The story of King Horn, as immortalized in this poem, is a classic chivalric romance. The hero has to go through a number of trials, growing through them, to finally reach his final goal, namely to be eternally happy with his love. The story has a very classic story arc, from the onset in disaster, through the journey with friends, the loyalty and the betrayal, the subterfuge and finally the eternal love.
The poem utilizes a classic scheme. The main character, Horn, is propelled on his journey by quite static personalities who are placed as plot devices. Each side character in the story can be identified to have a specific role in the development of Horn into King Horn. The death of his father is the initial reason for Horn to start his journey. His two companions, the most important side characters, are archetypes for loyalty and betrayal. This is given away quite early in the poem, before the plot really starts. This primes the audience to expect a certain behavior out of these. The different kings are there to give Horn either a challenge or a refuge to grow and prove his valor. His main love interest, Rymenhild, is the grand price. Her importance and desirability is shown in the fact that she is not married of once but three times throughout the whole story. The other women, Reynhild, is a test of Horn's loyalty to Rymenhild and to his friends. She is also used as a reward for the loyalty of Athulf.
It is very characteristic of these sort of stories to introduce a version of most of these characters, as they allow the hero to shine and prove his chivalry over and over again. In this sense, it can be said that Horn is the ideal knight. Even more so, as this poem is the oldest remnant version of chivalric romance known to modern literature. Horn, in a way, is the archetype for all romance novels, plays and stories that came later. The basic concept always stays the same, the characters are just replaced.
