The Lord of the Rings trilogy along with The Hobbit trilogy are some of the most popular fantasy stories from the past century. While the movies have been finished for a while, there are still many fans, and the stories will continue to live in fan fiction and more. Seeing as Amazon is creating their new Middle-Earth series, this franchise will still be going strong.
While the movies had some romances in them, there are also many relationships that fans wished were real and brought to life in fandom. Given that many of the characters in the series are men, a lot of the most popular fan fiction relationships are between two men.
Here are the ten fanfiction relationships from The Lord of the Rings we wish were real.
10. THRANDUIL AND THORIN
When The Hobbit series was released, some new ships that hadn’t really been around before became quite popular. This is probably largely due to the fact that both of these characters were brought to life by attractive actors. Instead of Thorin being an old, grizzled dwarf, he was made to look younger and more human-like for the film versions. So, this ship was born. While it’s not the most popular ship from the franchise, the antagonistic dynamic between these two kinds makes for great fanfiction.
9. ARWEN AND EOWYN
This pairing isn’t the most popular fandom ship out there, but it would be great if it was more common. The Lord of the Rings series somewhat suffers from the fact that there aren’t a lot of women, although the movies did their best to give women bigger roles. While both Arwen and Eowyn have connections to Aragorn, a better, updated version of this love triangle would be to ship these two women together. With Eowyn’s fierce nature and Arwen’s more quiet strength, these two would make a wonderful pair.
8. GANDALF AND SARUMAN
This isn’t exactly the most common fanfiction pairing from The Lord of the Rings by any means, but it’s definitely an intriguing one. Given that Gandalf and Saruman are both Istari and extremely powerful, it would be interesting to have a history that has them as romantic partners. This relationship is full of many tropes that people in fanfiction like given that they started out as friends and allies and ended up as enemies.
7. ARAGORN AND LEGOLAS
This pairing is another classic slash pairing from the series. Given that most of the main characters in the series are men, it’s not surprising that most of the top ships in the fandom that aren’t already canon are queer ships. Aragorn and Legolas are friends with a long history in both the books and the movies. So, seeing this relationship become more romantic wouldn’t be that far of a stretch. They always support each other, and then clearly care a lot about one another. These two would be one of the relationships that would make the most sense in canon.
6. EOWYN AND ARAGORN
This ship is one that does have somewhat of a canon truth. Eowyn has a crush on Aragorn, and there is even a sense that he considers the future he could have with her. In the end, he doesn’t ever consider this relationship too much as he’s in love with Arwen. However, a relationship between Aragorn and Eowyn would make more sense in many ways. Firstly, it would make it so Arwen doesn’t have to give up her immortality. It would also make more sense for Aragorn and his future as King of Gondor.
5. ARWEN AND LEGOLAS
This is another fan fiction pairing from The Lord of the Rings that doesn’t get as much attention as it should. Since so many fans love elves, and these two are both extremely beautiful people, they would be lovely together. There aren’t really any popular ships with two elven characters, so this relationship would allow for exploring more about elven culture and history. These two also come from very different elvish kingdoms which would make for interesting fanfiction.
4. THORIN AND BILBO
Of all the fanfiction relationships, Thorin and Bilbo are one of the most popular in recent years. After The Hobbit movies came out, many fans started writing fiction and creating artwork about these two. Given that the relationship between them is a core relationship in the movies as Thorin comes to appreciate and accept Bilbo, it makes sense that fans attached to this pairing. Plus, there’s definitely something really adorable about a relationship between a dwarf and a hobbit.
3. FARAMIR AND PIPPIN
Most of the canon relationships in The Lord of the Rings world exist between characters of the same race. This is why Arwen and Aragorn relationship was such a big deal in the books, and why many fans were upset by the casual inclusion of the Tauriel and FIli relationship. But, there is a lot of exploration of these kinds of relationships in fanfiction. Faramir and Pippin grow to have a respect for each other, and this relationship is a big part of Faramir’s emotional journey.
2. LEGOLAS AND GIMLI
The relationship between Legolas and Gimli is an extremely important one in the series. These two are able to become friends despite the hatred between the elves and the dwarves. They are so close that Gimli actually goes with Legolas the Undying Lands and is the first dwarf to do so. These two as a romantic relationship would be extremely endearing and make a lot of sense. It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine their deep friendship turning into something else.
1. SAM AND FRODO
Of all of the potential relationships that fandom loves, the one between Frodo and Sam is probably the most discussed and most obvious. Their friendship is one of the core relationships in the series, and it’s because of Sam’s devotion to Frodo that the ring ever even gets destroyed. They clearly love each other deeply, and this love could easily extend to something romantic as well.