arda

Some bear the residuals of a child's arbitrary love, some are a speck that invited an epic in my mind, some are the tragedy, some the intrigue. A list of oddities, for certain. Many loves were lost to the limits of a number.

30. Balin

29. Tulkas

28. Theoden

27. Yavanna

26. Maedhros

25. Gil-galad

24. Elrohir

23. Elladan

22. Denethor

21. Elendil

20. Maeglin

19. Oromë

18. Nienna

17. Huan

16. Túrin Turambar

15. Aulë

14. Aragorn

13. Peregrin

12. Melian

11. Beleg

10. Bard

"'Arrow!' said the bowman. 'Black arrow! I have saved you to the last. You have never failed me and always I have recovered you. I had you from my father and he from of old. If ever you came from the forges of the true king under the Mountain go now and speed well!'"

9. Eomer

"Stern now was Éomer's mood, and his mind clear again. He let blow the horns to rally all men to his banner that could come thither; for he thought to make a great shield-wall at the last, and stand, and fight there on foot till all fell, and do deeds of song on the fields of Pelennor, though no man should be left in the West to remember the last King of the Mark. So he rode to a green hillock and there set his banner, and the White Horse ran rippling in the wind."

8. Morwen

“They sat beside the stone, and did not speak again; and when the sun went down Morwen sighed and clasped his hand, and was still; and Hurin knew that she died.He looked down at her in the twilight and it seemed to him that the lines of grief and cruel hardship were smoothed away.”

7. Frodo

“There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?”

6. Finrod Felagund

"Lo! sudden there was rending sound
of chains that parted and unwound,
of meshes broken. Forth there leaped
upon the wolvish thing that crept
in shadow faithful Felagund,
careless of fang or mortal wound.” 

5. Beregond

"I am no captain. Neither office nor rank nor lordship have I, being but a plain man of arms of the Third Company of the Citadel."

4. Gimli

“Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.”

3. Luthien

"Keen, heart-piercing was her song as the song of the lark that rises from the gates of night and pours its voice among the dying stars, seeing the sun behind the walls of the world"

2. Húrin

"... and each time that he slew Hurin cried: ‘Aure entuluva! Day shall come again!’ Seventy times he uttered that cry; but they took him at last alive...”

1. Faramir

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”

All Art by Jian Guo