D&D Appendix N Reading Series: Three Hearts and Three Lions by Poul Anderson
Want to Learn Where Gygax got his Law/Chaos Alignment system, Paladins, and Regenerating Trolls? Look No Further!
Hi everyone! Welcome to my first long review of the Appendix N series.
As you guys probably know, I have a YouTube channel called Analog Mancave, where I talk about all things D&D, especially Old School D&D and the OSR. Here’s the channel link:
Three Hearts and Three Lions
By Poul Anderson, 1961.
A while ago I had the idea of using Substack as a blog, to write about things the way I used to back in the early OSR days on Blogger. It would be an adjunct to YouTube, where I opine on all things D&D related. The thing is, back in the day I used the blog to opine on all things D&D related. I didn’t want to duplicate my efforts, and the YouTube channel is far better for my bloviating anyhow. So, what do I write about on Substack?
Well, I’ve been wanting to read all the Appendix N books since I first saw the list in the back of the DMG. When I was younger all they really had in Waldenbooks were Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books. I wasn’t into Swortds and Sorcery much back then, and tended to like Lord of the Rings and newer books that fell into the style of High Fantasy. Books like Feist’s Riftwar series and the Belgariad were the ones I’d reread over and over again. After college Michael Moorcock had a bit of a renaissance, and all of his Eternal Champion books were published in the 90’s as a series. They were really cool and trippy to me, in a 60’s kinda psychedelic way. Not surprising, once you get to know more about Moorcock himself.
More recently I picked up all the R.E. Howard Conan books, which led me to Kull, Solomon Kane, and Bran Mak Morn. I’m so damn pissed that I didn’t read Bran Mak Morn when I was a kid. I know it would have been formative for me. This renewed my interest in the Appendix N books. I reread Lovecraft, and because Jeff Talanian of Hyperborea RPG fame was so into Clark Ashton Smith, I decided to read his works. I picked up two new versions of the Elric books and reread them as well. Moorcock puts out new collections of his stories every 47 seconds it seems, and changes them up a bit, as the mood strikes.
A few months ago I decided to make Substack my newsletter, and also where I post my “book reports” on all the Appendix N books. I started with Three Hearts and Three Lions, since I wanted to learn why Gary used it as the basis of his Law and Chaos alignment systems in the early days. Everyone I knew back in the old days just considered that a different way to say good and evil, and figured it was another bit of High Gygaxianism at work. Only later did I learn that there was a definite difference. Because the Moorcock’s Eternal Champion books, especially Elric, focused so heavily on the battle between the forces of law and chaos, I figured that’s where Gygax picked it up from. Later I learned that it really all came from Three Hearts and Three Lions. It also influenced his take on Paladins and many other things, like Trolls and their regenerative abilities, Faeries and their abilities, as well as Swanmays, which appeared in Monster Manual 2. It’s not clear if this book predated Moorcock’s books that dealt with both law and chaos, as well as the multiverse.
The beginning of this deep dive into Three Hearts is going to be largely spoiler free, and then I’ll get into the meat of it, spoilers and all!
Non-Spoiler Review
This is a Stranger in a Strange Land sort of story. A man shifts to a new, strange, unusual place, and while trying to figure out where he is, he also discovers he has a higher purpose there. A destiny, that he was meant to be there, and the world he thought was his own definitely was not. We discover the new world as he does. Moving from one encounter or situation to the next, we learn what makes it tick, what the sides and the stakes are. The big picture emerges, and we learn why the protagonist is there as he learns it.
Along the way, he meets companions and enemies and realizes his own past. He wasn’t always the hero in his past life. He faces challenges and tests to see if he wants to go back to the darker side of his old life, or stick to his morals and fulfill his destiny to be the hero he also once was.
The story was pretty good, and I can see why Gary liked this view of Law and Chaos over the Moorcock approach. This one is much more fleshed out; Law has more of a moral tint of “good”. It’s more heroic. With Moorcock, the eternal champion is always bringing back the balance between Law and Chaos. Sometimes he is on the side of Law, sometimes Chaos. We follow and root for the protagonist, no matter which side he is on, in his quest to bring balance back. With this book, Law is clearly for the good of humanity, civilization and order is presented as much more of a positive thing than Moorcock’s multiverse.
