This article analyses the three divisionary novels by Rodrigo Royo, veteran of the Spanish Blue Division: ¡Guerra! Historia de la vida de Luis Pablos (1944); El sol y la nieve (1956); and El Sepulturero (1976). I investigate the shift from Falangist idealism to disillusion and its reflection in the novelization of the war experience in the Eastern Front. Specifically, I focus on the changes that the characterization of the figure of the hero suffers on these works: Luis Pablos, the archetypal Falangist hero of ¡Guerra! (1944), whose heroism is based on his warrior spirit, his idealism and the contempt for danger and death; José Luis, the protagonist of El sol y la nieve (1956), a hero which is still faithful to the dogmas of Falangism, but who is defined by his spiritual values ?solidarity, honour and moral rectitude?; and finally Julián Rovira, the tragic hero of El Sepulturero (1976), who change his vital, politic and historical defeat into the key of his moral victory.