True Love as Written in Fantasy

It’s that time of year again when the stores fill with red and pink candies, cards, stuffed animals, etc. It’s Valentine’s Day! I have honestly always loved Valentine’s Day. Not that I ever had a real Valentine until I met my husband, but that didn’t matter. It was all about giving out Valentine’s to all of my friends and family. The day has never held that connotation of only being for couples to me. However, it is interesting to think about love and how it is written versus how it is experienced in real life. So, I want to delve a little into true love as written in fantasy (myself included ).

Immortality

The first must-have for a fantasy true love is immortality. Not both parties need to be immortal, but at least one of them usually is. Vampire, Fae, werewolf, demon, angel, etc. In Fantasy, true love is literally eternal — physically and spiritually.

Unfortunately, as of right now, this is not something that we mortals can accomplish. So, strike one. None of us can accomplish this feat in order to reach the status of “true love.” Let’s see if we can hold up to some of the other features…

Royalty/Leadership

Someone in the relationship needs to be a king, queen, prince, princess, high lord, alpha, or some other high ranking position. This always presents some kind of hurdle for the true lovers as well, because the other is usually “unworthy” in some way, *le sigh*. Don’t worry, though, they always find a way to overcome that pesky detail.

For most of us, we are not of royal lineage or leaders of packs or covens. However, we can hold higher leadership positions! So, in order to find true love, we need to claw our way up to that CEO status, or the managerial position. But wait… not all of us want those roles, but we still want true love! Aw shucks, another strike against us in the real world.

Swordsmanship

Someone in the relationship is a master swordsman/woman. If not swords, it’s archery, daggers, axes, combat, or some other form of defense. This is one of the reasons that our true lovers fell in love! Either some form of heroism, one saving the other, or a fight between enemies who become lovers. Without their exceptional skill, they may have never won over their true love.

Finally a task we can accomplish in the human world! Sure, it may be hard to find a class on swordplay in our vicinity, but we can if we really try. Archery is quite common, so I’m sure we can find somewhere to practice those skills! Or, we can learn some bad-a** self-defense moves and pretend we’re learning to fight in some war against evil vamps or wicked Fae.

Reality

In reality, we can’t live up to the standards of true love in fantasy. But don’t let that discourage you from finding someone who meets our more realistic standards. So maybe they aren’t immortal, but if you love each other, then time spent together can be made to feel like your feelings will stay with you for eternity. And maybe you or your loved one aren’t royalty, but you can make one another feel as if you are! Treat each other like the kings and queens we deserve to be treated like!

Have fun and take some classes together to learn a new skill, like self-defense, fencing (pretend you’re wielding a sword!), archery, or another class. You can play out your own enemies to lovers story, or whatever other trope is your favorite.

Of course, every once in a while, take a trek through some pretty forests wearing a beautiful flowing gown, just in case there is some mysterious Fae out there waiting to sweep you off your feet! (Honestly, just do this because it seems like it would be a lot of fun! Do a photoshoot and enjoy spending some time in nature!) *Disclaimer: Don’t actually trust strangers in the woods — Fae or otherwise*

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