Seems some of you got confused about the desertion thing well let me tell you this (I am from France): when someone back in the day become king by conquering a country, how do you think he rewarded his generals? Well, by giving them lands. Yes, nobles weren't all leeches at the beginning and as long as the king didn't decided to banish or kill them, the house of the noble will stay and rule the land (if they don't bankrupt but they won't since it's easier to raise taxes)
So basically, the duke deserted his land, he was the ruler of these people but preferred to flee and let people die.
As a prince, the hero can't strip the duke from his title and turn him into a beggar. So he had the make bigger threat because only the king has that power to turn a noble into a beggar.
But in the end, the hero was right and that's part of the reason why you hear sometimes "Noblesse oblige" in some stories.
Nobles are expected to rule fairly their land that have been gifted to them by the king, thus by doing so will help the kingdom prosper.
But a kingdom is big and there were not many administrations like we have now and information could take days or weeks to reach the capital.
Of course the nobility system can differ from a country to another but that's it was explained to us at school.
So basically, the duke deserted his land, he was the ruler of these people but preferred to flee and let people die.
As a prince, the hero can't strip the duke from his title and turn him into a beggar. So he had the make bigger threat because only the king has that power to turn a noble into a beggar.
But in the end, the hero was right and that's part of the reason why you hear sometimes "Noblesse oblige" in some stories.
Nobles are expected to rule fairly their land that have been gifted to them by the king, thus by doing so will help the kingdom prosper.
But a kingdom is big and there were not many administrations like we have now and information could take days or weeks to reach the capital.
Of course the nobility system can differ from a country to another but that's it was explained to us at school.
