Fair Fight

[Bêthberry]

What I find interesting about Tolkien's discussion, Boro88, is his contrast between chivalry (and a related excess of selfish pride) and heroism. He seems to be suggesting a difference between the Old English heroic epics and the Middle Ages' chivalric literature. And Tolkien adds in not only the psychology of the individual warrior, but also the status of the men 'above' and 'below' the leader: how much does a warrior hero owe to his tribe and the men who fight with him? The knights of the Round Table, to my recollection (and it's been some years since I read the various versions of Arthur), aren't beholdin' to a social group, but to themselves, as much as they are knights of Camelot. They are individualists.

This point of Tolkien's seems appicable to the initial post of hwaim where he points out that the fate of Arda is at stake.

EDIT: ofermod is a well discussed word in OE studies, and its meaning highly contested. We should get Squatter in on this, as possibly he is the most recent student of OE on this forum.