A/N: I started another series of these battlememories under The Silmarillion but did not want to get TA characters mixed into that, so this it the LotR-version. Most of these will feature Aragorn, but I also have other charactes' memories. I try to stay as true to the books as I am able to, but since I am not Tolkien, I am going to mess up from time to time. Hopefully not to much.
A/N 6/12-09: I have recently reread the whole series, and this being one of the oldest parts, I felt it needed some revisions. I have made some changes that I hope are for the better.
Disclaimer: The characters are all the invention of Tolkien and I promise to return them in good working order.
First meeting.
Some memories are too dark to bring into the light, and I have seen too many dark things. Do not ask me. I will not recall memories to darken the very light of day; do not ask me about the dark. Ask me about Light.
Ask me about the light, and I will speak. Ask me about the light, and I will tell you of one day when the light was strong. I was young, barley twenty years of age, and had returned from a journey when Elrond called me, he who had been like a father to me.
That day all was changed.
That day, for the first time, I heard the name of my father. That day, for the first time, I saw the heirlooms of my house. That day, for the first time, I knew my inheritance.
That day, for the first time, I knew my own name.
And I was young. For a whole day pride filled me and I thought that the world could bring no more beauty. I thought the world was full and could give no more for I was young, and I was of noble birth; higher than any among Men. I did not think about the years ahead, on the responsibilities that lay before me, or the burdens my birthright brought. The world was full of light. Nothing could darken it. Nothing could make it shine more bright.
A man can be so wrong.
I walked underneath the trees at the hour when the sun set. What did I feel, you ask? I cannot tell. Even in that moment I could not have told; my heart and mind was too full to tell. This alone I know: I was glad, and I could not keep my gladness inside. It burst out in song.
Then I saw a sight that overthrew it all.
The memory of that vision has not faded with the years, for there she walked between the trees; Lúthien Tinúviel, most beautiful among all the Children. I do not know how long I stood there, dumb by the sight, speechless at this vision. But then I saw her walk away under the shadows of the trees, and suddenly I feared that if I lost sight of her now she would never again be seen. And so I called to her:
"Tinúviel, Tinúviel!"
And she halted. She spoke to me and she was no dream. She lived, she breathed; she was flesh and blood. Arwen Undómiel, Elrond daughter. My own name and lineage crumbled to nothing against her beauty, and even in my youthful pride I knew then that the light carries within its own darkness. Just like dark spots appear before the eye when we have been staring at the light, thus the world was dark when I turned my eyes from her.
No, do not ask me about the dark. Ask me about the light, and I will show you the light in my beloved's eyes.