Grendel is one of the main antagonists of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf. He is a bloodthirsty monster who lives in a subterranean cave with his mother, rampaging through the kingdom of King Hrothgar.
Grendel has been portrayed by a multitude of actors over the years, and has appeared in a great many adaptations of the Beowulf poem. He is voiced by the late Peter Ustinov in the 1981 film Grendel, Grendel, Grendel, and will be voiced by Jeff Bridges in the upcoming Grendel film by the Jim Henson Company.
Biography[]
Beowulf (poem)[]
Grendel's original appearance is in the poem Beowulf, preserved in the Nowell Codex. Being cursed as the descendant of the Biblical Cain, Grendel is "harrowed" by the sounds of singing that come every night from the mead hall of Heorot built by King Hrothgar. Unable to bear it any more, Grendel attacks Heorot and continues to attack the hall every night for twelve years, killing its inhabitants and making the mead hall unusable. The poet also details how Grendel consumes the men he kills, "now that he could hope to eat his fill."
Beowulf hears of these attacks and leaves his native land of the Geats to destroy Grendel. He is warmly welcomed by King Hrothgar, who gives a banquet in celebration. Afterwards, Beowulf and his warriors bed down in the mead hall to await the inevitable attack. Grendel stalks outside the building for a time, spying on the warriors inside. He then makes a sudden attack, bursting through the door with his fists. The first warrior Grendel finds is still asleep, so he seizes the man and devours him. Grendel grabs a second warrior, but is shocked when the warrior grabs back with fearsome strength. As Grendel attempts to disengage, the reader discovers that Beowulf is that second warrior.
Beowulf uses neither weapon nor armor in this fight, and places no reliance on his companions and has no need of them. He trusts that God has given him strength to defeat Grendel, whom he believes is God's adversary. Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm, mortally wounding the creature. Grendel flees but dies in his marsh den. There, Beowulf later engages in a fierce battle with Grendel's mother in a mere, over whom he triumphs with a sword found there. Following her death, Beowulf finds Grendel's corpse and removes his head, which he keeps as a trophy. Beowulf then returns to the surface and to his men at the "ninth hour". He returns to Heorot, where a grateful Hrothgar showers him with gifts.
Notable Depictions[]
Grendel (1971 novel)[]
Grendel is the protagonist of John Gardner's eponymous novel Grendel, published in 1971, which retells part of the Beowulf poem from Grendel's point of view -- starting with his twelve-year war against Hrothgar and ending with his death at the hands of Beowulf. In the novel, Grendel is portrayed as an antihero, and lives in an underwater cave in isolation and loneliness with his mute mother, who in her old age is unable to provide any real companionship to him.
Grendel, Grendel, Grendel (1981)[]
Grendel as he is portrayed in Grendel Grendel Grendel.
Grendel is the protagonist of the Australian animated film Grendel, Grendel, Grendel, which is based on John Gardner's novel. He is voiced by the late Peter Ustinov.
In the film, Grendel is portrayed as a reclusive outsider. He is a highly-intelligent being, possibly smarter than the humans living in his time period. He questioned the purpose of his existence, and was very philosophical. He often reflected on the humans and hated them, but secretly wished he was one of them.
The film shows how the events of the poem weren't actually Grendel's fault, and were mostly to attributed to the greed and aggression of the humans. Grendel resolves to kill Hrothgar and bring Wealhtheow back to his cave, not knowing that Beowulf has arrived at the mead hall and is planning to kill him.
Beowulf (1999 film)[]
Grendel's first appearance in cinema was in the 1999 film Beowulf, directed by Graham Baker. He is portrayed by Vincent Drummond.
Among the artistic liberties taken in the film, which is set in a post-apocalyptic future, Grendel is depicted as an armored creature with jagged fangs and clawed hands and feet, and is capable of turnign himself partially invisible a la the Predator. He is stated to be the son of Hrothgar. His manner of death also differs from the original source. As with the poem, Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm during their first battle, though Grendel survives the wound in the film and Beowulf kills Grendel later on by stabbing his stump.
Beowulf and Grendel (2005)[]
The film Beowulf and Grendel purports to be a more realistic depiction of the legend. Grendel, played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, is portrayed as a large, Neanderthal-looking primitive man, whom King Hrothgar and his men believe to be a "troll". His mother, referred in the credits as a "sea hag", is portrayed as more inhuman-looking.
Beowulf (2007 film)[]
| “ | Zemeckis' more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil. The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. The only real monsters, in this tradition, are pride and prejudice. In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the newer adaptation of Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters. | „ |
| ~ Stephen T. Asma in the Chronicle of Higher Education. |
Grendel in the 2007 film Beowulf.
