Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein
"Glory Road" is a fantasy novel featuring the character E. Glory Road C. Gordon, known as Oscar. A military veteran who survived combat, Oscar leads a modest life on the French Riviera until he responds to a personals ad that promises adventure. He embarks on a quest with two companions, Rufo and Star, to recover the lost Egg, a storied artifact containing the wisdom of past rulers across the Twenty Universes. The trio faces various challenges, including combat with fantastical creatures and navigating the complexities of their relationships, particularly with Star, who is revealed to be the empress of these realms.
As Oscar's journey unfolds, he grapples with questions of purpose and identity, especially in a society that values flexibility and advanced cultural practices. After fulfilling his heroic role, he seeks further personal growth and knowledge, ultimately choosing to return to Earth. The novel concludes with Oscar's excitement about new adventures, hinting at the continuous cycle of exploration and self-discovery. "Glory Road" combines elements of adventure, romance, and philosophical inquiry, making it a rich narrative about finding one's path in life.
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Glory Road
First published: 1963 (serial form, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, July-September, 1963)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
Time of work: Approximately the 1960s
Locale: Various locations on Earth and alien planets in the Twenty Universes
The Plot
E. C. Gordon—also known as “Easy,” “Scar,” and “Oscar”—is a veteran from a military family who narrowly escaped death in combat in Southeast Asia. He now lives frugally on the French Riviera. Answering a personals advertisement in the newspaper, he finds himself faced with Rufo, a short, muscular raconteur, and Star, the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. The advertisement promises great adventure, danger, and reward, and Oscar soon has all these things as he embarks with Star and Rufo, who is now his groom, on a series of adventures aimed at recovering the lost Egg, a repository containing the collected wisdom of hundreds of emperors and empresses of the Twenty Universes.
Oscar, Rufo, and Star battle Igli, a golemlike humanoid, the Horned Ghosts, enormous rats, and scientifically plausible fire-breathing dragons. In more peaceful but no less startling action, they enjoy the hospitality of the Doral, a semimedieval Nevian lord who expects Oscar to sleep with his wife and/or daughters and who must be placated when Oscar does not. Oscar, a superb swordsman, eventually kills the Soul-Eater, guardian of the stolen Egg, who has taken the form of Cyrano de Bergerac. Oscar is wounded seriously in the battle and is nursed to health by Star, who he discovers is the current empress of the Twenty Universes. He has come to love her, and they are married.
As Oscar recovers and basks in the glory of being the one Hero who could have rescued the Egg, he learns about the society of Center, capital of the Twenty Universes. It is an ideal-sounding society in which marriage customs; attitudes toward war, learning, and dispute resolution (Stars main job as empress); and culture are flexible, sensible, and therefore highly advanced.
Oscar is not content merely to be Stars consort. He must have purpose in his life, and as a Hero with his work done, he has no purpose on Center. After beginning a self-selected educational program and attempting to learn various skills, he consults with Rufo, who is actually Stars grandson—Center science has expanded human life spans. He leaves for the time being, not permanently, but realizing, as Star does, that they each have their own purposes, and to fulfill them they cannot be together all the time.
Returning to Earth, wealthy and wiser, Oscar soon discovers that his acquaintances and friends, as well as Earth society, pale against the delights and dangers of the Glory Road he has trod. Returning to France, he places his own personals advertisement. The novel ends with his telling the reader, in great excitement, that he has heard from Rufo and will soon be on the Glory Road again. He asks at the end, “Got any dragons you need killed?”
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