I also appreciated his stealing some aspects of the protagonist to design the paladin class. Protections against evil, turning/holy words that the enemy flees from, follow a strict a moral code or you lose your powers---all that is in here. It’s kind of neat to see the origins of a PC class that I’ve been playing for 40+ years.
The story was short and simple, and only about 200 pages long. It ends in a pretty cool way, and it is well worth reading. I got chills reading the last couple paragraphs.
If you want to buy the book, please use this link and I get a few cents at no additional cost to you. It helps pay the channel expenses. Thanks!
Some Updates Before We Get To The Spoiler Review
Before we get to the spoiler filled review, I wanted to take a moment to share some of my great YouTube videos I’ve been making lately. I’m really proud of them, especially the longform interview and long detailed product reviews. Here are some notable ones, along with links to some of the products discussed.
Longform Joe Rogan Style Interviews
Interview with the most prolific Shadowdark author out there, Greg Christopher:
Here’s his GM Companion and Players Companion for Shadowdark
Interview with Rob Conley of Bat in the Attic Games. Rob is the undisputed expert in all things Wilderlands of High Fantasy and Citystate of the Invincible Overlord.
The Majestic Fantasy RPG, Basic Rules
Interview with Alexander Macris of Autarch. Alexander is an amazing game designer and publishes Adventurer Conqueror King, a badass OSR Simulationist ruleset.
Alex put out one of the greatest DM aids of all time: Arbiter of Worlds. It’s the best book of GM advice I’ve ever read.
Interview with James Raggi of Lamentations of the flame Princess. James is a legend in the RPG hobby and is the publisher of LOTFP, the first great indy product of the second wave of the OSR. Here are some of James' products and sites:
LotFP Rules & Magic Full Version
Long In-Depth Old School Product Reviews
Here’s a link to the playlist of all the reviews.
I REVIEWED:
Spoilers! Beware!
The book begins and ends with a man retelling a story about his friend, someone he knew both before and after WW2. I always liked this style of storytelling; Lovecraft used it a lot. It’s written in such a way that the narrator is in America in the present day of 1961, presumably, and relaying a tale he thinks not many would believe. Then he gets into a statement on the nature of society back then, which could very well apply to today. He writes:
Holger and I first met more than twenty years ago. It was in another generation---another age. The bright lads who I am training these days are friendly and all that, but we don’t think the same language and there’s no use pretending otherwise. I have no idea whether they will be able to accept a yarn like this. They are a more sober lot than my friends and I were; they seem to get less fun out of life. On the other hand, they have grown up with the incredible. Look at any scientific journal, any newspaper, out of any window, and ask yourself if outlandishness has not become the ordinary way of the world.
Amen, buddy. Amen.
Holger Carlsen was a Dane who traveled the world, and ended up settling in America before the war, becoming an engineer. He was a huge guy, 6’4”, blond haired, blue eyes, and muscular. Holger was an orphan, left on someone’s doorstep. The narrator and Holger became friends, and he talks about taking Holger to a lecture on physics, specifically dealing with relativity and quantum physics. This sparked a discussion about metaphysics and superstition, magic and folklore.
Later, as the war heats up, Holger is drawn back to his home country. He becomes an engineer under the occupation, and then joins the underground. During a fight with the Nazi’s, he was wounded by a stray bullet, lost consciousness, and woke up in a different world.
This reminded me of the first book of Moorcock’s Eternal Champion series from 1994, called “The Eternal Champion.” The first story in the book shares the same name. Moorcock says that he wrote it when he was 17, so that would place it around 1956. In his story, a man named John Daker was living a normal life in our world. At night in his dreams he kept hearing a call, Erekose…Erekose…Erekose…And one fateful night he answered the call and woke up, resurrected in a tomb. Erekose’s tomb. He was Erekose again. Called forth to fight in battle. Later in the same book there was a story named Phoenix in Obsidian, in which Erekose finds himself slipping via another series of dreams into a different world again. There were times where he glimpsed briefly the true nature of his existence, as the Eternal Champion, a being sent to take either the side of Law of Chaos when the other side became too powerful and the balance was disrupted. He knew the names of the beings he was to become, used to be…ultimately who he currently was…somewhere. And he’s tired of fighting. He fears he will become Daker again, but he emerges into an icy world as Ulrik Skarlsol. Called to fight again. Holger also awoke in another world. He was called to fight again, though he doesn’t know it yet.
