The Three Villains In Beowulf

In the medieval fantasy novel Beowulf, three main antagonists are introduced throughout the story. As the story unfolds these three monsters and demons arise to challenge the warrior Beowulf in devious ways, and attempt to thwart his plans and kill him. Each of these villains have reasons for their plight and attacks, even if some of them are obviously more reasonable than the other. However, as these monsters appear in the the story, Beowulf manages to challenge them all to battle and come out to a thrilling conclusion to each battle.
The story of the first antagonist, the demon Grendel, begins in the mead hall owned by the great king Hrothgar, known as heorot. Heorot is a joyful place enjoyed by all of the warriors in the Danish kingdom and Hrothgar rules this mead hall with great pride. It is seen as a welcoming place, with mead abound and drinks all around and everyone enjoying themselves in general. Nearby, however, is the demon Grendel who lives in a nearby cave secluded from all of the noise and …show more content…
She comes to Heorot and attacks one of Hrothgar’s men, which Beowulf then chases her out of towards her cave. Once there, Beowulf notices that he is in a place he is unfamiliar of and Grendel’s mother, who has protected her land for over one hundred years, proceeds to fight him. She leaps into the water of the cave and Beowulf follows, and once in the water Grendel’s mother drags him and flings him around in the water until they are on dry land. Beowulf, despite taking quite a bit of damage from her assault, attempts a counter-attack with his sword Hrunting, with no noticeable effect. After Beowulf begins to search for another method of attack, he finds a magical sword inside her cave and slays Grendel’s mother with it. The sword melts to its hilt after Beowulf decapitates her, and he brings back her head bloody head back as a trophy and proof of his