"Die, defenceless, primitive natives!" - Colonialism and the Sci-fi Beowulf

I have not written a blog post in a long time, but there is nothing like a really terrible book (and an hour to spare until the pub...) to inspire some new rants on a public platform. 

That book would be The Legacy of Heorot (1987) by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes. 

The plot revolves around a group of colonists who have settled on one of Tau Ceti's planets and eventually discover the grendels - large amphibious komodo dragon type creatures who are really fuckin' hard to kill. 

The biggest problem with this novel (and with many Niven novels it seems) is the unrelenting celebration of traditional masculinity, embodied in the protagonist; Cadmann Weyland. It is only through Cadmann's superior intelligence (despite pretty much everyone but him being scientific geniuses??) and manliness that Avalon can be saved. He is a boring, brooding piece of man muscle who is so manly that even his handwriting is "strong". While all the other idiots (again, actual geniuses!) initially doubt Cadmann ("Paradise . . . they don't need me at all" - BOO-FUCKING-HOO CADMANN), they eventually come to realise his superiority and in cringe-worthy fashion, extol his heroism. 

While the other characters are equally as shallow (the promiscuous Argentinian man for example - never seen that stereotype before), it is Cadmann's hyper-masculinity and the patriarchal system that is pushed by this that is at the core of the novel. While some of the women start out as relatively equal, as the novel progresses, it is clear that  only men can play at war, and the ladies just gotta hole up and produce some babógs to keep the human race going. And hey, they are all too busy whinging over men to help out anyway.

On an initial reading, the novel appears almost as a critique of Imperial America - there are, after all, some POV descriptions from the grendels which conjure up some feelings of sympathy, and there is also that somehow unironic phrase that you see in the title of the post ("Die, defenceless, primitive natives!"). I mean, that is so unsubtle that it has to be satire? Apparently not? 

The chances of this being some sort of retelling of the Western frontier and a comment on the killing of natives through ecological imperialism or other means (the grendels are eventually starved out and I thought, hey, maybe this is some sort of parallel to the US killing of bison in order to suppress the Native American peoples...) seemed quite plausible, and quite hopeful, but apparently not (Niven was after all, an advisor to Reagan on his Star Wars laser project). Besides these few vague references to sympathy (whether felt by reader or character), any reservations we may have about the colonisers' right to the planet are pretty much thrown out the window. There is no retrospective thought at the end of the novel - the grendels are wiped out, everyone is happy, and Cadmann is a fuckin' ledge. 

At the end of the day, the novel upholds the right of an Imperial power to dominate the rest of the world, and at that, every other world too. At the same time, the novel also celebrates the traditional patriarchal framework and allows this as the only possible means to achieve victory, and therefore expansion and evolution. In other words, this novel belongs in the Victorian era. 

On nicera mere: This week on Room Raiders

Besides being in a perpetual state of terror over the IRC (which looks something like this), I am also coming to a close on the first chapter of my thesis. My current point of focus is the mere, and trying to articulate an argument that allows Grendel's mother to still be human while living here (because apparently it's not normal to live in a cave surrounded by sea-monsters??).

Firstly, I will start off by saying these are rather general musings - I will probably (hopefully) look back on these in a month's time and think "Christ...what rubbish", so do excuse the sloppy execution and rather basic arguments!

Anyway, we first receive an in-depth description of the mere by Hrothgar, where, in a semi-hysterical speech after the death of Æschere (before Beowulf is like "grow up, buddy - it is always better to avenge lost bros than to mourn them"), he says this: 

"They inhabit a hidden land - wolf-slopes, windy headlands, dangerous fen-paths - where a mountain stream flows downward beneath the cliff's mist. It is not far from here in miles that the mere lies. Over it hangs rind-covered groves - a wood held fast by its roots hangs over the water - there, each night, one may see a troubling wonder; fire on the flood, No living children of men know the bottom of that mere . . . That was not a pleasant place! From here, surging waves rise up dark against the clouds when the wind stirs up loathsome storms, until the sky darkens and the heavens weep" 

(1357-67, 1372-6, my own translation)

Virgil Burnett's depiction of the mere

It is a slightly confusing description - is this prime real estate by the sea (headlands, cliffs) or inland (in a forest in the mountains?). Well, it seems that where exactly the mere is, isn't necessarily the important thing, rather the nature of the mere. For one thing, if you invest in this property, you get your very own light show every night and you never have to worry about a hart jumping into your gaff. 

The description of the mere has often times been compared to Blickling Homily XVI, describing Saint Paul's vision of hell (which is also reminiscent of the IRC), which, to be fair, does have quite a few similarities, including a description of water flowing down, of frosty groves, of dark mists, and also the presence of nicras or 'nicors' (immature laugh), apparent sea-monsters.

