Fantasy Valentine's Day Countdown, Day 5: Aragorn and Arwen

Welcome to Day 5 of the Fantasy Valentine's Day Countdown. Today, we're paying tribute to lovers from the author who kick-started both my love of reading and my obsession with fantasy. We are going to The Lord of the Rings and remembering the story of Aragorn and Arwen.

"She was the Evenstar of her people."

If you've only seen the Peter Jackson movies or only read The Lord of the Rings, you might have very different perspectives on the ranger from the north and the daughter of Elrond. In the movie, she is a guiding light to Aragorn. She talks him out of self-doubt at Rivendell, pledges her heart to him, appears to him in dreams, convinces her father to reforge a broken blade into Anduril, the Flame of the West, and nearly dies before being restored to health and coming in all her beauty to his coronation. It has to be said that this is a moving through-plot to the trilogy of movies and the reunion at Minas Tirith makes us all believe in love.

The book version of this love story is no less powerful, but not as obvious. It slightly resembles the torch Samwise Gamgee carries for a neighbor girl named Rosie Cotton, something he hopes to act on once his quest is done. We see Arwen in her father's house and speaking with Aragorn and Bilbo seems to nudge the two towards each other at a feast. As the Fellowship of the Ring comes to Lothlorien, Aragorn stands at the foot of a hill and calls out what Stephen C. Winter translates as "Arwen, O fairest beloved, farewell." The mysterious ranger who has a destiny as a king says that his "heart dwells ever" in "the heart of Elvendom on earth." He looks forward to "a light beyond the dark roads that we still must tread." Not long after that, Galadriel gives to him a brooch left in her care by Arwen and bestows on him "the name that was foretold."

As the war against Sauron reaches a crucial moment, Aragorn unfurls a banner that was sewn for him by Arwen and her maidens, the standard of the King of Gondor. And it is after this war has ended that "Aragorn the King Elessar wedded Arwen Undomiel in the City of the Kings...and the tale of their long waiting and labours was come to fulfillment."

The story of Arwen and Aragorn is one that covers years and various quests, but it is one of faith in each other. It reminds us that we can be true to what we've always held dear.