# Three Hearts and Three Lions - Work: Novel - Date: 1953 (novella); 1961 (novel) - Made by: Poul Anderson (Author) - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/works/three-hearts-and-three-lions/ > A Danish engineer fighting the Nazis wakes in a world of chivalric romance, where he is a legendary paladin and a troll's severed hand crawls back to its body. **Why it matters:** Perhaps the single most direct literary source for Dungeons & Dragons rules: the paladin class, the Law-versus-Chaos alignment system and the regenerating, fire-vulnerable troll all descend from it. ## Quick answers **When was Three Hearts and Three Lions first published?** Three Hearts and Three Lions was first published in 1953 (novella); 1961 (novel). **Who created Three Hearts and Three Lions?** Three Hearts and Three Lions was made by Poul Anderson (author). **What kind of work is Three Hearts and Three Lions?** Three Hearts and Three Lions is a novel in the Portal Fantasy and Historical Fantasy tradition. **Why is Three Hearts and Three Lions important?** Perhaps the single most direct literary source for Dungeons & Dragons rules: the paladin class, the Law-versus-Chaos alignment system and the regenerating, fire-vulnerable troll all descend from it. ## Overview *Three Hearts and Three Lions* is a short, brisk adventure by [Poul Anderson](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/poul-anderson/) in which a modern man is dropped into the world of medieval romance. Holger Carlsen, a Danish engineer who has joined the resistance against the German occupation, is shot during a clandestine operation on the Danish coast and wakes in a strange forest with a horse, armor and a shield bearing three hearts and three lions. He soon learns that he is in a world where the forces of Law, which include Christendom and humankind, are locked in an ancient struggle with the forces of Chaos, embodied by the realm of Faerie. It is a light book, full of humor and puzzle-solving, but its influence on games is out of all proportion to its size. [Gary Gygax](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/gary-gygax/) listed it in [Appendix N](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/appendix-n/), and a surprising number of [Dungeons & Dragons](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/original-dungeons-and-dragons/)' rules can be traced to its pages. ## Origins Anderson, the American-born son of Danish parents, drew on the medieval *chansons de geste* — the "matter of France," the Carolingian counterpart to [the Arthurian romances](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/le-morte-darthur/) — and on the Danish legend of Holger Danske, the champion said to sleep beneath Kronborg Castle until his country needs him. He first wrote the story as a novella, serialized in *The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction* in 1953, and later expanded it into the novel published by Doubleday in 1961. A version of Holger reappears in Anderson's *A Midsummer Tempest* (1974). ## The story Holger's companions are Hugi, a gruff dwarf, and Alianora, a swan-maiden who can take the form of a swan; he falls in love with her. As he journeys through a world of witches, giants, dragons and faerie lords, he gradually realizes that he is a figure of legend there — the champion of Law — and that Morgan le Fay, a powerful servant of Chaos, has reasons to keep him from discovering who he really is. The adventure is episodic and clever. Holger uses his engineering knowledge to solve magical problems, including an encounter with a dragon he defeats with a bit of applied science. The most famous episode is a fight with a [Troll](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/troll/): a tall, green, rubbery creature whose severed limbs crawl back to reattach themselves. Holger and his friends destroy it only by fire. At the end the champion must win the sword Cortana, and victory for Law costs him the world, and the woman, he has come to love. ## Reception & impact The 1953 novella was later nominated for a Retro Hugo Award. It became a fixture on the reading lists of early wargamers who became roleplayers — and a primary source for the game they made. The debts are specific. The first edition of D&D in 1974 grouped all characters and creatures into three [alignments](https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/alignment/), Law, Neutrality and Chaos; Gygax credited the idea to Anderson and to [Michael Moorcock](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/michael-moorcock/), whose [Elric](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/elric-of-melnibone/) stories also turn on a war between Law and Chaos. The paladin, a holy knight who must remain lawful, appeared in the *Greyhawk* supplement in 1975 as a subclass of the fighting-man; its development was heavily influenced by Holger, though Gygax also pointed to Charlemagne's paladins and the code of chivalry. The D&D troll — lanky, rubbery, regenerating and vulnerable only to fire or acid — comes straight from Anderson's troll fight. The swanmay and the nixie followed Alianora and her aquatic cousins into D&D's monster lists. ## Legacy Few fantasy novels have written so many game rules. Every time a player's fighter cries "Bring a torch!" at a troll, or a paladin agonizes over a breach of his oath, Anderson's book is in the room. The alignment system that grew from its Law-and-Chaos cosmology became one of D&D's most distinctive — and most argued-about — features, and passed into computer games from [Pool of Radiance](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/pool-of-radiance/) to [Baldur's Gate 3](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/baldurs-gate-3/). The novel also reflects Anderson's own love of the medieval: he was a founding member of the [Society for Creative Anachronism](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/society-for-creative-anachronism/) in 1966, where he reportedly went by the name Bela of Eastmarch. His darker Norse fantasy of the same era, [The Broken Sword](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-broken-sword/), shaped sword-and-sorcery in turn. ## Facts - Holger Carlsen is secretly Holger Danske (Ogier the Dane), the legendary hero said to sleep beneath Kronborg Castle until Denmark needs him. - The D&D paladin, first published in the Greyhawk supplement (1975), was heavily influenced by Holger. - Original D&D's three alignments — Law, Neutrality and Chaos — were credited by Gygax to Anderson and [Moorcock](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/michael-moorcock/). - In the novel's troll fight, severed pieces of the troll keep crawling back together until Holger burns them — the origin of D&D's regenerating [Troll](https://www.lanternhall.org/bestiary/troll/). - The novel's swan-maiden Alianora and its nixie also have D&D descendants: the swanmay and the nixie. - Anderson was a founding member of the [Society for Creative Anachronism](https://www.lanternhall.org/culture/society-for-creative-anachronism/) in 1966, where he reportedly took the name Bela of Eastmarch. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Hearts_and_Three_Lions) - [Paladin (Dungeons & Dragons) — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paladin_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) - [Alignment (Dungeons & Dragons) — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.