His head hurts when he comes to. He’s naked and has no idea why his comrades would leave him like this. There is a powerful stallion near him with the name Palillon engraved on the saddle. There is also a lance, along with a sword, armor and shield. The shield has a coat of arms depicting three hearts and three lions. Holger is thoroughly confused. He has no idea what the deal is with the whole Middle Ages thing, but figures he’s naked, there are clothes on the horse, and no one is nearby. So he suits up, shocked everything fits him so perfectly, mounts the warhorse and heads out, hoping to find his war buddies. Instead, he finds a witch in a hut named Mother Gerd.
Mother Gerd is the witchiest witch that ever witched up a witch’s potion. She fits every trope and stereotype of witches living in huts in the woods. She heals him, feeds him, and gives him some good ale. Sadly for Holger, she isn’t the hottie we see in the Conan movie. She’s an old crone, so he sleeps far from her. Smart move. No one wants witch herpes.
Anyhow, Holger still thinks he’s in Denmark in the 40’s. He thinks she’s a loon. She talks about Middle World powers, casts cantrips, has a black cat named Grimalkin (which was a shape changing demon thing in Moorcock’s stories) and offers to summon a spirit to help him figure out WTF is going on. He agrees, wondering how he knows the local dialect. She pulls out a brazier and a wand of ebony and ivory, perhaps symbolically indicating that she operates in the gray zone of magic, some dark and some light. She relays the message from the thing she summoned…he must go to Faerie to find out the answers. When he wakes up the next morning, having successfully dodged witch VD, he finds a companion. A forest dwarf named Hugi. The witch asked him to accompany Holger on his journey. Every epic journey requires companions! She gives them supplies and wishes them a good trip. While doing so, she also refers to Holger as a paladin.
Hugi and Holger set out to meet with Duke Alfric of the Faerie realms. Hugi owes the witch a favor, as they help each other out from time to time. The woods they live in seems to be a place between civilized lands of Law and the Middle World of Chaos, a no man’s land, where alliances like that are good for survival. He might fetch her water or firewood. She does things for him. In true dwarven fashion, he’s hoping for some good beer out of this. He lets Holger know that she’s not that powerful and that she tries to curry favor with the Middle World lords, so they grant her more power. He also lets Holger know that the Faerie can be injured by iron, silver, or holy symbols.
Taking a break from riding, they bond the old-fashioned way---while drinking the booze the witch gave them. Hugi tells them of the nature of the world, and his people’s philosophy of let them all fight it out, we will still be here when they all kill each other. That’s true neutral alignment if I ever heard it. He also tells him about the battle between Law and Chaos taking place.
Holger got the idea that a perpetual struggle went on between primeval forces of Law and Chaos. No, not forces exactly. Modes of existence? A terrestrial reflection of the spiritual conflict between heaven and hell? In any case, humans were the chief agents on Earth of Law, though most of them were so only unconsciously and some, witches and warlocks and evildoers, had sold out to Chaos. A few nonhuman beings also stood for Law. Ranged against them was almost the whole Middle World, which seemed to include realms like Faerie, Trollheim, and the Giants---an actual creation of Chaos. Wars among men, such as the long-drawn struggle between the Saracens and the Holy Empire, aided by Chaos; under Law all men would live in peace and order, and that liberty which only Law could give meaning. But this was so alien to the Middle Worlders that they were forever working to prevent it and to extend their own shadowy dominion.
Holger doesn’t know if he can trust the witch’s advice, but as they talk and trade jokes and tales, Holger feels he can trust Hugi, and Hugi comes to like Holger. He likes him so much that he decides to introduce him to his friend Alianora, who is a “swan-may”. She is a human young woman who possesses a dress, perhaps made by the Valkyrie, which allows her to turn into a swan. She is friends with all the creatures of the forest and knows what’s going on in her territory. That’s probably why Gygax made Swanmays in the Monster Manual 2 the Ranger class.