His most famous media portrayal was in the rendered 3D motion-capture film directed by Robert Zemeckis. He was portrayed by Crispin Glover, who also portrayed Thin Man in the Charlie's Angels film series, Stan Bittleman in Like Mike, Willy Wonka in Epic Movie, Fifi in Open Season, and the Knave of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.
In the film, Grendel is portrayed as King Hrothgar's illegitimate son after an affair with his mother. Essentially in this version, he is a very thoughtful and sympathetic villain because he is an outcast. When not attacking the Danes, he is shown as a timid and quiet creature that speaks in Old English around his mother. The reasons for his attacks are due to having hyper-sensitive hearing from an exposed eardrum, and the racket from the meadhall was causing him physical pain. Despite being more sympathetic, his fate is still the same as in the poem. Beowulf slams the door into his arm with enough force to take it off and hangs it over the meadhall door.
Grendel (Jim Henson film)[]
Grendel is the anti-hero of the upcoming adaptation of John Gardner's Grendel novel. He will be voiced by Jeff Bridges.
Other Depictions[]
For the full list of depictions of Grendel in media, see here.
Video games[]
- The Wolf Among Us: In The Wolf Among Us, Grendel is a fable that lives in Fabletown, New York City, and serves as the antagonist of the first episode. He is very ill-tempered, argumentative, impatient, and tired of being treated like a second rate citizen. He sees the establishment of Fabletown as corrupt and only interested in the rich, and he aims these frustrations mostly at the sheriff of Fabletown, Bigby Wolf, otherwise known as the Big Bad Wolf.
Description[]
Grendel's personality varies in each interpretation. In the original poem, he was the descendant of the biblical Cain and found Hrothgar's Christian celebrations personally offensive. An obvious sociopath, he murdered the party-goers and brought them back to his lair to share their corpses with his even more dangerous mother. Little is known about what exactly he is, but is described as vaguely man-shaped, warped, unnatural, and coated In both scales and barbs. He also has thick claws made of an almost indestructible material. Many of the depictions of Grendel in popular culture follow this original poem's version of him, but there are some that provide notably-different characterizations.
Novel[]
In the novel, Grendel is portrayed as a pensive, solitary creature who fears life has no objective meaning. As the only being of his kind, Grendel has no one to relate to and feels the need to be understood or form some kind of a connection. He is described as trying to befriend men who were banished from Hrothgar's kingdom for murdering someone in a drunken rage, but these friendships never lasted and he ended up having to eat them.
Grendel has a complex relationship with the humans who hate and fear him. He feels that he is somehow related to humanity and despite his desire to eat them, he can be moved by them and their works. His long life grants him the ability to act as a witness to how their lives transpire and their behavior and logic bewilders him. He is cursed to a life of solitude, also being portrayed as having eternal life, which furthers his plight and loneliness as he can only fall in battle and he is immune to all human weapons. He is only freed from his tormented life through his encounter with Beowulf.
Beowulf (2007 film)[]
In the 2007 film, he appeared as an enormous troll-like being with a very lean, lanky, almost emaciated appearance and to top it off, appeared to suffer numerous physical deformities. His skeletal structure made him appear to suffer from neurofibromatosis (the same condition that afflicted Joseph Merrick, also known as The Elephant Man), and horribly tight-fitting skin that appeared to be ripped and have massive patches missing from it. Understandably, this incarnation was as pitiable as horrific, and he would often scream during his rampages and appeared to have a chest infection and suffer labored breathing. He had golden scales, but had shed most of them either due to disease or stress from his torment. He also had in place of his left ear an enormous eardrum which meant loud noises caused him agony, which is also filled with a mix of blood and yellowish pus. His face also resembles the famously inbred King Charles the II of Spain, with an enormous forehead, long nose, and underbite, and his appearance is mostly based on it's voice actor, Crispin Glover. But his most horrifying trait is his monstrously disfigured left hand, which has both index and middle fingers conjoined together, a non-existent ring finger and a small pinky finger.
In the film, Grendel was a timid recluse who attacked as revenge for the pain the warriors inadvertently inflicted on him and despite his torment, he genuinely enjoyed maiming, devouring, and even drinking the blood of his victims. Despite this, he is also a coward and tries to shrink in size and flee if attacked by a more powerful foe. His powers are stealth which helps him travel silently to his victims due to his hypersensitive hearing, teleportation via a blue flame, and agility, as he can leap incredibly high and run relatively fast. Despite his strength being sufficient to rip people apart, it has limits. He struggled slightly to rip an armored soldier in half, and sprained his wrist when he smashed the mead hall doors down.
Gallery[]
External links[]
Trivia[]
- In the 2007 film, as Grendel's mother is soothing him to sleep, he whispers "mōdor", the Old English word for "mother".
- In the film How to Train Your Dragon (2010), The Red Death is called "the bride of Grendel" by Tuffnut, one of the teen Vikings.
