Grendel

Grendel is a monster in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, feared by all save Beowulf himself. The setting of the epic in Denmark and Sweden suggests that Grendel was a troll.

Grendel is a descendant of the biblical Cain, the first murderer. In Beowulf, Grendel haunts Heorot, the mead-hall of the Danes, and eats men too drunk to defend themselves. Beowulf leaves Geatland to defeat the monster bare-handed.

The same story appears in Rolf Krake's saga. Beowulf's cognate Bodvar Bjarke leaves Geatland and arrives at the Danish court. There he kills a beast that has been terrorizing the Danes for two years. In this Scandinavian version, however, the beast was a bear.

Related Works

• Kennings for Grendel in the poem include "powerful monster", "herdsman of evil" and "guardian of crime".
• In the strange sci-fi update movie of 1999 starring Christopher Lambert, Grendel is played by Vincent Hammond as a bizarre blue blur.
• John C. Gardner's Grendel is Beowulf story from Grendel's point of view.
• Marillion have an early epic song named Grendel, which, according to then-singer Fish, was influenced by Gardner's book.
• Larry Niven and Steven Barnes' novel The Legacy of Heorot is, to an extent, a retelling of the poem, on an extraterrestrial world.