Summary
The epic Beowulf tells of a humble hero that requests no pay for his actions to help out his fellow man. The story begins with Grendel being banned to an eternal h*ll, basically he considered demon spawn by God and hated by all. One day his rage finally reaches a breaking point where he releases his rage on the Danes. With no defense against this new threat King Hrothgar's people, the Danes, he can either stand and fight or run but either way he still loses. For 12 winters King Hrothgar makes no serious attempts to kill Grendel, but a hero from the Geats has assembled a force of 14 elite fighters. Their leader Beowulf receives a cold welcome from the Danish at first, but when he tells them of his intentions he welcomed at as sign of hope. Beowulf starts by tracking down the infamous Grendel, his time comes when Grendel attacks the Danish capitol. In a epic fight that rocks the very foundation of the building they are fighting Beowulf eventually gains the upper hand, and Beowulf uses opportunity to literally rip Grendel's arm off. Retreating the capitol with defeat and one less arm he dies a slow death of blood loss. When Grendel's Mother learns of this she goes insane, seeing that this is a problem Beowulf once again goes after another foe. In a swamp where nothing grows or lives, Beowulf plunges into the deeps of a lake where "Mom" is believed to living at. With the advantage of fighting in her own turf she goes full force on Beowulf where she claws and rips at his armor a shield, When Beowulf lunges in for a attack he soon learns that his weapons are ineffective. With the odds now on her side most onlookers believe all hope is lost, but Beowulf spots a magical weapon on the wall. The weapon was special sword, forged and blessed with the giants magic, when Beowulf picks up such a weapon he can unleash his furry on his opponent. With a few well placed stabs and slashes with is sword the beast is done for and the threat eliminated, the Danish people thank him for his effort and back at his home he is made king. He rules the Geats for some 50 years until a dragon threatens his kingdom. He feels the need to eliminate the threat with him and a few other men, but like other that came before him the inflicted casualties will be heavy. When he approaches the dragons lair it is still a bit hot from a previous battle, the dragon makes no effort to wait so he engulfed in flames but his shield saves his life. But a dragons breath is hot and within a matter of moments his shield becomes red hot and the iron it is made of begins to melt, but he makes a few swift blows to the dragon that do little to harm it. The battle rages on for some time but most of Beowulf's followers that came with him are either dead or they fled, but one warrior stays true to the cause and fights with Beowulf until the bloody end this man was Wiglaf. The dragon is eventually defeated with all odds against them, but Beowulf pays with his life. With the dieing words of Beowulf, Wiglaf is made the new king of the Geats and is asked to live up to his reputation and distribute the treasure the dragon was protecting.