The same three themes we considered in Erec (love, marriage, knighthood) also recur in the Tristan story, but under very different auspices. Love and marriage are present here, too, but divided between three people, not incorporated in one couple. Here the narrative is concerned with the position of Isolde between lover and husband and also, after the lovers' separation, with Tristan's position between lover and wife. As regards love and knighthood, Schausten rightly objects to judging Eilhart by reference to the later author, Gottfried, and to emphasising his depiction of Tristrant more as a warrior than as a lover by contrast with Gottfried's priorities. Eilhart's original audience, however, would have judged his work by reference to those of heroic tradition known to them, summed up programmatically in the prologues to the Annolied and later to the Nibelungenlied as essentially warlike. Seen in this light, Eilhart presents something new, a work treating not simply heroic exploits, but also love (52: ‘von manheit und von minnen’). His novelty in literary history lies in treating the subject of love (and, with it, marriage) in a combination of themes. With Gottfried the theme of knighthood is still present, if reduced in scope and less central (mainly in the narrative before the potion scene and after the lovers' separation). With him, although all three themes are treated, the focus is more on love and marriage. In both these earliest German versions of the Tristan story ample scope is found for the important role of women.