What was the name of Tolkien’s wife and lifelong love, who inspired Lúthien?

Tolkien’s wife and lifelong love was Edith Tolkien, and she inspired the character Lúthien. Tolkien met Edith Bratt in Birmingham when he was a teenager, and they married on 22 March 1916.

Tolkien’s relationship with Edith influenced one of the central love stories in his mythology. Beren, a mortal man, falls in love with Lúthien, an immortal elf of extraordinary beauty and power. Tolkien associated Edith with Lúthien, especially after seeing her dance in a wooded area near Roos in Yorkshire.

The Beren and Lúthien story appears in several forms across Tolkien’s writings. It is one of the key legends of the First Age and is referenced in The Lord of the Rings through the names Beren and Lúthien on the gravestone shared by Tolkien and Edith.

Edith was a trained pianist and had three sons and one daughter with Tolkien. Their marriage lasted until her death in 1971, two years before Tolkien died.