OGIER OR HOLGER

Ogier’s story exemplifies the contagious and adaptable nature of heretical heroic narratives, which can be reapplied to other royal houses or powerful figures.

His legend lived on as an element of various myths, such as the saga of Ogier, a facsimile of the Ghibelline emperor who never died, a national hero in Danish tradition taken into the depths of a mountain or locked in the cellars of Kronburg’s castle, to appear again whenever his land needs a savior.

Ogier’s saga in the cycle of Charlemagne significantly brings together identified themes: Ogier of Denmark, one of Charlemagne’s twelve knights, after conflict with the emperor, assumes traits of both savior of the Christian world and world conqueror.

He extends his power over the entire East, travels to Prester John’s kingdom like Alexander, and sees the solar and lunar trees, corresponding to the tree of universal power of the Great Khan’s legend and the tree of the center associated with the primordial state. Prester John’s kingdom is identified with Avalon, the center of the Hyperborean tradition, and a connection is established between the trees’ “balsam” and Ogier’s assuming the form of “he who always lives” and “who will return one day.” After conquering the East, Ogier reaches Avalon and becomes the lover of Morgan, Arthur’s sister.

A recurring theme, later prominent in the Grail saga (particularly concerning Lohengrin, son of the Grail king), dictates that a hero sent from the Supreme Center must conceal his name and origin.

The function embodied within him must remain distinct from his personal identity. Ogier, violating this law by revealing his origin, is subjected to time’s passage, aging rapidly. Morgan intervenes, returning him to Avalon, where he awaits Christendom’s seventh need for him.

Wolfram von Eschenbach’s portrayal of Prester John as a descendant of the Grail dynasty, Percival’s assumption of Prester John’s role in the Titurel, and the Grail’s eventual placement in Prester John’s country, repeatedly indicate who must fulfill that function.

The German version of Ogier’s saga presents Prester John and the Great Khan as companions of Ogier, founding powerful dynasties. These are varied representations of a unified theme, expressed across various legends focusing on symbolic figures.

 

THE GREYHOUND AND THE DUX

Dante’s view of the “Greyhound” and the Dux should be referred to a similar order of ideas. From an external point of view, we cannot exclude Dante chose the name “Greyhound” based on the phonetic similarity between *cane* and Khan, the latter the honorific title of the Mongol Empire’s leader. Such an empire was sometimes confused with Prester John’s, Alexander’s, or Ogier’s – obscure representations of the ‘Center of the World.’ The Great Khan of the Tartars had not yet become Europe’s terror, but according to Marco Polo, Haithon, Mandeville, Johannes de Plano Carpini, he was conceived as the powerful emperor of a mysterious, faraway empire, or a wise and happy monarch, a friend of Christianity, though “pagan.”

The verbal assimilation from “Khan” to “Greyhound” appears in the German translation of Mandeville: “Heisset der grosse hundt, den man gewonlich nennt Can … der Can ist der oberst und machtigst Keiser den die sunne ubersccheinet.”

Boccaccio mentioned, though rejected, an interpretation of Dante’s *veltro* in relation to the Great Khan. After all, in ancient German, *huno* meant “lord;” “dominator,” appearing in names like Huniger.

The “Great Khan” was a function, not tied to a specific person or kingdom, evoked by Dante as a symbol of political faith and hope, approaching the spirit of the Grail cycle. Dante’s journey, a dramatized purification and initiation, mirrors the Grail quest’s connection to the Empire.

Dante’s dark forest, references to desert, the powerlessness of the sea, and the ascent of a mountain echo the knights’ trials, crossing rivers and facing dangers to climb Montsalvatsche, location of the Castle of Joy. Beatrice and the Love’s Lieges embody the supernatural woman; her love for Dante resonates with predestination, much like the otherworldly aid needed for the Grail knights’ adventures and purification through symbolic duels, a process differing from Dante’s theological-contemplative journey through hell and purgatory in its heroic tradition. The initial ascent was blocked by a lion and she-wolf, corresponding to a harlot and giant in the poem’s second part.

APPENDIX F

A detestable appreciation of the power of kings and emperors, considered tradition by those practicing mystery religions, stands in stark contrast to the values of the New Testament and Jesus Christ.

The she-wolf/whore as the Catholic Church and the lion/giant as the House of France appears to be the correct interpretation. Deriving corresponding principles from the historical and contingent reference to the Knights Templar’s destruction seems excessive.

Consequently, the lion and giant become representations of degraded, secular, and prevaricating royalty, or unrestrained warrior principles, while the wolf and whore supposedly reference the involution or degradation of spiritual authority. 

Evola contradicts scripture, promoting Gnostic enlightenment through works and creating esoteric lunar correspondences with the Church. As a member of a magical cult rooted in Babylonian religion, he falsely claims salvation can be achieved through specific techniques. Do not be deceived.

Ephesians 2:8-9

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Boasting is forbidden. This series addresses the prevalent boasting of individuals claiming superiority and belonging to a different race. The apostasy evident in these chivalrous writings is increasing when viewed against Scripture.

 

Dante accuses the Church of corruption, worldliness, and political intrigue, like Luther later, not of being an obstacle even in purity, due to Christianity’s lunar spirituality being unfit for an integral traditional restoration. Dante foretells the arrival of one ending the double usurpation: the Greyhound, equivalent to the Dux or “God’s messenger” who “shall kill the whore together with the giant who shares her.”

The general symbol is an avenger and restorer, like the Universal Ruler in De monarchia, “restituting” through destruction of parallel decadent principles, reminiscent of Parasu-Rama. This holds regardless of Dante’s Ghibelline hopes for historical figures. This connects to the Great Khan, Prester John, Ogier, Alexander, and the imperial cycle, especially the Dry Tree, its blossoming, and the eagle. Dante’s tree has the dual meaning of the Tree of Knowledge/earthly paradise and the Tree of the Empire, symbolizing the Empire’s justification as a function of the primordial tradition.

A defoliated tree and a widowed bough, known as the Arbre Sec or Durre Baum of the imperial cycle, stands as an object of sacrilege; robbing or snapping off pieces is an offense against God, a blasphemous act against something created holy.

Dante’s vision of the Flowering Tree follows the uncovered face of a supernatural woman, compared to the splendor of eternal light. This vision foretells the coming of the Dux, a new manifestation of the Universal Ruler, and evokes the primordial state of earthly paradise: “For a little while you shall dwell in these woods; and with me shall eternally be a citizen of that Rome of which Christ himself is a Roman.” This is participation in the metaphysical regnum, the Roman symbol superimposed onto Christianity, Christ himself a Roman.

Regeneration follows through the water of remembering, opening the heavenly path and leading toward metaphysical existence, a development mirrored in the blossoming of the defoliated tree: “I came back from that most sacred of streams made afresh, as new trees are renewed with their new foliage, and so was I clear and ready to go up to the stars.”

In the Divine Comedy, the spiritual itinerary concludes with a contemplative outlet, Dante’s dualism positioning the Empire and its inherent vita activa as preparation for the vita contemplativa.

This echoes the Grail cycle’s later versions, such as the Italian legend of Guerrino, which concludes with withdrawal to ascetic life. However, unlike the pessimistic conclusion of some Grail texts, the main forms showcase a different spirit, a higher tension, and a more unconditioned attitude, reflecting a more original tradition than that influencing Dante’s thought.