Valentine's Day in Fantasy: TOP 5 Love Stories

"It was late evening – the first of May – the evening of May – the time of love." So, it's clearly defined in black and white – in the words of our classic poet Karel Hynek Mácha, we know exactly when the right time to celebrate love is – and that, if you please, is in May. So, we actually have plenty of time, right?

Even though it would be lovely to put aside the flood of hearts and kitschy nonsense that attacks us at every turn, unfortunately, we can't. According to legend, during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius II, his poor soldiers couldn't make good (or bad) life decisions regarding marriage because he allegedly feared they wouldn't want to go to war and would rather stay home with their families. But the brave priest Valentine defied this ban and secretly married young couples. For that, he was arrested and executed on February 14th.

And according to other theories, the celebrations of Saint Valentine's martyrdom merged with an even older Roman tradition – the pagan festival of Lupercalia, associated with the celebration of fertility.

And that is why, nowadays, every year in February, we either enthusiastically celebrate this holiday or hate it, depending on whether we are happily taken, unhappily single, or sabotaging this imported commercial holiday, claiming that Mácha has the patent on it and love should strictly be celebrated in May.

Whatever your take is, it's fine – to each their own! However, even if we try to ignore Valentine's Day, very few of us will truly succeed. And since it's unavoidable, why not apply it to your own nerd bubble and enjoy Valentine's Day with some witty philosophizing, in case you aren't facing any form of celebration with your significant other?

The question to ponder is – if you had to compile a TOP 5 list of couples across the fantasy genre – which ones would they be? (And it's intentionally not a TOP 10, because I could cram everyone in there, and I won't expand it to the sci-fi genre either, because that would be way too many options).

I thought about this question thoroughly, and I can say that choosing just 5 pairs whose stories truly touched my heart was quite a challenge. Once you've read a bit, you run the risk of the selection being difficult.

At the same time, I don't dare to judge which story of the selected pairs is better or worse and rank them. So, purely subjectively – here is a quintet of romantic arcs that I enjoyed while reading and to which I love returning when I get the urge to venture outside harsh worlds like Westeros or Malaz.

Beren and Lúthien (Middle-earth)

It's impossible not to start with the work of Professor Tolkien, thanks to whom my teenage self discovered that besides mandatory reading, girls' romances, or adventure classics I found at home, there was something even better. That while reading, I could set out on a journey I don't need to describe in detail, because a fantasy fan who doesn't know Middle-earth might as well not exist, right?

And since I owe my love for fantasy to Tolkien, I will start my list with Beren and Lúthien. One could say that the story of Aragorn and Arwen should take precedence (because of The Lord of the Rings), but the Professor didn't actually write that much about them, and they got far more space on the big screen.

The fated love of the mortal Beren and the elven beauty Lúthien, whose own father disapproved and thus set an impossible task for his daughter's suitor – to retrieve a precious Silmaril from the crown of the Dark Lord Morgoth – must be on the list in my opinion. A story of love so persistent and strong that it endures despite all hardships and simultaneously moves the future of the entire world. Moreover, this story had a special place in the author's heart, judging by his tombstone, and we can only be grateful to his son Christopher. Thanks to his work, we can read their complete and heartbreaking story today as a standalone book, without having to search through references in The Lord of the Rings.

Tristran Thorn and Yvaine (Stardust)

The next pair are the heroes of Neil Gaiman, whose story isn't actually about their love at the beginning at all – he is in love with someone else and promises to bring her a fallen star as proof of his love. He sets out into the magical world Beyond the Wall, where people are usually forbidden to enter. What wouldn't he do for his beloved? However, when he finds the star, he discovers that instead of a piece of space rock he somewhat expected, he is dealing with a beautiful girl who is not at all thrilled about the idea of going with Tristran as a gift for his beloved Victoria.

The journey back from beyond the Wall is not easy at all, and so Tristran and Yvaine experience more than one adventure together. Given that the book was originally published in 1997, I don't even consider it a spoiler to say that they eventually find love too. In a place where they wouldn't have expected it.

Lady Sybil Ramkin and Samuel Vimes (Discworld)

A completely different kind of love is represented by Lady Sybil and Sam Vimes from the pen of Sir Pratchett. Love doesn't have to be tragic, fated, or young and full of adventure for one to enjoy returning to it on the pages of a book.

Even though Sybil is a descendant of an old aristocratic family, she is no fragile flower who hits one ball after another because she enjoys it. No, she is a well-built woman who prefers to devote herself to her biggest hobby, which is caring for dragons in a shelter for lost, stray, or abandoned swamp dragons. And thanks to that, she meets Sam, the commander of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, who happens to be searching for a dragon. Over time, their relationship turns into marriage, and Sybil is Sam's support in most of the subsequent books in which the City Watch appears. And this is what I like about them – it's an adult, mature, and at the same time very, very British love.

Geralt and Yennefer (The Witcher)

The complete opposite of the previous pair is the witcher Geralt and the sorceress Yennefer. Their relationship is strongly influenced by fate, it is passionate and full of conflict. One could also say it's a somewhat open relationship – even though the two hold deep feelings for each other, that doesn't stop them from enjoying themselves with someone else now and then.

Over time, they lived together and apart, they broke up and got back together. Who knows, if they had known what they would go through together, maybe they would have avoided genies by a wide margin (or rather, Dandelion?). Despite all the twists of fate that they encounter on the pages of Andrzej Sapkowski's books, we can still be sure that for Geralt, Yennefer is the one… It's just the way it is, even though some of us might imagine Triss by his side instead. Because there is only one sorceress who smells of lilac and gooseberries.

And let's be honest – even a shared commitment in the form of a certain child of surprise, to whom they both become very attached, brings them closer. After all, a shared burden is half the burden, as our grandmothers used to say.

Buttercup and Westley (The Princess Bride)

And lastly, I'm adding Buttercup and Westley to the list, whose story reached the big screen in a now relatively cult adaptation from 1987. Both the book and the film present love in its purest form – a young couple is separated, and she thinks he fell victim to a terrible pirate. And so she no longer cares about love, since hers has died, and agrees to a convenient marriage of reason.

But then she is kidnapped, Westley rises from the dead, and true love is back on the scene. However, it doesn't suit everyone's plans, so there is no shortage of sword fights, fire swamps, treacherous enemies, and most importantly – we must not forget Inigo Montoya!

But because the love of Buttercup and Westley is true, faithful, and pure, they handle all the schemes that come their way, and we can be moved by it again and again.

Whether Valentine's Day leaves you cold or you are looking forward to it, stories about love in fantastic worlds can draw you in and evoke a whole spectrum of emotions. From fated encounters, through humorous plots, to thrilling tests of devotion – they always remind us that even in the most wondrous realms, the heart can find a way. So enjoy them in your own way and let yourself be carried away by the power of emotion across the pages of books you'll want to return to again.

My TOP 5 selection is clear. Who are your favorites?

author Jana Mrkvicová