dominates the romance and distinguishes it from others, but chivalric adventures involving the testing and use of prowess are common in romance. The seeming prevalence of combat may be attributed to the perceived lack of development of romantic relationships, causing an imbalance compared to other romances, and to the number of opponents faced by the hero, which is perhaps notable because they are individualized. Based on generic expectations, critics and readers familiar with romance may observe an underdevelopment of love in Sir Tryamour. However, the Tryamour-poet presents a range of love relationships, selfish and selfless, such as marital devotion, parental and familial love, lustful desire, and (especially) love between animal and master. The absence of romantic love between Helen and Tryamour could be attributed to the poet's concentration on combat at the expense of romantic love, but this is difficult to support considering the attention paid to Ardus and Margaret's relationship. There is another possible interpretation: that the relationship between Helen and Tryamour is defined not by romance but by pragmatism that fulfills their respective needs and goals. In the predecessors of Middle English romances, the twelfth-century courtly narratives such as Breton lais by Marie de France, love often examines "the individual's recognition of a need for self-fulfillment and his or her struggle for the freedom to satisfy that need." Hanning and Ferrante note that the "portrayal of love as a means for exploring the interaction of self and society, appearance and reality" passes continuously from the twelfth-century courtly narrative to the twentieth-century novel. In fourteenth-century romances, which participate in that flow, characters define themselves by fulfilling societal expectations. Hanning and Ferrante use the romances of Chrétien de Troyes to suggest that while the protagonists experience "gradual discovery of real values through love," the courtly romances also "amused their audience and challenged it to discover deeper meanings through characters and behaviour and the representation of attitudes." In both the Old French and Middle English romances, that discovery may be initiated by a love relationship, but it is usually achieved through chivalric adventure. Like love, combat is a means for self-discovery and improvement through the internalization of values needed for personal and social integrity. As noted by Hudson, Sir Tryamour differs from the pattern in the characters' lack of spiritual growth through adventure, but it conforms by offering the audience the opportunity for edification. Sir Tryamour features didactic themes of moral