Alianor tells Holgar that there is someone, a Saracean, looking for someone who looks like Holger. She also decides to travel with them, as she may be able to help him out in the Middle World. She knows some lesser creatures, such as kobolds and a toadstool fay or two. Holger goes to sleep that night completely confused as to what is going on. He just saw a swan turn into a young woman. Nothing makes sense anymore. He no longer thinks he’s dreaming. This is real. And it’s not Denmark during the war.
As they travel the next day they come across what would be a hill or mountain dwarf, in D&D terms. He lives underground, and smokes a pipe. Holger, missing tobacco from Earth, trades a cloak for a pipe, flint and steel, tobacco, food and supplies. The others are all shocked and laugh at the sight of him puffing away. Apparently, humans don’t smoke here. I guess this Earth’s Surgeon General’s warnings are taken far more seriously.
Next, they encounter a Knight of Faerie. He tells Holger to reveal his arms, and when he reveals the three hearts and three lions the Knight charges into battle. Holger nearly shits himself, but he grabs his lance and they fight! Holger kicks his ass and has no clue how he knows how to fight with sword and lance. The fight proves that cold iron works against Faeirie though.
The book moves along like this, one encounter leading to the next with some talk and/or introspection by Holger in between. It’s only about 200 pages long. Each chapter is either a new combat encounter or a social encounter, in D&D terms. Unlike a D&D adventure though, there are few “random” encounters. Not many that lead to a fight, anyway. They are all purposefully directed against him, as he later learns.
Holger contemplates the mystery of his presence in this place, which sems to be an alternate version of earth. He dives back into the quantum/multiverse theories he and his friend (the narrator from the beginning of the book) once discussed, as he approaches the Faerie castle. Trumpets sound, castle gates open, and the drawbridge lowers, and we are introduced to the Faerie.
They were clad in colors that seemed luminous against the twilight, crimson, gold, purple, green, but the hue of each garment shimmered and flickered and changed from moment to moment. Some wore chain mail or plate, argent metal elaborately shaped and chased; others had robes and coronets. They were a tall people, moving with a liquid grace no human could rival, not even a cat. A cold haughtiness marked their features, which were of a strange caste, high tilted cheekbones, winged nostrils, narrow chin. Their skin was white, their long fine hair blue-silver, most of the men beardless. When they got close enough Holger thought they were blind, for the oblique eyes held only an azure blankness. But he soon realized their vision was better than his.
Typing that description into Grok gave me these two pics:
ChatGPT gave me this:
Duke Alfirc greets him, invites him to leave the iron stuff at the gates, and gives him weapons of their own make for him to use in his castle. The Swanmay stays outside with the horse, while Hugi goes in with him. He gets cleaned up, puts on some Faerie clothes, and heads down for dinner. The Duke has kindly sat him next to a Faerie woman who must be this world’s version of Sydney Sweeney. She’s an obvious Honey Pot trap, which Holger, of course, doesn’t realize. The dinner banter was witty and clever, which Holger only gets through by quoting Shakespeare. Having piqued their interest, the Duke says he will try to help him out. Holger ends the evening in true Captain Kirk style by nailing Sydney Sweeney.
Sydney is gone when he wakes up, but the Faerie used magic to figure out what he likes for breakfast. Servants appear to give him ham and eggs, toast, coffee and OJ. After, as he’s walking the halls looking for Sydney, he sees a human woman with Alfric who he thinks he knows from somewhere. She ducks into Alfric’s quarters as Holger approaches, presumably to ask Alfric what he learned about his plight, but he’s intercepted by Sydney Sweeney who takes him hawking.
When he gets back, he talks to Hugi and describes the human woman the Duke is nailing. Hugi says it sounds like Queen Morgan le Fay from Avalon. She’s the sister of Arthur, last great King of the Britons, and has a strong Faerie strain in her blood. She is immortal and her magic is as powerful as any in the Middle World. She is on no one’s side but her own. While he is explaining this, the Duke’s servant summons Holger to the Duke, and asks Hugi to go to a big fancy dinner with the castle servants, saying it would be an insult to decline the invitation.
