Warrior Poet: Difference between revisions

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== Tabletop Games ==

* The Eldar of ''[[Warhammer ~~40000~~]]'' exhibit signs of this trope, but here the order rebelled against was not so much dishonorable or brutish war as [[Defector From Decadence|decadence]].

* The Eldar of ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' exhibit signs of this trope, but here the order rebelled against was not so much dishonorable or brutish war as [[Defector From Decadence|decadence]].

* ''[[Werewolf: The Apocalypse]]'' had the Fianna, which were a tribe of Warrior Poets in what was already a species of [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]s. They supposedly spawned the first werewolf bard in all of existence. They're also just a little bit [[Oireland|Oirish]].

** Speaking of that "werewolf bard", it's actually one of the five Auspices—the Galliard, born under the gibbous moon, who starts the game with the second-highest Rage rating of all five Auspices, but whose Gifts tend towards communication, inspiration, and passion. They reappear in ''[[Werewolf: The Forsaken]]'' as Cahaliths, and while there are still bardic elements, they're more regarded as prophets.

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*** [[Parrot Exposition|Shaped like themselves?]]

** In terms of literal poetry—he does deliver legitimately evocative soliloquies at the start of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'' and at the end of ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', although he does have quite a few clunkers at other moments.

* The entire Protoss race from ''[[~~Starcraft~~]]'' embody this ideal, having embraced a rigid quasi-religious collectivist social order based on self tempering, personal honor, and obedience, to escape a tumultuous war-filled past. This leads to a peculiar view of warfare, wherein "modern" mass-destructive weapons have been largely shunned in favor of armies of melee combatants and machines of war whose purpose at heart is something else (the few examples to the contrary being regarded as abominable).

* The entire Protoss race from ''[[StarCraft]]'' embody this ideal, having embraced a rigid quasi-religious collectivist social order based on self tempering, personal honor, and obedience, to escape a tumultuous war-filled past. This leads to a peculiar view of warfare, wherein "modern" mass-destructive weapons have been largely shunned in favor of armies of melee combatants and machines of war whose purpose at heart is something else (the few examples to the contrary being regarded as abominable).

* ''[[Betrayal at Krondor]]'' has Gorath, whose Warrior Poet views are the main point of conflict between him and the rest of his race.

* Wrex of ''[[Mass Effect]]'', who is surprisingly philosophical for your average reptilian [[Heroic Sociopath]] [[Bounty Hunter]]. Ashley Williams as well, in what is actually a quite literal example: she really ''does'' quote poetry. Classical poetry as a matter of fact, and she gets the quotation right, too. She also examines her own religious and philosophical leanings and the impact that space travel and aliens have on the theoretical existence of God.

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** There's nothing borderline about [[Cool Old Guy|Iroh]], though. It's a slow reveal, but beneath that patient, tea-loving, belly-laughing, [[Koan]]-spouting surface is a guy who could [[Badass Grandpa|hand an army their asses on a platter]]—and ''does,'' several times. Remember: [[Memetic Badass|when Iroh was in prison, he wasn't pushing himself up -- he was pushing the Fire Nation down.]]

* Bow, [[The One Guy]] and [[The Archer]] from ''[[She-Ra: Princess of Power|She Ra Princess of Power]]'', is a bard in his free time and loves playing his harp.

* An extremely literal example: While everyone in ''[[Visionaries]]'' had [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] powers, some of them also had magic staves that contained a kind of unique, one-use battle genie. These spirits were released using, of all things, ''rhyming couplets.'' So when the [[Blood Knight]] wanted to wreck a castle, he could summon a monster by holding up his staff and yelling:

* An extremely literal example: While everyone in ''[[Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light]]'' had [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]] powers, some of them also had magic staves that contained a kind of unique, one-use battle genie. These spirits were released using, of all things, ''rhyming couplets.'' So when the [[Blood Knight]] wanted to wreck a castle, he could summon a monster by holding up his staff and yelling:

{{quote|By nature's hand, by craft, by art,

What once was one now fly apart! }}

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* [[wikipedia:Egill Skallagrimsson|Egil Skallagrimsson]] of Iceland was famous as both a fighter (a berserker in fact) and a poet. He subverts this trope somewhat, in that while he had a caring and sentimental side, he also had a terrible temper and sometimes behaved very rashly.

