Abstract
Examines Tolkien’s ability to hold two conflicting ways of thinking in creative tension, representing them through equally sympathetic characters each fairly having their own say, as he does in “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son.” Grybauskas finds a parallel to this in the way Battle of Maldon balances its praise of Northern courage with its censure of the Earl of Maldon’s Ofermod.
