Questions about Three Hearts and Three Lions
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What is Three Hearts and Three Lions about?
Three Hearts and Three Lions follows Holger Carlsen, a Danish resistance fighter in World War II who is shot and transported to a parallel universe built from Northern European legend. The world is divided between the forces of Law and Chaos, and Carlsen discovers he is Ogier the Dane, a legendary champion of Law. His mission to recover the sword Cortana and defeat the forces of Chaos ends with his return to the twentieth century, where he remains stranded from his love, Alianora.
When was Three Hearts and Three Lions first published?
Poul Anderson first published Three Hearts and Three Lions as a novella in 1953, in Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine. He later expanded it into a novel, which appeared in 1961.
How did Three Hearts and Three Lions influence Dungeons & Dragons?
Three Hearts and Three Lions directly shaped the original Dungeons & Dragons alignment system, which divided all characters and creatures into Law and Chaos. The troll's ability to regenerate wounds during combat was drawn from Anderson's novel. The swanmay, the nixie, and the paladin character class all trace back to the same source.
What is the Law and Chaos conflict in Three Hearts and Three Lions?
In Three Hearts and Three Lions, the forces of Law occupy the human world, divided between the Holy Roman Empire and the Saracens, while the forces of Chaos control the Middle World, which includes Faerie. Anderson modeled this divide on the Cold War line running through real Europe at the time of writing. Michael Moorcock later cited this Law-versus-Chaos framework as a major influence on his own fantasy.
Who is Ogier the Dane in Three Hearts and Three Lions?
In Three Hearts and Three Lions, Ogier the Dane is the true identity of the protagonist Holger Carlsen. Ogier is a champion of Law drawn from the medieval Matter of France, the cycle of legends surrounding Charlemagne and his knights. Carlsen carries Ogier's skills and memories in his body even when his conscious mind cannot access them.
What literary sources inspired Three Hearts and Three Lions?
Three Hearts and Three Lions draws on the Matter of France, Arthurian legend, Germanic mythology, and works including Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Robert Burns's Tam o' Shanter, and Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The novel shows the influence of Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and bears some similarity to C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.