Hieronymus Bosch's Christ in Limbo - Hell doesn't really look like this in the homilies, but I just love Bosch

It has been suggested that the mere in Beowulf has some borrowed content from this homily, or at least that they had a common source - it has also been argued by Carleton Brown, however, that the Homily borrowed from Beowulf  and the Visio S Pauli, as it shows shared elements from both of these, while Beowulf only shares elements with the Homily. It really depends on the dates of the two - the MS which the homilies appear in is dated to 971, while Beowulf...well, this is still and forever will be argued about, so let's not go down this fen-path. Either way, I think it is possible that Beowulf could have been a source for the homilies - it is, after all, generally agreed to be an oral poem, only written down later, so it seems conceivable that the homilist may have been influenced by the poem. 

Then again, it is also somewhat agreed on that elements of Beowulf would have been added into the poem, such as biblical references to Cain and the Flood and also of course to God. Whether we choose to view the description of the mere as a later addition... well... I guess that is something that is up for debate. 

A much more intriguing comparison, I think, can be made to Grettis saga Asmundarsonar, the story of a hard-ass Icelandic outlaw who loves to fight. I'll take him over Saint Paul any day!

Or...well...maybe not.

Anyway, while these Icelandic texts date to the 13th and 14th centuries, they are based on events which occurred a few centuries beforehand. So, Grettir gets up to all sorts of antics, but most important is what happens in Chapter 66; Grettir is hanging out one day when a troll-woman enters and starts fighting with him - she (like Grendel's mother) is really bloody strong and she gets away (after getting her arm chopped off...like Grendel) and disappears down a cliff. Grettir decides to follow her down. Grettir comes to a waterfall surrounded by cliffs, and he swims beneath the current to enter a cave. He then proceeds to fight a male troll, whom he kills, and whose guts flow out of the waterfall to make a lovely bloody mess (which reminds me of Chuck Palahniuk's short story Guts), which in turn makes the priest who has accompanied Grettir to think Grettir is dead (much in the same way that Grendel's blood which is said to bubble out of the mere makes Beowulf's thanes think he is dead). 

So...there seems to be an awful lot of comparisons here. Could the mere in Beowulf be a waterfall? The surging waves and the mist rising up to darken the sky could well be the mist rising from a waterfall. The churning waters which are described both when Grendel returns to the mere after his fatal fight with Beowulf and after his corpse is decapitated could merely (pun intended) be the churning waters of a waterfall. And similarly, Beowulf swims downwards to reach a dry cave - much like he would have to swim beneath a waterfall's current to reach behind (or you know, walk around or through the water as they do in films...). 

Of course, problems must also arise with this comparison, especially the countries of origin (Iceland vs England/Denmark) and the dating of these stories. It is possible that it is rather from  a common source or sources that these stories share their similarities. And this is something I am going to have to explore in more depth (pun intended).

Henry Justice Ford - Andrew Lang's Crimson Book of Fairy Stories

But what about the sea-monsters and the fyr on flode.....I'm going to end this one on a cliff-hanger (again, pun intended), and write about those things in a future post! 

Grendel - Caines cynne

It is time for another post on Grendel and his gigantism, yaaay.


In this post, I am going to explore Grendel's relation with Cain, and how this affects his gigantism and his monstrosity in general. While I already posted on Grendel and Cain TWO WHOLE YEARS AGO HOLY SHIT (existential crisis), that post was more focused on the Book of Enoch and antediluvian aspects of the Cain legend.

The lads as depicted in the Speculum Humanae Salvationis (15th C) 

We are told towards the start of Beowulf that from Cain sprang all those bad things, including ogres and elves and giants and orcs and alcohol and flesh-eating bacteria, and then specifically that Grendel is himself of Caines cynne (Cain's kin). In case we still don't get it, line 1256 tells us that after Abel's murder, "then awoke many a fateful spirit, one of which was Grendel". Because of this association with Cain, Grendel often assumed giant status, relating to the Old Testament narrative of the Nephilim in Genesis.

Calm down, it's a hoax

Basically (this plotline is mostly from the Book of Enoch), God decided he needed some angels to watch over the antics of the people down on earth. These angels, sleazebags that they were, soon began to lust for the women below, and with a little encouragement from Samyaza (their leader), they go ahead and impregnate the women, and thus they become fallen angels (God creates quite a few of these doesn't he?).
The Nephilim are a result of this union between the Watchers (the sons of God) and mortal women (daughters of men, descendants of Cain), and apparently angels and mortal women make rather ugly babies, or at least, that's how the legend goes - at least in Enoch. If you have seen Noah, you may notice that the Watchers here are depicted as big stone giants - I don't know where I was going with that, but we shall leave it there.

Paradise Lost - Gustave Doré

In Genesis however, the most info we get about these Nephilim, besides their ancestry, is that they are "mighty men of old, men of renown" - Whut? Aren't they big fuck-off cannibalistic giants? In Enoch, yeah, but in Genesis, not necessarily.

And again, there has been a tiny bit of debate surrounding the word Nephilim itself - נְפִילִים - there it is in the Hebrew. In his Concordance of Hebrew words in the Bible, Strong lists Nephilim's etymology to naphal, which means "to fall", and he notes that Nephilim is "properly, a feller" or one who makes someone else fall. So...not necessarily a giant, as it is so often translated. And well, I know absolute eff-all about Hebrew, so I can't really make a greatly informed analysis here, but it may be possible that these Nephilim were not giants - rather, being "mighty men of old, men of renown", they were "gigantic" in another sense - in the sense of power. 


