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In the Movie |
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Grendel slays the Danes in the night, while they are sleeping, so that none have a chance to challenge him. |
Grendel bursts into Heorot in the night, but the Danes are awake, and fully witness his killing. |
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Beowulf rips out Grendel's arm with his bare hands. |
Beowulf grapples Grendel, who has a chain wrapped around his arm, pulling it loose. As Grendel is trying to flee Heorot, Beowulf slams the door on his arm, severing it.
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After Grendel's death, his mother goes to Heorot to avenge him, but being weaker than her son, only makes off with a single thane, Æschere. |
Beowulf is asleep in Heorot after slaying Grendel when he has a nightmare about Grendel's mother, awaking from it to see that she has silently murdered many of the men in Heorot. |
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Immediately after Grendel's mother's attack, Beowulf and some men track her down to her lair. Before going in, Unferth bestows the sword Hrunting unto Beowulf. |
As no one witnessed Grendel's mother's slaughter, it is through Hrothgar that Beowulf learns of her identity. Unferth gives Hrunting to Beowulf before he and Wiglaf depart from Heorot.
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Wiglaf is a Scylfing prince, having become a vassal of Beowulf after abandoning the rule of Onela years after Beowulf's exploits in Denmark. |
Wiglaf is Beowulf's companion since before he sets off on his quest to slay Grendel. |
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The entrance to Grendel's mother's lair is guarded by a group of sea monsters. Beowulf slays one of them, while the rest are scared off by the playing of the thanes' trumpets. |
The entrance to the lair is deserted.
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Beowulf eventually becomes king of Geatland when the former king, Hygelac, dies in war, and his son Heardred is slain by the Scylfings. |
Hrothgar declares Beowulf his heir to become king of Denmark, then commits suicide. |
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Beowulf descends into the cave to slay Grendel's mother. He first tries to strike her with Hrunting, but the blade cannot hurt her. He then spots a gigantic sword among her hoarded treasure and uses it to cleave her throat, but her acidic blood melts all but the sword's hilt. |
Beowulf tries striking at Grendel's mother, but cannot land a hit. She entices him to stay with her, and uses her hands to melt Hrunting.
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After slaying Grendel's mother, Beowulf brings Hrunting, Grendel's head and the hilt from the giant's sword back to Heorot. |
Grendel's mother takes off her own son's head. It is the only token that Beowulf brings back from the encounter. |
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The identity of Grendel's father is unknown. The dragon that Beowulf and Wiglaf slay is said to have guarded its treasure hoard for 300 years before being disturbed. |
It is implied that Hrothgar was Grendel's father, while Beowulf becomes the dragon's father after his encounter with Grendel's mother.
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The dragon is angered when an unnamed thrall steals a flagon from its treasure hoard, for which it emerges from its barrow lair and burns down a Geatish village. |
The dragon attacks after Unferth's slave Cain finds Hrothgar's dragon cup near a moorland and brings it back to Heorot. |
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Beowulf brings eleven men with him to face the dragon. When the beast attacks, all but one, Wiglaf, flee into the forest. |
Beowulf and Wiglaf travel to Grendel's mother's cave, where Beowulf enters alone. As the dragon flies back to Heorot, it is met by a group of bowmen who attack it.
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Beowulf initially fails to slay the dragon, but is spurred on when Wiglaf stabs below the dragon's head, where Beowulf finds his dagger strong enough to harm the beast. |
Beowulf is aware of a weak spot on the dragon's neck from a story told to him years before by Hrothgar. He slays the dragon on his own. |
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The poem ends with Beowulf being burned at a pyre, with a barrow being built near his resting place as a monument. The dragon's treasure hoard, rusted and useless, is buried there as well, and the Geatish people fear attacks from the Scylfings and Frisians once the news of Beowulf's death spreads. |
Beowulf is placed on a boat with some treasure and burned at sea. In the last moments, it is revealed that Grendel's mother survived, and hinted that she may take after Wiglaf next.
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