In Castle Dangerous, Walter Scott retells a story found in Barbour's Brus. Set in the early fourteenth century during the Scottish Wars of Independence, an English knight defends Douglas Castle against Scottish attempts to retake it. The ballad-like story touches on national rivalry and the idealization of love. The Douglas area, seen as an almost surrealist, gloomy landscape of ravines, trenches, and tombs, perfectly reflect Scott's bleak narrative.