Tallifer
Hero
Another great example of a struggle between different parties of good people is from Le Morte d'Arthur by Malory (and also found in the mediaeval French poems). (The following summary is my own vague recollection and point of view.)
The brothers of Gawaine were outraged by the dishonour which Lancelot and Guenivere were bringing upon their King. Now Lancelot without a doubt sinned against God and his lord king, but he was also without doubt one of Arthur's most faithful and able champions, ever ready to smite the wicked. Certainly the French poets saw Lancelot and Guenivere's love as the pinnacle of courtly love, a model of beautiful romantic passion in a world of violence, treachery, baseness, ugliness and pettiness.
In the end, Arthur and Gawaine felt compelled to wage war against Lancelot. Lancelot mortally wounded Gawaine. After that battle, Lancelot visited the dying Gawaine in his tent, and they both shed bitter tears of love and regret. They both realized that neither had any choice (the power of love for a woman, the duty of a loyal man to his master), and they both wished that none of this had ever happened.
Indeed the ending of Le Morte d'Arthur does not take place with Bedevere throwing Excalibur into the lake and Arthur sailing away: there is an epilogue wherein Guenivere takes the veil and Lancelot lives out a life of penance.
The brothers of Gawaine were outraged by the dishonour which Lancelot and Guenivere were bringing upon their King. Now Lancelot without a doubt sinned against God and his lord king, but he was also without doubt one of Arthur's most faithful and able champions, ever ready to smite the wicked. Certainly the French poets saw Lancelot and Guenivere's love as the pinnacle of courtly love, a model of beautiful romantic passion in a world of violence, treachery, baseness, ugliness and pettiness.
In the end, Arthur and Gawaine felt compelled to wage war against Lancelot. Lancelot mortally wounded Gawaine. After that battle, Lancelot visited the dying Gawaine in his tent, and they both shed bitter tears of love and regret. They both realized that neither had any choice (the power of love for a woman, the duty of a loyal man to his master), and they both wished that none of this had ever happened.
Indeed the ending of Le Morte d'Arthur does not take place with Bedevere throwing Excalibur into the lake and Arthur sailing away: there is an epilogue wherein Guenivere takes the veil and Lancelot lives out a life of penance.
