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Grendel is a monster in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, feared by all save Beowulf himself.
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.
Later, Grendel's mother, who is more powerful than Grendel, attempts to take revenge for the death of her son, but is killed by Beowulf.
The same story appears in Hrólf Kraki's saga. Beowulf's cognate Bödvar Bjarki leaves Geatland and arrives at the Danish court. There he kills a beast that has been terrorizing the Danes for two years.
Related Works
- Kennings for Grendel in the poem include "powerful monster", "herdsman of evil" "moor stepper," "demon corpse," and "guardian of crime".
- John C. Gardner's Grendel is the 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.
- Matt Wagner's Grendel is a comic series focussing upon the force of aggression.
- Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead (filmed as The 13th Warrior) is a retelling of the Beowulf story though the eyes of a 10th century Muslim, Ibn Fadlan. In Crichton's version, "Grendel" is a tribe of cannibalistic Neanderthals.
- In the strange sci-fi update movie of 1999 starring Christophe Lambert, Grendel is played by Vincent Hammond as a bizarre blue blur.
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