Valiant

Sagas wouldn't be interesting if terrible things didn't happen to the people in them.

Sir, winning is usually a matter of making one less mistake than the enemy or just getting up one more time than you get knocked down.

You’re not fighting for abstractions. No one does. Humans pay lip service to that, to big causes and great purposes, but any politician of any skill soon learns that what really motivates people is the small, personal things. Close friends, family, the small area they call home. They wrap those things around ideals and call them precious, but they’re precious for the smallest and closest of reasons. Soldiers may swear to fight for their flag, but they really fight because of the soldiers next to them.

the preserver on one side and the destroyer on the other.