Northern courage in Middle-earth

The medievalist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien derived the characters, stories, places, and languages of Middle-earth from many sources. Among these are Norse mythology, which depicts a reckless bravery that Tolkien named Northern courage. For Tolkien, this was exemplified by the way the gods of Norse mythology knew they would die in the last battle, Ragnarök, but they went to fight anyway. He was influenced, too, by the Old English poems Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon, which both praise heroic courage. He hoped to construct a mythology for England, as little had survived from its pre-Christian mythology. Arguing that there had been a "fundamentally similar heroic temper" in England and Scandinavia, he fused elements from other northern European regions, both Norse and Celtic, with what he could find from England itself.

Northern courage features in Tolkien's world of Middle-earth as a central virtue, closely connected to luck and fate. The protagonists of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are advised by the Wizard, Gandalf, to keep up their spirits, as fate is always uncertain. Tolkien had mixed feelings about heroic courage, as seen in his 1953 The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son, where he bitterly criticises the English leader Byrhtnoth for overconfidently giving ground to the enemy: the disastrous mistake led to defeat and Byrhtnoth's death.

Scholars have commented that Tolkien was not completely comfortable with Northern courage as a virtue, however much he admired it, as it could become foolish pride, like Beorhtnoth's. The medievalist Tom Shippey has described how it could be combined with a Christian view to suit Tolkien's outlook better. Austin Freeman has added that the resulting Tolkienian virtue, estel, hope that results in action, may also embody the classical virtue of pietas, loyal duty.