"Grendel strove
long with Hrothgar, bore his hatred,
sins and feuds, for many seasons,
perpetual conflict; he wanted no peace
with any man of the Danish army,
not ceased his deadly hatred, nor settled with money,
nor did any of the counselors need to expect
bright compensation from the killer's hands,
for the great ravager relentlessly stalked,
a dark death-shadow, lurked and struck
old and young alike, in perpetual night
held the misty moors. Men do not know
whither such whispering demons wander about." (151-163)

In this passage from Beowulf, we get the background on the longstanding feud between Grendel and Hrothgar's clan. This is the rumor that gets around to Beowulf, who rides his longship in to rescue Hrothgar. Too bad for Grendel.

Pay to Not Play (or at least to Not Die)

Why would Grendel be expected to "settle with money" or give "bright compensation" for his "deadly hatred"? We get the picture that he's killed many of Hrothgar's men—that bit comes through loud and clear. Doesn't it seem odd, though, that Hrothgar's men expect seem to expect him to make good on all this nastiness by, er, paying up?

If you do some digging into the cultures of the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic tribes, you'll notice that offering people cash for cut-off heads isn't odd at all. Their law codes allowed the payment of money, called the wergild (or "man-price"), as restitution for murder… so that a murderer could make nice with the family of his victim.

While this sounds pretty crazy by modern standards, pause and think about how the culture of Beowulf's time was largely warrior-based. One dude killed another dude. Then that murdered dude's family kills someone in the murderer's family. And soon, all that killing gets totally out of hand.

Blood feuds erupt. And before long, very few people are left standing. So, the wergild helped to put a halt to the violence before it spiraled out of control.

Grendel, though, doesn't actually offer to make any such payments. Instead, he's "the great ravager": a totally alien thing that must be stopped. Luckily, Beowulf is happy to rise to the occasion with his super grip that contains the strength of thirty men. Sweet.

Not in My Mead-Hall

One of the organizing structures of Beowulf is how characters are either a part of civilized society, or they're not. Or, as Heidi Klum would say, you're either in, or you're out.

The mead-hall is a symbol for civilization, the brotherhood of thanes, and the protection of the king. Grendel, as we see from this passage, is not a part of that world.

Instead, he's a "dark death-shadow" that attacks the mead-hall and violates it, all while dwelling in "perpetual night." He's just a "demon" who "wanders about." He not only stands completely outside civilization; he stands against it.

Grendel is also the first of a string of monsters that the whole narrative of Beowulf is organized around. Each monster is bigger and badder than the last. As you might expect, Beowulf dispatches Grendel in fairly short order. But, look out…

Here comes his mom. Mama Grendel is way worse than her son, and Beowulf has a harder time taking her out. Finally, the most evil beast of them all attacks: a vicious and greedy dragon who cares only about his gold hoard. (You know dragons and their gold hoards.)

This is the beast that finally gets the better of Beowulf. Aw. We'll miss you, Wulfy.