Luthien

Prologue

I felt the warm late summer wind blowing gently through the open window towards me. I slowly got up from my bed, walked over to the window and enjoyed the sight that was presented to me. 

The lush green of the forests, the streams, which have been heavily filled by the rain of the last few days, tumbling loudly over the cliffs and down into the valley.  Everything is bathed in the gentle warm light of the rising sun. I felt comfortable here, this is where I was at home.

As a young girl, I came to Rivendell with my mother and older brother. It was a little extraordinary that Elrond gave shelter to three people in his home, but my brother and I were special and Elrond had known that from the start.

The Elves had always been kind to me, especially as a little girl, nobody could be angry with me if I'd stolen cakes in the kitchen or romping around wildly in the gardens.

I wasn't always happy, especially as a child I was often alone. My brother was six years older than me and initially didn't want to have anything to do with a little girl. The Elves who live in Rivendell are all thousands of years old, there were no children my age. But that shouldn't be a disadvantage either, because growing up among adults taught me a lot about life.

My mother died when I was just 12 and my brother decided to leave Rivendell after our mother's death, so from then on I was on my own. Over time, Arwen, her two twin brothers, and Elrond, her father, became my family to me. The twins in particular were taken with me and looked after me touchingly.

The pain at the loss of my mother was still deep, and I was also tormented by the uncertainty about my brother's fate. Often times he was gone for months or years and during that time I didn't know whether he was alive or already dead. Even if the elves treated me with all care and cordiality, he was the only remaining part of my family and I did not want to lose this part under any circumstances.

Over time, however, I learned to deal with these feelings and decided to take care of my own life from now on.  I knew I couldn't stay with the Elves in Rivendell forever. I didn't want that either.

From Elrond I learned a lot about the long history of Middle-earth, learned a lot about the past of my people, about the past wars, the rings of power and also about the burden placed on my brother and thus also on me. When Elrond first told me about it, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  My brother knew about it long before I did, but had never spoken to me about it before. But by now I had made friends with the idea that I was more than a simple young woman. Perhaps also because I was unable to grasp all of the responsibility that this burden entailed.

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Elladan and Elrohir, Elrond's twin sons, taught me to ride and fight against their father's wishes. We met in secret and had a lot of fun with the practice sessions. I learned how to use a sword early on and quickly became an excellent archer. On my 25th birthday, they secretly took me out hunting. I even managed to kill a few rabbits with the bow. When Elrond found out about this on our return, he just shook his head in resignation.  Nevertheless, I had the feeling that he also felt a little proud of me, after all, he was instrumental in my development. We never received a punishment for our secret exercises, Elrond simply tolerated it, he knew well that he couldn't dissuade us from it anyway.

But even during this time I knew that this is not the life I wanted to live until the end of my days. Just like my brother before me, I was drawn into the distance. I didn't just want to read the history of Middle-earth in books, I wanted to experience it myself.  Design it by hand. I wanted to experience adventure.

But it wasn't easy for a woman my age. People think that women should stay at home and look after children.  And the Elven women are also withheld from moving alone in the world.

Again and again I tried to convince Elrond, who had become a father to me in the course of time, that I too had to prepare myself for my fate, but my pleading was futile and my pleadings were unheard. My thirst for adventure also met with little understanding from my brother. As for me, he and Elrond actually agreed.  Elrond wouldn't let me go, not beyond the borders of Rivendell.

However, within these protected borders I was allowed to move freely and so I used every free minute to explore the forests and plains around the valley with my horse Thumean, a powerful black horse. Always in the knowledge that in the evening, after sunset, a warm bed awaited me in my rooms.