The Old Code: The Code forever Shines, If One Heart holds it Bright!

This may well prove one of the last essays on this particular honour code, so that all that awaits us is to analyze the Old Code as a hole and why it is so important thematically in the movie of Dragonheart.

This Code which is passed down from ancient times to Bowen, then down to Einon, and then when Bowen had forgotten its values was re-passed down to him by Draco and the lovely Kara is truly a special one. This Code is one that quite frankly shines every time you turn the movie on, and if you hold it high and hold it dear will always seem to shine all the brighter the more you look at it.

This sort of Code was a truly special one. It teaches to value Honour and goodness above all other things, to put others before oneself and to remember the value of another human being’s life and needs.

It was once said to me by a close German mentor that ‘Rome is now an idea, so long as one holds it in one’s heart, one becomes truly Roman’, a sentiment I do genuinely appreciate. He is a very wise old gentleman, who in spite of religious differences between him and I, never ceased to endeavour to help deepen my education and to pass on essays, analysis, wisdom and any other aid I might need. He truly lives up to this line, holding the Code in his heart.

The notion that Rome might shine in our hearts so long as we keep it alive, is not a new one though and it is one that makes one think that the courage and fraternal spirit of the Legions so ardent and so passionate after the days of Scipio Africanus, that endured through the Civil Wars truly meant something and survived to to-day.

What is more is that the Chivalry exemplified in the Middle-Ages by some Knights shone and inspired, with worthy men such as Robert the Bruce, William Marshall, James the Black Douglas and even the fair Jehanne D’Arc all the finest examples of this virtue with their legacies living on to this day.

In film let us look to characters who have exemplified the values of Honour and held it tight in their hearts when others had forgotten it; Superman comes to mind for many Americans. To a great many there’s Luke Skywalker the hero who piously fought to save his father’s soul and also that of his adoptive-grandfather Obi-Wan Kenobi, holding fast to a Code that the whole of the Galaxy had forgotten.

And why was it important that Luke do this? And at the end does it mean that there’ll never be a need for Masters again? No, quite to the contrary. The Galaxy will need teachers now more than ever. It is entering an age of anarchy and open-civil war as we see in the video-games, novels and comics that follow. But Luke weathers the storm and though not the strongest physically of the Jedi, he proves himself the greatest by dint of wisdom, kindness and Honour.

He is the last to hold tight to an ideal so that it shines brighter in him than it ever has in any other individual in Star Wars history.

Hazel from Watership Down is at the start the last to hold up piety to his Warren, and he leads them from potential destruction to glory and a new home establishing Rabbit Rome. There is of course also Second-Hand Lion wherein the days of high-adventure and high-Honour have been forgotten especially by the families of two tired, and semi-broken old men.

Age and time has not been kind to them. The question is asked; what will they pass down? Wealth? A dreary farm-house? A farm?

All these things are things. What they pass down is infinitely more important; they pass down love to a loveless young boy yearning for something greater than himself. They pass down the Old Code, which fluttered if barely in their old breasts down to this youth who then set it out in comics and spread the lessons to all the corners of the globe as was his duty.

There is also to an extent this sort of view one could take with Pirates of the Caribbean if one regards it as a standalone to an extent. Jack Sparrow- excuse me CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow, is the only Pirate of the Black Pearl not to have broken his word.

Throughout the film he is careful with his word, careful not to break it, and careful not to outright betray people. Desperate to keep Will Turner alive, even though Bootstrap Bill proved a weasel towards him, yet his son is blameless in the eyes of Jack. Jack is the only Pirate to behave with dignity and Honour and so the Code shines bright in him and yet he still passes it down to others.

And who ignited it in him? None other than the kindly, if stalwart Will Turner. Interestingly even Norrington exemplifies this value, holding it high so that he seems to glimmer endlessly with honour and dignity and goodness in that first movie.

If one looks at the writing of Asia, in Yoshikawa Eiji’s novels Kiyomori and also the likes of Musashi both personify to an extent Honour. Kiyomori may at times struggle with it but he truly does desire to do the right thing and to pass along a shining legacy to his family whom he holds very dear to his heart.

Musashi wishes to perfect the way of the sword but also to become a moral person, until by the end of the story he’s become a ‘Sword Saint’. He also seems as though he is the last man to embody Honour and serves to inspire the virtue in others.

You see? It is not enough to embody the Old Code, to hold it high one must spread its teachings, one must always seek after perfection to shine the brighter. And what does perfection in this context mean? It signifies to be an ever better person, a greater individual, a kindlier, more pious, more chivalrous man (or woman).

Hektor of Troy is not admired because he turned away when death came barking at him from beyond the city gates, but because he stepped out. He did not beg for mercy, but begged that his corpse be treated with dignity and respect. Achilles did not do this until a broken old man came begging, therefore Achilles got no mercy.

If one spreads darkness, one shall receive it in ample supply. If one seeks to spread light and goodness, one shall eventually (hopefully) receive in turn in time.

So long as one Heart holds it Bright, so long as even just one Heart clings to Christ he lives in the hearts of men or so I had been taught as a child. So long as a glimmer of redemtpion exists there is Hope for a man, so long as one person remembers the Old Code, so long as one person foregoes greed, gluttony, lust, pride, wrath and all the other vices of Man, there is not just Hope but Chivalry and Salvation.

Because the Old Code is not just Honour, but Hope itself. Hope that Men might aspire to more, and might inspire others to more. This is what it means for it to Shine Bright in the Hearts of Men and Women.