Surrender None (The Legacy of Gird #1)

Elizabeth Moon

The hero-saint Gird, patron of the Fellowship of Gird, was known only through scattered texts and traditions by Paksenarrion's day. In those stories, Gird was an honest, brave, kind, hardworking peasant who had stood up to cruel magelords and freed his people from oppression. He had written the Code of Gird, eliminating injustice, and had given up his life for his people by fighting off a magical monster, dying even as it died. The real Gird was indeed a peasant who led his people to freedom from oppression—but he was also a fallible and complicated man whose great virtues were paired with great weaknesses.