“Then the storm of arrows, speeded by the strings,
Shot above the shield-wall, swift on feathered wings.
Each shaft fulfilled its duty, and drove the barb to goal.”
(loosely translated from the epic poem - Beowulf)
Dawn Of Empire is the story of Eskkar, a man who starts out with nothing and becomes a king. But unlike other epics, such as Beowulf, Eskkar didn’t do it alone. He needed help. What sets him apart from most heroes is that he realizes just how much he does need that help. His strength lets him take guidance from a woman, and without being threatened by her abilities.
Until Trella came along, no one thought much of Eskkar. Those who did notice him considered him a tame barbarian, a dull-witted fellow who drank his pay, a loner with a dubious past and no future. But Eskkar isn’t the only heroic figure who started out small before achieving greatness. Quoting loosely from Beowulf once again:
“... Scorned he’d been a long while. The men of Swedish race
Good had not accounted him. Nor would the Swedish King
See him on the mead-bench, worthy much of grace.
Slack the strong men thought him, a sluggard nobleman.
But turn of fortune came to him, as one with honors blest,
For every shame he’d suffered, the King gave his behest.”
So we can see that, in the beginning, Beowulf’s comrades had little respect for the common-place soldier, just another follower of his leige lord. But when danger arose, Beowulf stepped forward, and by his strength and courage, saved his countrymen from destruction and gave them 50 years of peace.
While Beowulf fought alone (literally), Eskkar comes to rely on his woman for help and guidance. When he starts to feel uncomfortable listening to a woman, he remembers that his sword and fighting skills haven’t given him much to show for his thirty-odd years of wandering. So he decides to take a chance. He puts his future in Trella’s hands.
Trella herself has many women role models, even in antiquity. Today scholars think that one of the ancient Pharoahs of Egypt was a woman. The mother of Alexander the Great ruled the empire as much as her son. And Julius Caesar’s mother, as practical as she was intelligent, trained her son so well that he founded an empire and changed the world.
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