Holger meets the Duke who tells him that he can send him back home! Just come with him to the big hill yonder, outside the castle walls. Getting closer it looks like there’s the greatest rave ever going on, and it might turn into an orgy. As they approach, Alianora gallops towards them on Papillon, and yells at him not to go! RUN AWAY!! RUN AWAY!!
Of course, Alric doesn’t want him to escape. He planned to trap him under the hill in a super rave where a day would pass there and centuries would pass in the real world. A fight ensues, and Holger instinctively uttered the name of Christ in Latin. The Faeries shrieked and fled, basically like they were turned in D&D terms. Which is a damn interesting concept, the ability to turn Fae. I think I may implement something like that in my games, when appropriate.
They escaped, but not before Holger looted a weird metal dagger off Alfric. It turns out to be made of magnesium, which we are reminded several times can be lit underwater, almost like the author is setting something up later. Hmm….
We learn that the Fae can’t come out in the daylight, like they’re vampires. That’s why the Gloaming has to spread across the land. It’s a misty purplish haze comprised of the energies of Chaos covers the lands the Faeries take over, or encroach upon. As the Gloaming spreads, its energies also affect certain people with a tendency towards Chaos, as we will see later.
The Faerie chase them across the lands. They actually send a fire breathing dragon after them. Holger draws upon his Earth based engineering skills, and defeats it by throwing a bucket of water down its throat as its about to breathe fire. Something to do with it’s hotter inside than outside, and liked a boiler ,the water going down to the source of the fire will cause an explosion inside its gut. I seriously doubt any DM would allow such bullshit in a game. I won’t, so if any of players are reading this, don’t even try it. It seemed like a cheat code. Interestingly enough though, the dragon was 50 feet long, which is approximately the length of Gary’s dragons in AD&D.
A more interesting encounter was a giant. Holger set up a holy perimeter, like a magic circle of protection against evil. But he was laying next to the hot Swanmay with his hand on her boob, all the while he’s thinking he should have nailed Morgan le Fay when he had a chance. These impure thoughts cause the barrier to be weakened so the giant can get through. Taking a page out of Tolkien, Holger challenged the giant to a riddle game so he can him to forget the sun will be rising soon. It works through trickery. The dwarf wants him to take the giant’s gold, but the Swanmay says its likely going to be cursed due to it being gained by trickery. Holger realized when the giant dies that it’s the radiation that infects the corpse and the possessions that gives the effects of a curse. People grow sick and die.
Along the way, in between encounters, he thinks about his situation, parallel universes, and how they are all tied together. On Earth physical forces were well understood. It is a science-based world, while the forces of magic and whatnot were weak. In the world he currently finds himself, the opposite is true. He looks at it as a sort of cosmic balance. The forces of Law and Chaos were raging across each world equally, with the Nazi’s representing Chaos on Earth, and the Faerie representing those forces here.
The worlds were similar on other levels, like geography and astronomy. But not identical. The people may have similar names but they were different in ways. It was more notable that the main players in history on each world played the same roles in the war of Law and Chaos. The man named Carl of this world is similar to but different than Charlemagne, but the role they played was the same. It reminds me of the Battlestar Galactica quote "All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again." He even goes so far as to say that the mystics, poets, dreamers, and “hack writers” of earth had subconsciously been in tune with whatever forces linked their two universes, and their stories reflected that connection. I like the hack writers crack. I think it was a tongue in cheek reference to him and his peers churning out sci-fi and fantasy stuff for magazines.
While he’s contemplating all this, Morgan shows up and tries to seduce him. We learn that she had him in Avalon with her, that she was the one who sent him to Earth as a baby to keep him out of the way, and now she wants him back. The Swanmay shows up mid-seduction, and a cat fight almost ensues. Makes me wish there was a tub of jello nearby, or at least a pool of mud, but it never got to that stage. Damnit.
