White chocolate

MadassAlex

Not quite. There's the 19th century adaptation, but there's also the High Medieval Austrian text which puts down the earliest complete version of the tale. Interestingly enough, it socially mirrors the High Medieval French tales of King Arthur; what was obviously a pagan story was given a Christian paintjob.

vandro

Arthur wasn't christian, if he ever lived, that is. If I am not remembering wrong.

MadassAlex

Arthur is probably a falsehood, or a combination of historical figures unknown to us. Given that the events that inspired the mythologies occurred during the Migration Period, he was almost certainly pagan if he did exist.

This doesn't make a different to the 14th century French writers, however. The Arthurian tales (and Siegfried's escapades) could be considered the Medieval equivalent of "urban fantasy". Themes and elements taken from a long-gone period applied to a "modern" setting, but that necessitated some religious alteration.

vandro

Hijacked by christianity was pretty common back then.

MadassAlex

It's particularly interesting in the case of the Arthurian tales, though, because some of the pagan elements are integral to the story. So while there's no literal conflict between paganism and Christianity, there's an undercurrent of it.

Of all the German fighting manuals, Codex Dobringer is my favourite for this reason. While it contains Liechtenauer's teachings - along with religious admonitions - it also contains magic spells. It seems that Christianity's grip, as we understand it, was not absolute. At least in that era, pagan religions and Christianity seem to have unofficially bonded to some degree.

vandro

Swordfighting and spells? Xiaolang Li, is that you?:p

MadassAlex

Alchemy, too.

And dental hygiene.

vandro

I get the dental hygiene, but alchemy? Did they want to make orichalcum or something?

glennmagusharvey

I get the alchemy, but dental hygiene?  Did they want to do root canals or something?

RedEyedAbyss

Isn't dark chocolate the purer form of chocolate? I know that cocoa is bitter naturally and the sweetness is added in.

MadassAlex

The alchemy mostly deals with the forging of iron and steel. So it's more like abstract chemistry plus folklore.

Blueeyedrat

Dark and white chocolate are pretty good, but I still prefer milk chocolate most of the time.

glennmagusharvey

I prefer milk chocolate when it has fruit filling.

captainbrass

I note the dark chocolate haters appear to be out in force. I am disappoint.

As for white chocolate, I don't actively dislike it, but I can take it or leave it. The "not technically chocolate" argument is a bit silly. If you like the taste of something, who cares whether it is or isn't a particular type of food.  

glennmagusharvey

My dad likes dark chocolate.

He used to dislike all candies, then got interested in dark chocolate because he heard that there were health benefits.  So now he sometimes eats dark chocolate...with nothing else.

captainbrass

The Chocolate Diet - you heard it here first. Forget all that Atkins Diet rubbish, just eat dark chocolate all day.

Joking aside, I think it is supposed to be good for your heart in some way (?)

Forzare

I don't activity dislike dark chocolate, but most of the time I prefer milk chocolate.