holmgang by hunting hawk?
While there's no Norse literary precedent for using a bird in a duel or combat , there's a scene in 1958 CE's The Vikings where thrall Eric is being bullied by Viking Prince Einar into lying about where he got his superior hunting hawk from. In the confrontation, Eric gives the "Kill!" command for his hawk to attack Einar, and Einar Odinically loses his left eye , but spares Eric for the purpose of killing him later as an object lesson. Decades after this in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, where there's many honor culture medievalisms at play in his post-apocalyptic Weird West setting, a similar scene unfolds. Protagonist teen Prince Roland Deschain prematurely challenges his teacher Cort to a duel for the sake of earning his gunslinger revolvers, and shows up with his hunting hawk David as an unconventional wild card weapon that gives him the edge he needs to win, albeit with crafty surprise. This parallel would indicate that Stephen King was prob...