Beowulf- Germanic HeroHero"Prince of the Geats"

The Young Hero Crosses the Sea

Beowulf, nephew of Hygelac, king of the Geats, hears of the monster Grendel terrorizing the Danish king Hrothgar's magnificent mead hall, Heorot. For twelve years, Grendel has attacked the hall by night, devouring Hrothgar's warriors while they sleep. No weapon can harm the creature, and the once-glorious hall stands empty after dark. Beowulf, already renowned for the grip of thirty men in his hands, gathers fourteen of his best warriors and sails across the sea to offer his aid.

Upon arrival, Beowulf is challenged by the Danish coast-guard and then by Unferth, a jealous courtier who mocks Beowulf's famous swimming contest with Breca. Hrothgar welcomes him warmly, remembering that Beowulf's father Ecgtheow once found refuge at his court when no other lord would harbor him. That night, Beowulf and his men take their places in Heorot, and the hero removes his armor and weapons, declaring he will fight Grendel bare-handed since the monster uses no weapons.

The Contest with Breca

As a youth, Beowulf and his companion Breca had challenged each other to a swimming contest across the open sea. For five days and five nights they swam side by side in freezing waters, until a storm separated them. In the darkness, sea-monsters attacked Beowulf, dragging him to the ocean floor. He fought them with his sword, killing nine of the beasts in the deep, and the current carried him at last to the coast of Finland.

Unferth tells this story as evidence of reckless folly, but Beowulf turns it around: he has been fighting monsters since his youth. He reminds Unferth that the Dane has never performed such a feat and, moreover, killed his own brothers.

The Battle with Grendel

When Grendel bursts through the iron-bound doors of Heorot, he immediately seizes and devours one of Beowulf's sleeping men, Hondscio. But when the monster reaches for Beowulf, the hero grips his arm with such force that Grendel knows he has never encountered such strength in any mortal. The two struggle throughout the hall, overturning mead-benches and threatening to bring down the building itself. Beowulf's men draw their swords but discover that Grendel has placed a spell on all weapons, making them useless against him. With his bare hands alone, Beowulf wrenches Grendel's arm from its socket. The mortally wounded monster flees howling into the night, trailing blood to his lair in the mere, where he dies. Beowulf hangs the arm, shoulder, and claw from the rafters of Heorot as a trophy.

The Vengeance of Grendel's Mother

The celebration is short-lived. Grendel's mother, a fearsome creature dwelling in an underwater lair beneath a haunted mere, comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son. She kills Æschere, Hrothgar's most beloved counselor, and takes back Grendel's arm before vanishing into the night. Beowulf must now pursue her to her lair beneath the cursed waters, whose surface boils with blood and where sea-serpents writhe.

Descending through monster-infested waters for what seems like hours, Beowulf finally reaches the underwater hall where Grendel's mother waits. The sword Hrunting, lent to him by Unferth, proves useless against her hide. The she-monster nearly kills Beowulf, dragging him across the floor and stabbing at him with a broad knife, but his corslet holds. He spots a giant's sword hanging on the wall, a weapon forged by ancient smiths that only he could lift. With this supernatural blade, he beheads Grendel's mother and then decapitates Grendel's corpse as well. The blade melts from the monsters' toxic blood, leaving only the golden hilt, which Beowulf brings to Hrothgar along with Grendel's severed head, carried by four men on a spear.

Fifty Winters as King

Beowulf returns to Geatland laden with treasures and praise. He presents every gift to Hygelac, keeping nothing for himself. When Hygelac dies in his ill-fated raid against the Frisians and his son Heardred is subsequently killed by the Swedes, Beowulf ascends to the throne. He rules the Geats for fifty winters.

But in Beowulf's old age, a fugitive slave stumbles upon a dragon's barrow and steals a golden cup from the hoard. The treasure had been buried centuries earlier by the last survivor of a forgotten people, who spoke an elegy over the gold before sealing it in the earth. The dragon who had come to guard the hoard for three hundred years now awakens in fury and begins burning Geatish settlements by night, including Beowulf's own hall. The aged king knows he must face this final enemy.

The Dragon and the Death of a King

Beowulf faces the fire-dragon with a company of warriors and a specially forged iron shield, but when the beast attacks with sheets of flame, all his companions but one flee into the woods in terror. Only Wiglaf, a young kinsman of the Waegmunding line, stands by his lord, reminding the cowards of the oaths they swore when they accepted rings and weapons from Beowulf's hand.

The dragon's flames burn Beowulf's shield to cinders, and the hero's ancient sword Naegling shatters against the creature's iron-hard scales. The poet notes that Beowulf's grip was so strong that he broke any sword he wielded. The dragon seizes Beowulf's neck in its fangs, and poisoned blood pours from the wound. Wiglaf stabs the dragon in its softer belly, weakening the beast enough for the dying Beowulf to cut it apart with his knife. But the wound is mortal. As Beowulf dies, he asks Wiglaf to bring treasures from the dragon's hoard so he can see what he won for his people. He bequeaths his golden collar and armor to Wiglaf, his only faithful retainer, and speaks his last words having given his life protecting his people from the wyrm.

The Barrow

A messenger brings word of Beowulf's death to those who waited behind, and his speech becomes a prophecy of doom: now that the great protector has fallen, the Swedes will remember old feuds and the Frisians will seek revenge for Hygelac's raid. The Geats face destruction without the king who held their enemies at bay. The treasure is buried with Beowulf in a barrow on the headland, visible to sailors at sea.