Where, oh where, to begin with this
one? There's so much packed into Poul Anderson's 1961 novel Three
Hearts and Three Lions that a
thorough review would go deep into spoiler territory. And its only
about 200 pages.
Okay.
First, the plot. Holger Carlsen is a Danish-born engineer and former
college athlete living in Pre-WWII America. When the war breaks out,
he returns to Denmark and hooks up with the Danish Resistance and
during a desperate mission to extract a scientist to Sweden, a bullet
grazes his head and he passes out.
Waking
up, he discovers himself naked in a forest with a horse waiting
nearby with a set of clothes, weapons and armor. As you do.
The
horse's name is Papillon (French for “butterfly”) and with the
stallion, he rides to a cottage and gets advice from an old witch who
sets him up with a dwarf guide named Hugi. Holger wants to know two
things: How to get home, and who is this famous knight with a shield
with three hearts and three lions that he's supposed to be.
He
encounters a young swanmay named Alianora. She's a human girl who was
gifted a cloak that allows her to change into a swan. She, like most
of the other people in this world, speak in a stylized dialect meant
to sound archaic that takes some getting used to on the page.
After
barely evading entrapment by the Elven King Alfric of Faerie, Holger
has a run-in with Morgan Le Fay, who knows him from his forgotten
past, and he and Alianora begin to fall in love, though his desire to
return to the Earth that he knows prevents him from acting on his
feelings for her.
Holger
finds himself swept up in a grander cosmic conflict as a champion of
Law against the fickle and deadly Faerie armies of Chaos. Werewolves!
Magic Swords! Dragons! Riddling Giants! Trolls! Heroic Saracens!
Comic Relief Wizards! Throwing an Elf into another Elf! True Love!
Much
has already been said about how much this story in particular has had
an influence on the development of Dungeons & Dragons. Law and
Chaos are foundational for the alignment system. The rapidly
regenerating troll at the end that can only be permanently harmed by
fire is translated directly into the Monster Manual instead of the
traditional Scandinavian rock troll (though the fight with this troll
is far more hardcore than anything I've seen presented in other
stories). Swanmays, Nixies, Unicorns, all have their folkloric
predecessors, but again, they are translated almost directly into D&D
creatures from this book.
The
Paladin, though, is one of the most famous/infamous D&D classes,
and it comes from this book. Everything the Paladin class does in
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is done in this story. Detect Evil?
Yep. Character is bonded to a special mount? Yes. Immune to fear? Yes
(though in Holger's case, much of it comes from being a man of action
and an engineer trying to figure out practical reasons for why magic
is happening around him) Laying hands on the sick to heal them?
Symbolically, yes. Losing certain protections and bonuses when he
begins to have impure thoughts? Yes.
Its
all there. This book is the bridge between Charlemagne's heroic
knightly warriors and Gygax's knights in heavenly armor. I knew that
going in, and it still blew my mind to see it in action.
(Incidentally, I recommend reading The Song of Roland,
where Charlemagne's paladin Roland gets his famous last stand. Badass
action and Charlemagne pulling on his beard in grief abounds)
The
key to Holger's powers is faith. True faith. Cold Iron, the Cross,
and sincere invocations of Jesus Christ all cause physical harm to
the forces of Faerie, who are frequently described as having no
souls. The tangible power of faith on this strange world shifts
Holger from being a modern agnostic to someone who converts to
Catholicism by the end (Anderson himself was apparently agnostic with
a favorable attitude toward Christianity)
The
book features a lot of lighthearted comedy. Holger's no idiot, but he
can be a blockhead, especially around pretty ladies. The book takes
frequent pauses to think up scientific reasonings for things, like
how a dragon would work, or the principles behind a dagger that can
be lit on fire. These excursions never get too
long, but occasionally they get close.
Then,
when the book gets serious, it fully commits. When Holger is
presented with the challenge of identifying a werewolf that is
terrorizing a town, he gets put into an emotionally difficult
situation. Without spoiling it, he has to choose between two grim
options, and in true Paladin form, chooses a third.
This
book is nothing like the deconstructionist cynicism clogging modern
bookshelves. Over and over and over, Holger Carlsen proves himself to
be a true-blue White Hat style hero without ever becoming boring.
Human and flawed, Holger's a dope with the ladies and a hearty
drinker, but at every turn he tries to do good, and in return,
becomes a better person and betters the world around him. This is the
kind of heroism I've been starved for, and here it is, fully realized
by a Grandmaster of Science Fiction.
I
can't recommend this book enough. Read it, if for no other reason
than to understand how Paladin characters are meant to be played.
Gorgeous Darrell K. Sweet cover for the Baen edition
“And some say
he waits in timeless Avalon until France the fair is in danger, and
some say he sleeps beneath Kronborg Castle and wakens 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.”
