I sat with my sister one day, watching Lord of the Rings, when this came to me.

I had just gotten into a heated dibattito with one of my friends. When I gave my calm, simple, honest opinion about Twilight, she started yelling at me, telling me, "You just don't understand Kassie, te just don't understand. te just don't know..." and so on and I wanted to schiaffo, smack her.

Well, as we watched the Fellowship of the Ring, I realized that Aragorn did the same thing as Edward in New Moon.

Now, before any Aragorn innamorati out there start yelling at me, let me explain!

I realized I didn't hate Aragorn for leaving Arwen, but I hated Edward for leaving Bella and I couldn't understand why. Then it hit me:
Aragorn didn't lie and Edward did.

Let me explain...

Aragorn, like Edward, leave their loves- Arwen and Bella, respectively - because they believe it is too dangerous for their innamorati and do not want the girls to get hurt anymore.

The difference?

Aragorn tells Arwen the truth: she should stay with her kin and live forever because it will hurt her too much when he dies, which will happen. Edward LIES to Bella, telling her does not Amore her and never has, breaking her cuore in the process.

Edward has what I like to call the Hero Complex, while Aragorn - thankfully - avoids it.

Edward makes the decision that Bella is too weak to take whatever dangers may come her way, and makes the choice for her to leave and break her cuore so she will forget about him.

Aragorn never tells Arwen he doesn't Amore her. It is obvious when he leaves that he still loves her, but prefers that she go with her kin.

That is why I Amore Aragorn and why he is one of my preferito heroes. He gives Arwen enough room to let her decide if the relationship is too dangerous.

Unfortunately Edward isn't the only one and to mostra that I am not just being a Twilight-hater, here are some:

There is Spiderman, who is my preferito superhero, in the first movie, when he tells M.J. - who obviously returns his feelings - that they are just friends, making the decision that he is too dangerous.

There is Fang from Maximum Ride - who I freakin' Amore - who decides that his fate of dying early makes him too dangerous to be around Max, so he leaves her, only leaving a note behind to tell her he was gone.

There is Remus Lupin from Harry Potter, who decides that his being a werewolf is too much for Tonks and his unborn child, and tries to leave them.

Then there is what I like to call the Hero Sacrifice, where the Hero kind of nudges his lover along, but doesn't force her, like Aragorn.

Harry Potter is a good example. He breaks up with Ginny to leave her free of any obligation if he so happens to die on his journey. He does NOT tell her he doesn't Amore her, if anything, he confesses that he does still Amore her, but he does not want her to feel obligated to stay faithful to him.

Carlos, from the book Rules of Attraction, goes so far as to TELL Kiara that he loves her, and simply warns her that he is a dangerous person. She says she does not care and Carlos does not push her away after that, instead hanging onto her memory and he goes to meet his gang leader, ready to face his fate with Kiara knowing he loves her.

In 3 NBs of Julian Drew, Julian lets S know that he does care - in his own way - before leaving the city, and eventually she decides that she cares for Julian enough to leave her home and follows him soon after.

Throughout Farscape, we see as John Crichton watches Aeryn Sun do as she wants, make her own decisions, and decide whether a relationship with him is worth the trouble, and it seems that her independance is what attracts him throughout the series, often treating his lover as an equal and not a superior being who needs taking care of.

Edward...Edward breaks Bella's brain da lying to her about his feelings, making the decision that she is too frail and fragile to deal with whatever troubles, which pisses me off.

When are the Heroes going to realize that us girls have brains of our own and WE will decide if te are too dangerous. I mean, she got into a relationship with a VAMPIRE! Didn't it attraversare, croce Edward's mind that she understands she will be in danger a lot of the time? Girls can think and girls will decide if te are not worth the trouble.

Sorry, if I got a little ranty towards the end. I have STRONG opinions on women's rights...