Holger rejects Morgan and she leaves. The Swanmay get irrationally pissed off, of course, and overreacts. Poor bastard can’t catch a break. He’s got dragons and giants and foul temptresses trying to kill him, and this one is giving him shit even after he rejected Morgan. Then we have a scene that can only have been written in the 1960’s:
Holger decided he had troubles enough without a hysterical female on his hands. He pulled her around, shook her, and said between his teeth, “I have nothing to do with this. Hear? Now will you come along like a grown human being, or must I drag you?”
Alianora gulped, stared at him with wide wet eyes, and dropped her lashes. He noticed how long they were. “I’ll come wi’ ye,” she said meekly.
LMAO!
They came across a village where Holger had to help with a werewolf. Apparently the ruler of the town, who suspiciously had wolves on his banner, had warg blood in his lineage somewhere. With the coming of the Gloaming, the blood was activated and his daughter was turning into a werewolf and killing livestock. Holger deduces which member of the family was the werewolf in Sherlock Holmes style, and saves the day. I thought that was an interesting approach. You don’t have to kill everything in sight, like it’s a D&D game. They surmise that when the girl is married off to her fiancé in a distant city, the Gloaming will be far enough away from her that she should be alright. They’d better lock down all the stories of her werewolf exploits though, or else the dowery will go through the roof. Men all want a succubus in the bedroom, not a werewolf. Unless you’re a furry or something. Importantly though, after he saves them from the werewolf, the people refer to Holger as “The Defender,” the one who was prophesized to come and help them in their darkest hour.
They eventually hit Tarnberg, the town Alianora was leading them to. She knew of a magic practitioner there who might be able to help them out. It was the closest thing to a city in the area. They arrive broke, but hopeful, as they approach the door of the mage’s house. The sign over it read:
MARTINUS TRISMEGISTUS
Master Magici
Spells, Charms, Prophecies, Healing, Love Potions
Blessings, Curses, Ever-Filled Purses
Special rates for parties
That totally reminds me of Harry Dresden, from the Jim Butcher series. Plus, bonus points for bringing in as reference to Thoth! Alianora explains that he’s also the town’s apothecary, dentist, scribe, dowser, and horse doctor. This guy is sooooo making an appearance in my D&D games. He even has a degree from the University of Rhiannon! Presumably Stevie Nicks herself bestowed it!
Anyhow, he summons his sleeping lazy invisible servant to bring them all drinks. All invisible servants in my game are gonna have unique personalities going forward. The defective thing brought them dirty cups and a bottle of wine. The mage hears the story but can’t send him back to Earth. He does tell him of the legendary sword Cortana, which is like Excalibur or Durindal, a holy weapon that can help him fight against Chaos. It was hidden by Morgan le Fay, of course. He casts a spell to determine its location, and also casts one to disguise himself and his horse, since the Saracen who has been looking for him is in town.
They check into an inn, and after cleaning up they come down for a meal and see Carahue the Saracen is there eating as well. His magical disguise holds up, Holger is not recognized. Carahue is suspicious and tries to figure out if he’s the guy he’s been searching for. They get plastered and sing songs all night, but the deception works.
Next morning they get the location of the sword from the mage. Carahue is there as they are about to leave, and offers to go with them on their quest. Holger doesn’t share any details, but the guy offers to go anyhow, since it’s an adventure, and he’s fulfilling a holy vow. He also says he will pay their bar tab because he knows they’re broke. Plus, as he states, “Your sword is straight and mine is curved, so between them they should fit any shape of foe,” I’m stealing that line. They vow comradeship upon knightly honor, and Holger drops an expression “Bare is brotherless back,” that he says just came to him, but which Carahue says is something that the guy has been looking for used to say all the time. Hmm. Curiouser and curiouser.
They begin their quest with, what else, sexual tension. Holger is in denial about how he feels about Alianora, she makes it obvious that she likes him. He wants to leave the world so he doesn’t want to get involved. She feels rebuffed. That sets the stage for Carahue to say hey buddy, is she yours? Holger the idiot says nope. Carahue has a much higher Charisma score than Holger, and starts making moves. Alianora responds in kind. Holger is tormented. He goes down to a lake to catch some fish, and is drawn into a trap. Because his thoughts were impure again, his defenses were weak. On Morgan’s orders, a Nixie trapped him.
