A/N: Not mine. Just a momentary parallelism between Boromir and Theodred that struck me while writing for the "Love" drabble challenge at Tolkien's Realm.

Most of the traditional love ballads spoke of soft beauties, sweet and gentle women who withered when taken away from that which they loved most. They spoke of delicate maidens stolen from their lovers only to meet untimely ends.

But the greatest lovers of all had been Beren and Luthien, the man who never killed without reason and the elleth who would follow him into any darkness to bring him back alive.

His cousin was no elf. She knew not how to fashion invisible cloaks from her own hair, or any other magic. He liked her voice, but he could not fool himself into thinking that the girl might tempt Sauron to sleep with her song, much less Morgoth. Her skill with dogs did not include teaching them to talk. But whoever she ended up loving, he could teach her how to bring him back alive.