It seems quite improbable for anything remotely similar to have occurred in true gothic ages, having such a number of chivalric characteristics in one remarkably ordinary and eventually ineffective character is not a realistic interpretation. Theodore is a second very prominently chivalrous character in the novel, he is revealed at the end of the novel to be the true heir, though a reader should have noticed previously that he was given a rather exceptional character for a peasant boy. Upon first meeting him it is apparent that his temperament is quite different from the false ruler, Manfred. Theodore reacts as follows to being accosted by Manfred:

In the character of Theodore we see that the traits of the chivalric knight are not something that has been, or apparently needs to be, taught. Theodore has never been educated about formal chivalry, instead it is an intrinsic part of him, something ingrained in his character—supposedly due to his birthright. This interesting twist is reminiscent of Walpole's state of mind at the time he wrote The Castle of Otranto, his belief that the innate chivalry in individuals had through one or more of the many "progressive" mechanisms, been removed. By including a character that shows these traits without being taught, he wishes to bring back this element, in order to prevent the future from being as bleak as he (at the time) thought it could be.
	The concept of the present being morally lacking, and the past being the idyllic paradise of good-will and morality continues on in the present and is one of the many aspects of Gothic that allowed it to remain current and become, at the same time, partially unreachable by the present audience. The contradictions do not end at the conflict between "old" and "new" however. A new layer of convolution is added when one considers the work that utilizes these chivalric concepts, a Gothic novel—the supposed first Gothic novel—a genre that is famous for demonic imagery, perversions, supernatural horrors and dark, gloomy settings, is using the image of the proverbial 'knight in shinning armor.'  The apparent disconnect, a symbol for goodness in a supposedly morally corrupt or indecent genre gives the ultimate futility of that symbol both in reality—there are no more traditional knights—and in the fiction, through the failure of any of the knight-like characters to do more than make it out alive and sane. The presence of a prominent foil for the knight figures, in Manfred himself, is also paradoxical; the book contradicts itself by having the central character be the near antithesis to one of the only positive or hopeful aspects of the novel. Manfred engages in inexplicable behaviors and has near to none of the characteristics of the classic, chivalrous, knight. He is not the rightful heir to the "castle and lordship" of Otranto, Theodore, in fact, is revealed to be the true heir (17). 