While the Nixie encounter was interesting, it seemed like filler. I’m just glad he didn’t try to kiss her (private joke for Rob Conley). He got out of it easily enough, using the magnesium dagger he looted off Alfric the Faerie lord. It burns underwater, so he grinds it with a sharpening when she just so happens to have, and blinds her and the evil fish with big sharp teeth holding him prisoner, and swims to the surface.
When he gets back, Hugi welcomes him in a where the fuck have you been kinda way, and the Swanmay, who has been searching for him, flies back. She lets them know about a bunch of dark magic rituals going on in a camp filled with a shit ton of primitive savage hillsmen. This group of evil warlock types and hillmen are blocking their way. They decide to take a different route, filled with a different danger. There is an underground pass that legend says is guarded by a troll. Hello Mines of Moria! They go for it, but are intercepted by a group of hillsmen. Holger pulls out a trick from “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” and scares the superstitious lot off by smoking a pipe and blowing smoke out of his mouth. This freaks them out and they flee the scene.
While the rest are sleeping, Morgan shows up again. She offers to restore his memory if he goes with her. He’s tempted, but it’s clear that his heart is with the Swanmay now. Morgan confirms that he is basically part of the King Arthur/ Carolingian cycle of tales, in both worlds, and that there is a great host gathering in both worlds and he is the crux in both. He rejects her for the last time, and she leaves. But soon after, their camp is attacked by the hillsmen who are out for blood. They fight their way through the ambush and ride for the troll tunnels.
The troll is the most obvious thing Gary took from this book, other than the Law/Chaos dichotomy. The fight goes well, they think they win, then it reassembles itself. Only when the Swanmay hits it with a lit torch and the wound doesn’t heal does Holger realize the way to kill it is fire. Sadly, Hugi dies shortly after the fight from wounds sustained in the battle. I was looking for a lay on hands here, but I guess they don’t have that power in these books.
Anyhow, as they race towards the old church wherein lies the sword Cortana, they are pursued by the Faerie. Night had fallen, a great horn rang out, and they realized the Wild Hunt was after them. They needed to get to the church grounds because it gave a level of protection against the Hunt. They make it by the skin of their teeth. There is a throwaway encounter on the church grounds which I wanted the author to spend a bit more time on. There was an old lame horse, stumbling amongst the graves of the church grounds. It was a Hell Horse, and to look upon it was to die. So they didn’t look upon it, and they didn’t die. That could have been way more interesting.
They make it into the sanctuary where the sword was kept. Holger and Carahue force open a stone slab that lay in front of the altar. Inside was the sword Cortana. Carahue recognizes it, and now knows who Holger is. Holger is Ogier le Danois.
And this was the Prince of Denmark who in his cradle was given strength and luck and love by such of Faerie as wish men well. He it was who came to serve Carl the Great and rose to be among the finest of his knights, the defender of Christendie and mankind. He it was who smote Carahue of Mauretania in battle, and became his friend, and wandered far with him. He it was who Morgan le Fay held dear; and when he grew old, she bore him to Avalon and gave him back his youth. There he dwelt until the paynim again menaced France, a hundred years later, and thence he sallied forth to conquer them anew. Then in the hour of his triumph he was carried away from mortal men.
And some say he waits in timeless Avalon until France the fair is in danger, and some say he sleeps beneath Kronberg Castle and awakens in the hour of Denmark’s need, but none remember that he is and has always been a man, with the humble needs and loves of a man; to all he is merely the Defender.
He rode out on the wold, and it was as if dawn rode with him.
(Wold isn’t a typo for world. It’s old English for a type of rolling hilly countryside.)
At the end of the book, we return to the narrator. He relates how years after the war Holger found him, they drank, and he told him his tale. Holger was on a hunt to find grimoires and tomes that would allow him to return to the other world. The narrator never saw Holger again after that day. He hopes he found his way back, and that he will return if needed some day.
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I think the next books I’ll review are the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series.