Hrothgar built Heorot as the grandest mead hall of the Danes, a seat of royal power and fellowship where he dispensed rings and ruled his people, until Grendel's nightly raids turned it into a hall of dread.
Beowulf defended Heorot from Grendel by fighting the monster bare-handed in the great mead hall, tearing off its arm. The hall that had stood empty for twelve years was restored to its purpose as a place of fellowship and feasting.
For twelve winters Grendel haunted Heorot, drawn from the darkness by the sound of the scop's harp and the laughter of Hrothgar's warriors, turning the great mead hall into a charnel house that no Dane dared enter after nightfall.
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