La Grande Code: Rusé comme Renaud - Clever like Rinaldo - Why Men Should be Cunning as Serpents
Yet gentle like lambs
Within the context of my world there are many Rinaldos, the idea came from a DnD friend (for I let people play in my world at one time), and he had the notion to muck it all up. I won’t get into the details of it, but we had a pretty successful adventuring party and he played the bard, but he was boastful and decided to have his hero take the credit for everyone’s actions.
I liked this idea and thought it so funny that since then I decided that there would indeed be multitude of Rinaldos named after this sly rogue of his.
But that Rinaldo or Renaud as he’s known in French isn’t the same character that this here essay refers to. As his character was cast in a campaign that was I believe 100 or 200 years after the First Wars of Darkness with the second Renaud belonging to the period of the Second Wars of Darkness that take place about fourteen hundred years after the First.
Renaud is born to a lesser gentry-man, clever as a fox though strong he is the only Paladin to never keep any men for guards, preferring Wolframs and Tigruns for company. This is a little known fact in my world, and is named Renaud, a name often associated with the term ‘renart’ (fox). The reason for his favour towards these people has to do with his having been abandoned by his parents as a child, as they fled in the face of the Tigrun and Wolfram ‘brigands’ that haunted their lands.
In reality a group of tribes that predated Renaud’s folk, these tribesmen show mercy and take him in for two years, whereupon he would be guided home. It was as he is brought home that he would learn of his family’s passing. Rather than destroying his captors he would welcome them into his home, and would lead them despite just being eleven years old at this time against the servants who assassinated his father and mother, fighting also alongside those servants who attempted to protect his kinsmen.
Clever from a young age the youth, learns a great many tales and smuggles himself into the court of Aemiliemagne where he entertains him and his kindred. The young man would so amaze Aemiliemagne that he would assign him as a squire to his cousin, whom Renaud served loyally.
Renaud as an adult would prove himself a great warrior, using his knowledge of history to concoct brilliant strategies and tactics that would help turn the tide numerous times against the Dark Elves.
As one can clearly see Renaud is more of a ‘secondary character’, one whom is inspired by characters such as Josua from the Memory, Sorrow & Thorn, or Merry from Lord of the Rings.
The idea is that he’s the opposite in a way of the impulsive and hot-tempered Roland or overly cautious Olivier. Clever, he knows when to act and when not to, he is much more level-headed than most other men. Always eager to serve those around him and yet he is later to become father of a line of Kings.
One can also see the influence of Odysseus on this character. As Odysseus has a lot to commend him as a traditional hero, he is also a very inspiring chivalric figure. Certainly not without his faults; he is boastful and foolish, and in my view fought on the wrong side in the Trojan War.
That said, he fought nobly and did what he had to do. He loves his wife and though he sleeps with other women, he never forgets his Penelope, and yearns for her. We must bear in mind that for all his cunning he does sacrifice for his men, prostituting himself for them to Circe then later when imprisoned by Calypso he still continues to yearn and long for Penelope.
He eventually makes his way to her side but first decides to disguise himself, to make sure that all is well.
This shows his foresight. There are of course other figures throughout literature who can be as clever as Odysseus. In modern superheroes there’s of course Batman who has gained traction in this capacity, there is also that of Merry Brandybuck from the Lord of the Rings who shows rather more cunning than charisma, or purity like his fellow Hobbits.
For historical examples one need not look further than the likes of Philippe Auguste II of French Medieval history who was one of the cleverest Kings of them all, it was he who destroyed the Angevin Empire and re-created France. There is also Louis XI who did much the same but won the moniker of the ‘Universal Spider’.
Looking at other countries’ rulers who had this sort of cunning one could point to the likes of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was patient and waited years at a time and deployed more cunning than any other figure of his time in the seizing of power over Japan.
There is of course also Taizong the secondary founder and second ruler of the Tang dynasty of China. Sly as a fox, and arguably the Asian answer to Charlemagne in some ways, he is an awe inspiring figure even as he’s a terrifying one who stepped over the body of his brother to dethrone his less decisive father and claim the throne for himself. But once in power he ruled as ably as an Augustus (another clever figure) or Charlemagne.
In mythology there is as mentioned Odysseus, but also Odin the Allfather of the Aesir who would prove himself the cleverest of all the gods time and again. Often having to resort to cunning and tricks and his vast learning to outfox the diabolical Loki’s various traps that are often laid out for the Aesir.
If one wants clever figures in the Christian tradition, one could look to the likes of David who was very much clever, same with Jacob and his son Joseph. All of them are clever, but there is also St-Paul the shining beacon of cunning and cleverness who is honestly a giant in the Christian tradition.
Now while I preach cunning I do not preach immorality. Cunning without virtue is duplicity, there is a reason that the Grande Code is not meant to be taken individually but as an over-all whole.
Any who complain of cunning being synonymous with dirty tricks that serve only oneself, be warned that this part of the code follows after Ferocity and just before the virtue of Piety, then Temperance/Justice, and that one is followed by Patience.
I am not looking at this Code as unconnected pieces but parts of an over-all whole. I realize in my last essay that some have forgotten that this is supposed to be part of an over-all Chivalric Code for Gallia.
So here’s the first verses to it; Preux comme Roland, Courtois comme Olivier, Fidèle comme Norbert, Farouche comme Ogier.
Valorous like Roland, Courteous like Olivier, Faithful like Norbert, Ferocious like Ogier and now Clever like Renaud.
Because cunning and honour are to my mind synonymous with one another. I’ve never met a man of honourable intent who was not also a very witty, cunning and clever sort. But I have met dullards who lack for honour.
If you disagree it’s fine, I’ve met those who are dull who have honour, and those who are clever without honour they do exist (these are not absolute statements I’m making).
But do bear in mind in writing that only the most nihilistic write dullars obsessed with honour, and who perish for that reason (Ned Stark comes to mind as just such a character), while in reality honourable individuals such as Yukimura Sanada could prove themselves very clever and sly as well.
There is beauty in cunning, and there is greatness in the clever and the reason for this is that the human mind is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a thing of beauty, and something we ought to all be proud of.
Cunning is an interesting thing because the snake in Genesis is said to be cunning and definitely not in a good way, but we're also told by Christ to be cunning like serpents.
Anyways, in my first novel Inquisitor's Promise I tried to make the hero Aeneas to be a cunning hero but also an honorable one (meaning that he cannot lie or break his word). And he certainly needed to handle things with finesse because he was navigating a very perilous political situation. One wrong move and it would be the end of everything (so to speak). But I'll let the readers decide if I did a good job in portraying that aspect of the novel/character.
Yes.
Cunning like Llew, Gwydion, Merlin...