Three Hearts and Three Lions
by Poul
Anderson: A review.
Poul Anderson's novel, Three Hearts and Three Lions, is an up-to date reworking of Mark Twain's
A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court. Three Hearts and Three
Lions deals with an American/Danish fellow by the name of Holger Carlson who comes to the United States in the late '30's to work and study. While in the States, Holger rapidly becomes the true All-American boy: A charmer with women, a football star, a razor-sharp engineer - he seems truly blessed.
As the story begins, Holger has grown more and more disturbed and despondent at the news of Nazi depredations in Europe, particularly in his home country of Denmark. When German occupation forces take total control there, he steals his way back across the Atlantic and joins the Resistance in his home nation. During a fight with Wehrmacht troops to get a British spy to safety, Holger suffers a wound to the head, only to awake in a very, very different place.
Holger regains consciousness in a never-never land medieval Europe. Geographically, and somewhat historically, it is identical to what he is familiar with. However, he soon finds out that this Europe is a very, very different place indeed.
The first difference he notes is that he has arrived with no accoutrements at all - fortunately, he finds not only clothes, but armor and a warhorse nearby, all apparently waiting for him.
The standard on the shield he finds depicts the heraldry that gives the book it's name: Three Lions, rampant, and three hearts.
From there on, Holger finds himself drawn inexorably into an adventure that pits him against another evil: the forces of Chaos threaten to destroy humanity, and he comes to understand that it is his destiny to carry the day for Law.
In short order, Holger encounters Hugi, a Dwarf whom Anderson supplies with a thick Scottish burr (I was reminded of John Rhys-Davies' Gimli from Fellowship Of The Rings). He also meets Alianora, the young, shy and beautiful Swanmay - that is, a girl raised by kindly magical creatures in the forests of the "Middle World" and given a special cloak of swan feathers that enable her to take on the appearance (and flying abilities) of that bird. Once they've met, they journey to the lands of Faery, a sort of elven homeland, under the advice of the ancient crone Mother Gerd. It is there Holger hopes to find a way home, or at least an answer to the riddles that plague him about his destiny.
An interesting trope used by Anderson during Holger's search for his true fate is the repetition of the number three within the book, and it's significance to both the standard Holger bears, and to the story overall. Holger, for example, is one man caught between two worlds. For the large part of the story, he and his
traveling companions number three in total. The Holy Trinity imagery is also represented, when Holger finds out that his true destiny.
Three Hearts and Three Lions had a great influence upon Dungeons and Dragons as a game: it features the struggle of Law versus Chaos, presents the Swanmay, the Nixie, the peculiar ability of Dwarves to sense the slope of a cavern passage, the Unseen Servant and Geas spells, and Color Spray is mentioned in passing as well as Polymorph Others. Holger du Danske (as he calls himself in the fantastic world he enters) is the
quintessential Paladin: he can protect himself from evil, lay on hands, and use Holy Words to repel creatures dark and deadly. Finally, and perhaps most significantly, the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons troll makes it's hideous appearance in Three Hearts and Three lions. If you've ever wondered what
combating one of those horrors would be like, rest assured, you'll find out in the pages of
Three Hearts and Three Lions!
Anderson's creation is a sumptuous book. The descriptive style the author uses is excellent; while not as textured as perhaps Tolkien, he nonetheless conveys a real sense of the world, and draws the reader in
thoroughly. Whether describing the cold, alien underwater grotto of a beguiling Nixie, or the clash of steel on steel as
heroes and villains cross swords, Anderson truly makes the world live and breathe.
Indeed, the author manages to pack so much information into this little paperback novel that a Dungeon Master, searching for a source to create a pseudo-historical AD&D campaign with, would need only sit down with
Three Hearts and Three Lions, a notebook, and perhaps a copy of Deities and Demigods (or
Legends and Lore) cracked open to the Arthurian Mythos section!
Unfortunately, the book is not without it's flaws. While the adventures of Holger and his companions are funny, brash, exciting, and just down right good reading, the abrupt conclusion of the story is so sudden as to be jarring. It's as if Anderson was jotting it down outside his editor's office and had been called in just as he was getting to the end, so he simply noted "And there the story ends, they all lived happily ever after, the end." (This is a bit of an oversimplification but it should convey the feeling one gets towards the end.)
Still, thanks to masterful storytelling, even the let-down of an ending works in that it leaves the reader hungry for more. Overall, I very strongly recommend Poul Anderson's
Three Hearts and Three Lions. It is an excellent if short read and a great place to go hunting for the source of some of Dungeons and Dragons' most charming legacies.