Sci-Fi Love - Ain't It Grand?

I was, of course, sniping ideas from other blogs and one of my favorites had a list of her favorite love stories in science fiction. So, of course once again, I'm going to steal it. Here's my list:

Neo & Trinity - The Matrix

What is a good savior story without a love interest? Neo had to love Trinity to overcome his own shortcomings in a lot of ways. His miraculous "removal" of the virtual bullet that was killing her in RT was how he discovered how fully he could manipulate The Matrix. Of course her death in real time removed his last obstacle to giving himself to save Zion and the Machine World from total annihilation. There's nothing like a Christ story to get the blood pumping (Read Frank Herbert's The Jesus Incident if you want a hard science fiction look at Christian dogma from a skewed perspective). This is a recurring theme in SF/F. Jonathan Michael Valentine Smith, Neo, Thomas Covenant and the VR brain in Otherworld. Agape at its best.

Beren & Luthien - The Silmarillion

How else would one describe the first union between the Elves of Middle Earth and Men? One word - Epic! Luthien was the daughter of one of the most powerful elves of Middle Earth. He rules hidden Dorthonion, the last of the great eleven kingdoms to fall to Morgoth and to be ruined by the Silmarils. But before Darthonion fell, Beren met and fell in love with Luthien. Men and Elves were not so estranged as they later became and Beren's father and Beren himself served Thingol and Melian (she, as was Tolkien's habit, was actually the power in Dorthonion. She was one of the Maia, a lesser god. Thingol was an Elf that had never left Middle Earth to go to the West and had built Doriath and later, with Melians help, he built and she hid the city of Dorthonion there). Beren stumbled into forbidden Doriath after a battle and was sick and wounded. Luthien found him and healed him. Love grew between them and Beren sought Luthien's hand from her father. He did NOT aprove. Thingol sent Beren to fetch the Silmaril that Morgoth had set in his crown, despite the warnings from his wife that there was no outcome that was good in doing so.

Beren, being in love, sets off to fulfill this requirement. Luthien sneaks away and joins him. And despite overwhelming odds, they succeed. On the return trip to Doriath, Morgoth sets his dog, Carcharoth, on them. Attempting to use the Silmaril to ward off the dog, Beren held aloft the jewel in his right hand. The dog bit it off. The Silmaril killed the dog, eventually. Luthien once agin healed Beren, but could not restore his hand. They returned to Dorthonion and confronted Thingol. Thingol demanded the Silmaril. Beren, now called One-Hand, held up his stump and declared that, even now, the Silmaril was in his right hand. Then Beren and Luthien departed the sight of elves and men for the remainder of their lives. Luthien chose to fade rather than live without Beren. And they were never seen again. Thingol never saw his daughter again, because she never entered the Halls of Mandos.

But from Beren , son of Beor, and Luthien, daughter of Thingol and Melain, came the race of Kings of Numenor. But that's another story...

Miles & Ekatrin - The Vorkosigan Saga

What good is space opera without a good love story? I've made no secret that I think the Vorkosigan Saga is probably the best space opera ever written and thus, this is one of its best love stories. Is there anyone out there who deosn't know who Miles Vorkosigan is? (If you do not, do yourself a huge favor and investigate thoroughly immediately! E-mail me if you need help.) The last four books in this amazing story are about Miles falling in love with and winning the heart of Ekatrin Vorsoisson. She is independent, smart, loyal, and beautiful. Which scares Miles to death. But, being Miles, he comes up with a battle plan. Only problem is, winning a woman's heart isn't a battle..its war!


These are my top 3 love stories. If you haven't read them, perhaps you should. Then we can have an argument about which was best. Which is great! Then we can make up and that's always fun!