List of artistic depictions of Grendel's mother

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This list of artistic depictions of Grendel's mother (Old English: Grendles modor) refers to the figure of Grendel's mother. She is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. 700-1000 AD); she is never given a name in the text.

Grendel's mother has been adapted in a number of different mediums including film, literature, and graphic/illustrated novels or comic books.

[edit] Cinema

Grendel's mother, as portrayed by Layla Roberts in Beowulf

Layla Roberts portrayed Grendel's mother in Beowulf (1999), a fantasy/science fiction retelling directed by Graham Baker. While some of the film remains true to the original poem, other plot elements deviate from the original poem. She is depicted as shapeshifting "seductress" who seduces Hrothgar (making him the father of Grendel).

An uncredited Kristen Cloke portrayed the "mother of the Wendol" in The 13th Warrior (1999) directed by John McTiernan. The film is adapted from Eaters of the Dead, a 1976 novel by Michael Crichton. The novel and film are both reworkings of Beowulf which turn Grendel into cannibalistic hominids called "Wendol" (implied though not said definitively to be Neanderthals in the novel but homo sapiens for the film). Here Grendel's mother is the "mother" of the community, and they make effigies of her which are similar to the Venus of Willendorf. In keeping with the novel an old woman, Susan Willis, was originally cast but her scenes were re-shot with the younger Cloke. Willis remains in the credits.^[1]

Elva Ósk Ólafsdóttir portrayed Grendel's mother (referred to and billed as the "Sea Hag") in Beowulf & Grendel (2005), directed by Sturla Gunnarsson. While some of the film remains true to the original poem, other plot elements deviate from it. For example, three new characters are introduced - Grendel's father, the witch Selma, and Grendel's son - supplementing the action ascribed to Grendel's mother in the poem.

Angelina Jolie portrayed Grendel's mother in Beowulf (2007), directed by Robert Zemeckis . Some teachers and scholars have stated that her portrayal in this cinematic adaptation deviates from the original poem. As with Layla Robert's portrayal eight years prior, Jolie's character is a shapeshifting "seductress" whose first known child, Fafnir, was killed by Hrothgar (whom she seduced to give birth to Grendel). Her true form, which resembles a golden scaled amphibean-like creature, is never seen directly in the film. Unlike the poem, she also seduces Beowulf after he kills Grendel, making him the father of the dragon that would attack his kingdom years later. This version also eliminates the battle sequence between Grendel's mother and Beowulf which (in the poem) ends with her death. ^[2][3][4] According to a Southern Methodist University press release, SMU's Director of Medieval Studies Bonnie Wheeler is, "convinced that the new Robert Zemeckis movie treatment sacrifices the power of the original for a plot line that propels Beowulf into seduction by Angelina Jolie -- the mother of the monster he has just slain.' What man doesn’t get involved with Angelina Jolie?' Wheeler asks. 'It’s a great cop-out on a great poem.' [...] 'For me, the sad thing is the movie returns to…a view of the horror of woman, the monstrous female who will kill off the male,' Wheeler says. 'It seems to me you could do so much better now. And the story of Beowulf is so much more powerful.'"^[5]

Some critics^[6] have compared the Alien Queen in James Cameron's Aliens to Grendel's mother.^[7]

[edit] Literature

Grendel's mother has appeared in a few works of contemporary literature. Perhaps the most well known appearance is in the 1971 John Gardner novel, Grendel. In this retelling of the Beowulf from Grendel's point of view, Grendel describes his mother as "my pale, slightly glowing, fat mother [...] life-bloated, baffled, long-suffering hag. Guilty, she imagines, of some unremembered, perhaps ancestral crime."^[8] He further states later in the text, "she gets up on all fours, brushing dry bits of bone from her path, and with a look of terror, rising as if by unnatural power, she hurls herself across the void and buries me in her bristly fur [...] she smells of wild pig and fish." ^[9]

Grendel's mother appears in Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton, as the "mother of the Wendol", hominids attacking and eating Hrothgar's people.

Both Grendel and his mother appear in Neil Gaiman's novella The Monarch of the Glen.

Grendel and "Grendel's ma" or "Grendel's mum" are also characters in Suniti Namjoshi's 1993 postmodern collection of feminist fairytales, St Suniti and the Dragon. ^{[10] [11]} Consisting of non-sequential poetry and prose, St Suniti and the Dragon focuses on the adventures of St. Suniti, a female saint-in-training. During these adventures, St. Suniti has a number of encounters with Grendel and Grendel's ma.

Caitlin R. Kiernan's novelization of the 2007 Robert Zemeckis film Beowulf develops the background of this version of Grendel's mother. ^[12] In Kiernan's version, Grendel's mother is the Germanic fertility goddess Nerthus: "Long before the coming of the Danes, there were men in this land who named her Hertha and Nerthus [...] they worshiped her in sacred groves" (156). She is also a dökkálfar: "You listen to me Unferth, Ecglaf's son, and heed my words. I cannot say for certain what that thing is, for there is glamour upon it. The most powerful glamour I have ever glimpsed. There is dökkálfar magic at work here, I believe. I have seen their handiwork before" (254).

[edit] Popular culture and illustrated editions

Beowulf and Grendel's mother, by Rockwell Kent in his illustrated 1932 edition of Beowulf

[edit] Comics and graphic novels

• 1975-1976: Beowulf:Dragon Slayer. Issue 2, July 1995. (DC Comics). ^[13]
• 1984: Bingham, Jerry. Beowulf. ^[14]
• 1987: Anand, Astrid and Bill Carroll. Beowulf.^[15]

[edit] Illustrated editions

• 1932: Beowulf illustrated by Rockwell Kent contained the illustration, Beowulf and Grendel's Mother. ^[16], ^[17]

[edit] Music

• "Grendel's Mother" is the title of a song on the first LP by the The Mountain Goats, Zopilote Machine. ^[18]

[edit] Television

• Xena: Warrior Princess: Grendel's mother appears in several episodes of Xena as Grinhilda. ^[19]

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• List of artistic depictions of Grendel

[edit] External links

• Grendel's mother at the Internet Movie Database