to Esmeralda after she cuts Quasimodo free during his humiliation by the crowd at the Feast of Fools and subsequent trouncing of Frollo's men (and a duel in Notre Dame herself), while Esmeralda witnesses Phoebus refuse to burn down a mill with a family inside and then rescues the occupants when Frollo burns it down himself; after that, she saves Phoebus twice by knocking Frollo off his horse so Phoebus can escape and then pulling him from the river after he gets shot and falls off the bridge. This is also seen with Quasimodo as he is attracted to Esmeralda because she was nice to him.
Lúthien's character did come up in the most recent podcast, naturally, and there was a strong consensus that she is a 'tra-la-la-lally' elf. Meaning, there is something playful and fey about her character that is fundamental to who she is. Beren may be grim or serious about things, but she is decidedly...not.
I think one way this would come out would be that Lúthien would be unlikely to exhibit fear, even in the face of some rather fearsome foes (Sauron, Carcaroth, Morgoth, Námo). I mention this because the 'childlike' nature is often considered naïve or simple, and in this case, her fearlessness would have something ancient to it. Anyone with sense would be afraid in these circumstances, and yet she is....not.
So, yes, she dances in the woods without a care (seemingly), but she does the same in Morgoth's throne room.
I think one way this would come out would be that Lúthien would be unlikely to exhibit fear, even in the face of some rather fearsome foes (Sauron, Carcaroth, Morgoth, Námo). I mention this because the 'childlike' nature is often considered naïve or simple, and in this case, her fearlessness would have something ancient to it. Anyone with sense would be afraid in these circumstances, and yet she is....not.
So, yes, she dances in the woods without a care (seemingly), but she does the same in Morgoth's throne room.
I do agree that she is a Tra-la-la-lally elf, but i think that exactly gets to what i dislike about the approach so far. The Tra-la-la-lally elves we meet in the Hobbit are extras. They (and i would also bring up the mirkwood elves that enchant and disorient the dwarves, relevant for doriathrim i think) are much more archetypal figures than characters. They don't have a personality or individuality, less so than the characters in the very mythically abbreviated silm tales.
I like all of the properties that playful, fey, maybe even a bit eerie Luthien inherits from the tralalalally elves, the mirkwood "entry into fey" elves, i also like her stagnation, it makes a lot of sense. But i don't like her being an extra for the whole time till Beren arrives, and then seemingly only gaining personhood during the meetcute, while Beren has had his whole journey so far and the audience has had time to understand him, his character, fears, desires etc. While the audience's idea of Luthien is only external, and from very far away, and seems to only be propelled into the adventure by that one point of contact with something external. She knows of stuff outside, but is not actively involved, I think her meeting with Beren should rather activate something in her that has lain dormant/stagnant, but for that i think that Luthien already needs to be a character, not just a hollow vessel for ppls imaginations and projections.
I like all of the properties that playful, fey, maybe even a bit eerie Luthien inherits from the tralalalally elves, the mirkwood "entry into fey" elves, i also like her stagnation, it makes a lot of sense. But i don't like her being an extra for the whole time till Beren arrives, and then seemingly only gaining personhood during the meetcute, while Beren has had his whole journey so far and the audience has had time to understand him, his character, fears, desires etc. While the audience's idea of Luthien is only external, and from very far away, and seems to only be propelled into the adventure by that one point of contact with something external. She knows of stuff outside, but is not actively involved, I think her meeting with Beren should rather activate something in her that has lain dormant/stagnant, but for that i think that Luthien already needs to be a character, not just a hollow vessel for ppls imaginations and projections.
Last edited:
Lúthien was introduced as a character in Season 3, and thus the audience is much more familiar with her than with Beren. She participated in the first diplomatic meeting between Elves and Dwarves, she defended Menegroth from a spider invasion (obviously Melian's girdle won that battle, but Doriath's military was not home when that happened, so she was quite integral to the defense). We see her recognizing the importance of art to preserving the culture of a people during that season.
In Season 4, she befriends Galadriel, who is her cousin's daughter, but obviously also one of the Noldor. She wants to help Galadriel heal from the Kinslaying, teach her to dance, learn Galadriel's songs, etc. This storyline culminates with Lúthien standing in for Galadriel's mother at her wedding. She also attends the Mereth Aderthad and has an unwitting song duel with Sauron.