* Emperor Marcus Aurelius of [[Ancient Rome]] was more famous for his philosophical thoughts then for his warlike enterprises.

* [[Winston Churchill]]: As a soldier, he served with distinction in India, Sudan, and the Second Boer War; he also fought on the front line in [[World War ~~One~~]] despite being a battalion commander. He also led Britain in [[World War II]]. As a man of arts and letters, he was a decent amateur painter, an accomplished memoirist, and a good historian, writing the all-encompassing (if [[Values Dissonance|a bit dated]]) ''History of the English-Speaking Peoples'', for which he won a [[Nobel Prize]] for Literature. He also was an [[Deadpan Snarker|accomplished wit]] and a master of oratory (which helped him lead Britain during World War II).

* [[Winston Churchill]]: As a soldier, he served with distinction in India, Sudan, and the Second Boer War; he also fought on the front line in [[World War I]] despite being a battalion commander. He also led Britain in [[World War II]]. As a man of arts and letters, he was a decent amateur painter, an accomplished memoirist, and a good historian, writing the all-encompassing (if [[Values Dissonance|a bit dated]]) ''History of the English-Speaking Peoples'', for which he won a [[Nobel Prize]] for Literature. He also was an [[Deadpan Snarker|accomplished wit]] and a master of oratory (which helped him lead Britain during World War II).

* Several eighteenth and nineteenth century military and naval officers. Including King [[Magnificent Bastard|Frederick the Great]].

** "Several" puts it mildly. Life at sea was dull and many (most) turned to the arts and other intellectual pursuits to pass the time. Naval gazettes included poems written by officers, and officers were known to collect their works and publish. Note: They weren't necessarily inspired, nor even all that good, but, still, there you are.

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* [[wikipedia:William Golding|William Golding]], a [[Nobel Laureate]] who fought in World War Two and wrote much more than [[Lord of the Flies]].

* The two poems in [[Audie Murphy]]'s war memoir ''To Hell and Back'' were composed by him, although they are attributed to a different character in the book. He wrote poems about his war experiences all his life, but had little interest in publishing them, often discarding or mislaying them when he was done. The Alabama War Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama includes lines from one of his later poems. Also co-wrote lyrics for [[Country Music]] songs, mostly about love, loss and depression in general, rather than about the war in particular.

* Herman Wouk was a Jewish naval officer in World War II who wrote several books focusing on [[Write What You Know|war and Judaism.]] He is famed for his World War II epic duology Winds of War/ War and Remembrance.

* Barry Sadler was a Green Beret and [[Glamorous Wartime Singer|folk-singer of the Vietnam War]]. He is most famous for ''Ballad of the Green Berret''.

* Some nations have more of a tradition of religion or ideology or both then others and it is hard to picture them being quite professional about war because they Just Don't Do That. America and Israel for instance have both produced effective soldiers but both have usually looked at it in some way as more then just another job especially Israel which has been historically taken the maintaining of an effective militia more seriously whereas America has had more demands for frontier wars and defense of wide ranging commitments that can only be taken care of by professionals. Even so every time an American war is well in the headlines there is talk about liberty, how much power to give to the state to defend security, whether or not a war is truly just and so on. [[American Civil War]] soldiers on both sides were unusually ideologized. Surprisingly [[World War 2]] was toned down in this among the American rank and file, by comparison with the civil war and a lot of soldiers enlisted for tribalistic revenge and stayed on for team loyalty but there was plenty of deeper thought about war in any case. Israel which is similar to America in many ways like having a quirky combination of rationalism and idealism, a pioneer tradition, and even a single star on it's flag like [[Everything Is Big in Texas|the most flamboyantly warlike American state]] tends to have soldiers who think deeply about the philosophical implications of war, because [[Jews Love to Argue|everything there is about ideas.]]

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[[Category:Seekers]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]

[[Category:~~Warrior Poet~~]]

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