Three Hearts and Three Lions (Origin of the Paladin Class in D&D?)

Paul Bellow · Jul 1, 2017

Three Hearts and Three Lions is a 1961 fantasy novel by Poul Anderson, expanded from a 1953 novella by Anderson which appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction.

The gathering forces of the Dark Powers threaten the world of man. The legions of Faery, aided by trolls, demons and the Wild Hunt itself, are poised to overthrow the Realms of Light. Holger Carlsen, a bemused and puzzled twentieth-century man mysteriously snatched out of time, finds himself the key figure in the conflict. Arrayed against him are the dragons, giants and elven warriors of the armies of Chaos, and the beautiful sorceress Morgan le Fay. On his side is a vague prophecy, a quarrelsome dwarf and a beautiful woman who can turn herself into a swan, not to mention Papillon, the magnificent battle-horse, and a full set of perfectly fitting armour, both of which were waiting for him when he entered the magical realm. The shield bears three hearts and three lions - the only clue to Holger Carlsen's true identity. Could Carlsen really be a legendary hero, the only man who can save the world?
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The Gygax bit...

So, the real question here is: where the heck did Gygax draw that inspiration from? As it turns out, the idea for Paladins and the ‘Law’ and ‘Chaos’ alignments came about from the very same source; a fantasy novel written in 1961 by Poul Anderson entitled Three Hearts and Three Lions.

In the book, an engineer named Holger Carlsen is fighting Nazi’s during World War II – as heroes do – and is suddenly transported into a parallel world after being shot smuggling a scientist across a border in Denmark.

Inside this “Middle World” – a place full of faeries and other fantasy elements like dwarfs and elves – he finds a suit of armor and a sword. The Middle World is also divided between the forces of Law and the forces of Chaos, probably a thinly-veiled nod to the real world Carlsen just came from. This new, fantasy-filled realm looks much like the era of Charlemagne, who was King of the Franks back in the late-700s AD.
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TWErvin2 · Jul 18, 2017

I remember reading this years ago. I still have an old hardback copy on my upstairs shelf. It was a fun read, which I still remember from many years past.

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Three Hearts and Three Lions (Origin of the Paladin Class in D&D?)

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