Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate

Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate: Northern Narratives of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium
Publication Information
Author	Richard Z. Gallant
Foreword by	Tom Shippey
Introduction by	Thomas Honegger
Publisher	Walking Tree Publishers
Released	17 March 2024
Format	Paperback
Pages	251
ISBN	9783905703498
Series	Cormarë Series
Preceded by	The Songs of the Spheres
Followed by	Tweaking Things a Little

Germanic Heroes, Courage, and Fate: Northern Narratives of J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium is a book by Richard Z. Gallant on the theme of "Northern Courage" (as modelled in Germanic heroic legend, such as Beowulf) in J.R.R. Tolkien's work. It is No. 49 in the Cormarë Series.

Contents

• Foreword by Tom Shippey: "Tolkien’s Thought and Tolkien’s Inner World"
• Introduction by Thomas Honegger
• Chapter 1: "The ‘Germanic’: Our World – Tolkien’s World"
• Chapter 2: "Original Sin in Heorot and Valinor"
• Chapter 3: "The Dance of Authority in Arda"
• Chapter 4: "The ‘Wyrdwrīteras’ of Elvish History"
• Chapter 5: "The Noldorization of the Edain"
• Chapter 6: "Discontinuity of Heroic Ethos"
• Chapter 7: "Wergild, Heirlooms and Monuments"
• Chapter 8: "Northern Courage in the Dúnedain Successor States"
• Chapter 9: "Galadriel and Wyrd"
• Chapter 10: "Elessar Telcontar Magnus, Rex Pater Gondor, Restitutor Imperii"
• Conclusion

Publisher's description

The theory of Northern Courage was J.R.R. Tolkien’s designation for the heroic ethos found in ‘Germanic’ or Northern heroic lays and epics. Tolkien admired the nobility of the old heroes, such as Beowulf, but wrestled with the inherent cruelty of the Welands, Ingelds, and Gunnars that is also expressed within this heroic framework. This volume explores the means in which this conflict of nobility and cruelty, virtue and vice, expresses itself in Tolkien’s narrative fiction. Such means include the use of secondary-world chroniclers narrating a secondary-world history and tales to a secondary-world audience through illustrative narratives that dramatize the moral and ideological views of the narrators themselves. The narratives are often tragic, but they serve to highlight the different aspects of Northern courage through the examples of the Fingolfians, Fëanorians, and subsequently the Edain and Dúnedain. The moral and ideological views expressed by these secondary-world narrators parallel Tolkien’s own personal correspondence and academic essays, which also criticized the vices and praised the virtues of Northern courage.

Gallant’s study is the winner of the 2024 Inklings-Prize in the category ‘best scholarly publication (PhD/Habilitation)’ of the Inklings-Gesellschaft e.V.

External links

• Official product page
• Review by Anine Olsen Englund in Journal of Inklings Studies
• Review by Andrew Higgins in Journal of Tolkien Research