In Season 5, she discusses the Men entering Beleriand with Galadriel, who has visited Doriath to report on some of the troubles the Green Elves are having with their new neighbors (the soon-to-be House of Hador)
So, at this point, the audience should be quite familiar with who she is, and her personality. She is a tra-la-la-lally elf, true, but she is not just a dancing and singing in the woods extra, either.
The suggestion that Lúthien be viewed from the outside was an Episode1 thing only - we need to get Daeron's perspective on Lúthien, and remind the audience of how 'famous' she is outside of Doriath. People she has not met know the name of Thingol's daughter. But in Episodes 2 and 3, we will be seeing her story more directly from her point of view. Beren doesn't meet her until Episode 4. So, there is definitely time to give her character moments before he arrives.
In Season 4, she befriends Galadriel, who is her cousin's daughter, but obviously also one of the Noldor. She wants to help Galadriel heal from the Kinslaying, teach her to dance, learn Galadriel's songs, etc. This storyline culminates with Lúthien standing in for Galadriel's mother at her wedding. She also attends the Mereth Aderthad and has an unwitting song duel with Sauron.
In Season 5, she discusses the Men entering Beleriand with Galadriel, who has visited Doriath to report on some of the troubles the Green Elves are having with their new neighbors (the soon-to-be House of Hador)
So, at this point, the audience should be quite familiar with who she is, and her personality. She is a tra-la-la-lally elf, true, but she is not just a dancing and singing in the woods extra, either.
The suggestion that Lúthien be viewed from the outside was an Episode1 thing only - we need to get Daeron's perspective on Lúthien, and remind the audience of how 'famous' she is outside of Doriath. People she has not met know the name of Thingol's daughter. But in Episodes 2 and 3, we will be seeing her story more directly from her point of view. Beren doesn't meet her until Episode 4. So, there is definitely time to give her character moments before he arrives.
True, true. I was just a little concerned with how the moment would play if that preference for seeing her from afar holds until the meeting, since the current season will ofc always have the strongest influence on the viewers. But then i misunderstood that as only being for ep. 1, to get back into the season and slowly zoom into Doriath, so to say, that makes a lot of sense. Sorry xD
It's a valid concern. The storytelling surrounding our two main protagonists is not exactly balanced at the beginning of the Season here. Beren gets a much fuller, more detailed story than Lúthien does.
It is more common to follow two separate storylines and bring the characters together by the end of the first episode/beginning of the second. So, in Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye, the audience sees what both main characters are dealing with throughout episode 1, and by episode 2, they're now teaming up to address some of those problems (well, sort of). Neither of these stories are romances, of course. And it is still clear which character is the primary protagonist - one of the storylines dominates.
In a show such as Pam and Tommy, which is a romance, you do see one of the characters from an outsider perspective in the first episode. It's...Tommy-centric, without giving Pam's point of view. That allows them to surprise the audience when they shift to her viewpoint in the second episode, making the viewer reconsider what they already 'know' about the story. Or at least, so I've been told - I haven't watched it.
It is more common to follow two separate storylines and bring the characters together by the end of the first episode/beginning of the second. So, in Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye, the audience sees what both main characters are dealing with throughout episode 1, and by episode 2, they're now teaming up to address some of those problems (well, sort of). Neither of these stories are romances, of course. And it is still clear which character is the primary protagonist - one of the storylines dominates.
In a show such as Pam and Tommy, which is a romance, you do see one of the characters from an outsider perspective in the first episode. It's...Tommy-centric, without giving Pam's point of view. That allows them to surprise the audience when they shift to her viewpoint in the second episode, making the viewer reconsider what they already 'know' about the story. Or at least, so I've been told - I haven't watched it.
Yeah I think to a certain point, Beren warrants having more screentime because his plot just keeps coming and coming, while Luthien's plot is stagnating and only kicked off by the meeting, that is true. But there is a certain point i think where the audience then might only interpret the relationship primarily as an event that happens to Beren at first and not an event that brings them together as a couple and a team. But i definitely think that balance can be struck in different ways, yup.