There are many characteristics that a person needs in order to be a good hero; loyalty is one of those characteristics and it is probably one of the most important. Beowulf had many successful battles and through all of them he remained loyal to his thanes and his thanes remained loyal to him, until his final battle. As soon as they found out that Beowulf was going to fight the dragon, they ran and hid in the trees in fear. In the end, he did kill the dragon, but he suffered a bite to the throat that he knew he would not recover from. He used his final moments to say tell Wiglaf that he was going to be the king and that all the gold he retrieved after killing the dragon was to go to his people, even though they did not remain loyal to him,
