An Organization And A Myth?

Here, Mirkheim is described as the sixth Polesotechnic League book.

Eric Tamarin, exiled from Hermes and newly arrived on Earth, receives what purports to be a gift from "'...a member of United Humanity.'" (XII, p. 170) He remembers that this is:

"A mildly racist association, naturally jingoistic about Babur." (XII, p. 170)

(A Baburite fleet has occupied Hermes.)

Early during the Great Miners' Strike, Arthur Scargill received a cheque from the National Front "...for British miners." Scargill returned the cheque.

The gift is a cover for a clandestine communication from Eric's biological father, Nicholas van Rijn. Eric reflects:

"Old Nick himself... You hear stories about him throughout space as if he were already a myth." (p. 171)

Maybe a legend now and a myth later? The best dramatization, that I know of, of the temporary coexistence of a living man and his growing legend is Sean Connery's Robin And Marion. Robin and Little John return to Nottingham after several years' absence to find that Alan A'Dale is singing stories that "did not happen like that." Robin is drawn back into his role. As he and John fight the Sheriff's men, they are momentarily visible between the battlements of the Castle. An old man points and says, "That's Robin Hood?" A young boy asks, "Which one?" The Sheriff requests more men from King John because, "I am fighting a legend." At the end of the film an arrow flies - the legend flying through time.

Centuries later, on Avalon, it is the Founder, David Falkayn, that is the legend. Hloch tells his readers:

"You may well be surprised to learn that on numerous other worlds, it is [Nicholas van Rijn] who lives in folk memory, whether as hero or rogue."
-Poul Anderson, "Margin of Profit" IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 209), pp. 135-173 AT p. 136.

Future history includes future legend and myth.

(I am retelling the legend here. Alan-a-Dale, the minstrel, is not a character in Robin And Marian.)

(A story about Scargill and my family: He spoke in Lancaster. My daughter, Aileen, went to hear him carrying her daughter, Yossi, who was very small, not yet speaking but starting to articulate syllables. She shouted, "Bad!" Arthur said, "I agree with you!" People laughed and Aileen retreated in confusion.)

Single Combat

Holmgang is a kind of single combat, practised in a saga (here) and in Poul Anderson's first future history (here). In Anderson's second future history, Dominic Flandry defeats Cerdic in a sword fight here. Is there any other single combat in Anderson's works?

In SM Stirling's A Meeting At Corvallis (New York, 2007), Chapter Twelve, Lord Bear defeats a Protectorate knight in single combat before a battle. Circumstance has allowed life-long role-play:

"'You do me great honor in meeting me lance to lance, Lord Bear!' the young knight said, grinning from ear to ear." (p. 318)

For comparison, here are examples of single combat from three other works:

in Robin And Marian, Robin Hood (Sean Connery) defeats the Sheriff of Nottingham (Robert Shaw);

in From Russia, With Love, James Bond (Sean Connery) defeats Donovan Grant (Robert Shaw);

in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, when Lisbeth Salander is attacked in an empty warehouse by her massive, murderous half-brother, she staples his feet to the floor, exits the warehouse, phones a biker gang to tell them where they can find him, watches them enter the warehouse, phones the police to tell them where they can find the biker gang, watches the police arrive and hears gun-fire from a safe distance. (Not quite single combat but nifty.)

Addendum, 13 Apr 2017: Single combat between the King of Ys and his Challengers, of course.