Beowulf, Siegfried, and Wolf Dietrich: Three medieval heroes who transitioned from the older, orally shaped Germanic heroic poetry into the world of written literature. They all embody extraordinary traits, animalistic, heroic, and pagan values, which encountered a courtly-clerical and Christian culture during this process. It is clear that the texts presented here should be understood as independent concepts of their time, yet they inevitably raise the question of how the figure of the hero integrates the two very different worlds of life. Through three ambivalent levels, the author illustrates the existing potential for conflict and how these were navigated, processed, and resolved. With the help of additional texts and myths, the inquiry is pursued from an interdisciplinary perspective on how this dynamic envelops the hero and transforms him into an oscillating character.