Lyra Valkyria just made her WWE video game debut in the Global Superstars pack for WWE 2K24, a huge milestone for any WWE Superstar. She also recently returned to NXT to team up with her old partner Tatum Paxley, so it’s been a busy few weeks for the Raw superstar. That said, when she’s not taking on opponents in the ring, there’s one particular franchise that she loves returning to, and that happens to be Lord of the Rings. ComicBook recently had the chance to speak to Valkyria all about her WWE 2K24 debut, but we also asked about Rings of Power and if there was a role she would love to bring to life in the franchise. The answer will delight many longtime fans, as she highlighted one of the mythology’s most beloved couples in Beren and Lรบthien.
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Nothing I Love More
With Rings of Power well into season 2, we had to ask what she thought of the season so far. Valkyria hasn’t had a chance to dive into season 2 just yet, but she’s excited to dive in, and she’s also hyped for the upcoming animated prequel series Lord of the Rings: War of Rohirrim. When Lord of the Rings came up, Valkyria said, “There is nothing I love more in life. It’s my be-all-end-all. Rings of Power looks incredible. I’ve yet to dive into season 2, and there’s also the animation that’s coming out. There’s so much, there’s so much to delve into there.”
Then I had to ask if she could play a role in the series, who would she want to play. The answer jumps back in time all the way to the first human and elven couple, known in song and in the mythology as the beloved love story of Beren and Lรบthien. “Oh, my goodness, yes, like to have any part,” Valkyria said. “The story of Beren and Lรบthien I’ve always thought was very beautiful. So maybe something along those lines, who knows?”
An All-Time Love Story
The story of Beren and Lรบthien is referred to several times in Lord of the Rings, but it often highlights very specific traits of Beren and Lรบthien as opposed to going into great detail about their thrilling love story. It’s not until you read The Silmarillion that you really discover their story in full, and this was later expanded upon in The History of Middle-earth. Both dive much further into the whirlwind romance that stretches even beyond the mortal realm.
Following a betrayal that left everyone dead but him, Beren wanders into the Kingdom of Doriath and meets the immortal beauty Lรบthien. It’s love at first sight, but Lรบthien’s father Thingol lays a challenge at their feet before they can wed. They must retrieve a Silmaril from Morgoth’s crown, and Thingol thinks this impossible, so their wedding is essentially forever halted.
Thingol however underestimates his own daughter considerably, as she goes on to save Beren along his journey to attain the Silmaril time and time again. Along with a giant dog named Huan, Lรบthien frees Beren from Sauron, sings everyone to sleep so Beren can take the Silmaril, heals Beren after he gets his hand bitten off by a werewolf, and then successfully confronts the Gods to bring Beren back to life after he is killed by that same werewolf. The cost of that last heroic act is her immortality, but despite that, the two go on to live a long and prosperous life together.
As you can clearly see, this is a story more than deserving of not just an appearance in a series, but frankly its own series, and hopefully we get to see that story brought to life in some way soon. The story was also given more spotlight in 2017’s Beren And Lรบthien, which showed how the story has changed in subsequent tellings.
How would you like to see this story brought to life? You can talk all things wrestling, TV, and more with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!
