List of artistic depictions of Grendel

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This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness.

Revisions and sourced additions are welcome.

This list of artistic depictions of Grendel refers to the figure of Grendel. He is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel's mother and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. 700-1000 AD).

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

[edit] Cinema

[edit] 1999 Baker adaptation

Grendel, as portrayed by Vincent Hammond in Beowulf

Vincent Hammond portrayed Grendel in Graham Baker's film Beowulf. Among the artistic liberties taken in this version set in a post apocalyptic future, Grendel is stated to be the son of Hrothgar and he is shown to be capable of rendering himself partially invisible in a Predator-like manner. His manner of death also differs from the original source. As with the poem, Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm during their first battle, though Grendel survives the wound in the film. Beowulf kills Grendel later on by stabbing his stump.

A short scene of Grendel having sexual intercourse with a character played by Rhona Mitra in her room was shot but left out as it proved unnecessary for the purposes of the story.^[1]

[edit] 2007 Zemeckis adaptation

Crispin Glover portrayed Grendel in the Robert Zemeckis film, Beowulf. This version changes elements of the poem by introducing a relationship between Grendel's mother and Hrothgar which results in the birth of Grendel,^[2][3] much like Graham Baker's adaptation eight years prior.

Grendel, as portrayed by Crispin Glover in Beowulf

In the film, Grendel is portrayed as a diseased and deformed creature. "The embodiment of pain". He was born with a large external eardrum which causes him pain whenever the singing in Heorot echoes in his lair. This weakness, an attempt to explain Grendel's ability to hear the singing in the original poem despite his cave being many miles from the hall, is exploited by Beowulf in his battle with the monster. When frightened or weakened, Grendel is shown to shrink in size. When not attacking the Danes, he is shown to be a timid, child-like creature who speaks in Old English in the presence of his mother.

Philosophy professor Stephen T. Asma argued in the December 7 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education that, "Zemeckis's more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil. The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. The only real monsters, in this tradition, are pride and prejudice. In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the newer adaptation of Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters." ^[4]

[edit] Other adaptations

Grendel, as shown in Grendel Grendel Grendel

• 2008: Christian Boeving will portray Grendel in Beowulf: Prince of the Geats ^[5]
• 2007: Grendel - a made-for television movie on the Sci Fi Channel (United States).
• 2005: Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson and Hringur Ingvarsson portrayed Grendel in Beowulf & Grendel.
• 1999: The Wendol are members of a fictional enemy race in the film The 13th Warrior.
• 1981: Grendel Grendel Grendel is an animated film based on the John Champlin Gardner, Jr. novel, Grendel. It stars Peter Ustinov as Grendel, and is told from the monster's point of view.

[edit] Computers

• Mozilla Grendel, a Java-based e-mail and Usenet client

[edit] Literature

Grendel has appeared in a few works of contemporary literature. Perhaps the most well known appearance is in the 1971 John Gardner novel, Grendel. In the Gardner novel, Grendel is portrayed as an intelligent, articulate yet malicious creature, striving to find meaning in his life.

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. ^{[6] [7]} 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.

Other notable appearances include Grendel (Niven), the 1968 short story by Larry Niven, The Legacy of Heorot, which includes alien predators called "grendels" and the Wendol, members of a fictional enemy race in the Michael Crichton novel Eaters of the Dead. There is also a brief mention of "sea grendels" in The Gripping Hand by Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

[edit] Popular culture

[edit] Comics and graphic novels

• Matt Wagner's Grendel is a comic series created in 1982.
• 1987: Anand, Astrid and Bill Carroll. Beowulf.^[8]
• 1975-1976: Beowulf:Dragon Slayer. Issue 2, July 1995. (DC Comics). ^[9]

[edit] Computer Games

• Grendel's Cave: a MUD role playing fantasy game based on the original story.
• Skies of Arcadia features a monster named Grendel.
• Grendels are one of the breeds featured in "Creatures (artificial life program)".

[edit] Music

• Grendel: a song on the Diary album by Sunny Day Real Estate
• Grendel (radio personality), a former radio DJ on KSCU 103.3 FM who won Best DJ in Metro Silicon Valley's 2001 Best of Silicon Valley and Best Celebrity in Metro Silicon Valley's Best of Silicon Valley 2002
• Grendel (band), a Netherlands-based dark electro/hard EBM band
• Grendel: an opera composed by Elliot Goldenthal and directed by Julie Taymor. ^[10]
• Grendel: by Marillion B side to their first single, "Market Square Heroes" (1982). The recorded version of the song is 17:40 long, while the live versions regularly ran to over 20 minutes. ^[11]

[edit] Television

• Xena: Warrior Princess: Grendel appears in several episodes of Xena as Grindl. ^[12]
• 1995: Star Trek Voyager: In the episode Heroes and Demons, Ensign Harry Kim runs a holographic version of the Beowulf poem and Grendel is referenced. ^[13]

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• List of artistic depictions of Grendel's mother

[edit] External links

• Grendel at the Internet Movie Database