Another thing about Cain, is that his descendants are supposed to bear his mark - is Grendel's "mark of Cain" his gigantism, if he is a giant? Or... is it even a physical mark? According to Augustine of Hippo, quite the influential figure for Anglo-Saxon Christianity, those marked by Cain were pretty much just...Jews. Yerp. Augustine also believed that if they renounced Judaism and went over to Christ, they would be grand.

So... this leaves the possibility that Grendel showed no physical mark (or at least not make him automatically monstrous) and that he could (if he so wanted) seek redemption.

Grendel the þyrs

The second part of my "Grendel's Gigantism" post is here already...despite concerns that it would take me a year to get my lazy ass to write it, Easter has proven so mind numbingly boring and awful that I may as well do it now.

I may as well also mention that, in my time spent holidaying (avoiding) from this blog, I have two published articles. And yes, I am totally just bragging here.

1. The Grendel-kin: From Beowulf to the 21st Century - Boolean Journal, UCC, November 2015
2. The Monster in the House: Grendel's Mother and the Victorian Ideal - Sibeal Feminist and Gender Studies Network, March 2016

Grendel by Charles Keeping

In my last post I spoke about Grendel's gigantism in relation to the term eoten, A second term used of Grendel is þyrs, once again, generally translated as "giant" or "ogre" or "demon" or bla bla bla. þyrs is generally agreed to be a pretty negative term, both in Old English, Old Norse, Old Saxon and Old High German sources. All these cognates appear to have descended from Proto-Germanic *þurisaz, which itself, according to the Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, was perhaps a God of war or sea-monster, as evidenced in the Iku-Turso or Turisas of Finnish folkore, a giant who appears to reside in the ocean. The Iku-Turso appears in The Kalevala, Finland's national saga.

Iku-Turso - Minna Sundberg

þyrs doesn't appear many times in the Old English corpus, which is pretty damn annoying when you want to develop some sort of in-depth understanding of its conception in Anglo-Saxon England. But saying that, the few examples that do exist are pretty clear-cut and damning. þyrs appears also in Maxims II to describe a creature which dwells alone in the fens - Ðyrs sceal on fenne gewunian ana innan lande, and again appears in Wright's Anglo-Saxon glossses to describe Cacus, Orcus and cyclopes . . . 

Hercules killing Cacus - Sebald Beham (1545)

Orcus Mouth 

Polyphemus, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, 1802

. . . all of which you can see, don't look like the most upstanding folks. Furtermore, if we look at Old Norse þurs, it only gets bloody worse. In two Rune Poems, the Icelandic and the Norwegian, the word þurs is associated with some very bad things indeed;

–Þurs vældr kvinna kvillu; kátr værðr fár af illu, “Giant causes anguish to women: misfortune makes few men cheerful” (Norwegian Rune poem, Dickens 25)

–þurs as kvenna kvöl ok kletta búi ok varðrúnar verr, “torture of women and cliff-dweller and husband of a giantess” (Icelandic Rune poem, Dickens 29) 

In general, it appears that they were associated with female anguish - perhaps rape? They are also associated with malevolent magic in the Poetic Edda's Skirnismal. As well as being a rune (þ) associated with hostile magic and woman-torture, the þursar also appear to be a race in mythology. Although often lumped together with the jotunn, it should be noted that the þursar had pretty much nothing going for them - they were a shower of bastards really, it seems. They were completely antagonistic towards the deities (especially Thor) and were also known for being a bit thick. Cleasby and Vigfusson, in their ON dictionary cite the phrase hár sem risi, sterkr sem jötunn, heimskr sem þurs, “tall as a risi, strong as a jötunn, stupid as a þurs” (498).

As with all mythological figures worth their while, they appear as a beer

While the OE þyrs isn't necessarily completely comparable to the ON þurs (we don't really know how much influence ON mythology and paganism had on Anglo-Saxon England, besides a few similarities like Woden and Odin), it still seems like a pretty shitty figure - even if we forget the ON sources, there is still its appearance in Maxims II - living alone in the fens is NEVER GOOD, and its connection to ancient Greek and Roman mythological baddies also does not help this term's case.

But...does this mean that Grendel is a giant? That he is a þyrs? Well, it is important to note that it is not the poet or the narrator who names Grendel as one of these creatures, but rather Beowulf, the lad himself. This may lead us to the possibility that maybe perhaps maybe not, it is not meant as a definitive term for Grendel - perhaps it is a means for Beowulf to belittle his foe. And as I noted in the last post, Robert E. Kaske believes eoten is used in this way of the Frisians in the Hildeburh passage. Similarly, Alexandra Hennessey Olsen believes that the use of þyrs changed to that of an insult for large, dim-witted men. Perhaps this really seems like grasping for straws, but it does seem to me to be a conceivable alternative (although this is coming from someone who thinks that doing a PhD in Old English will lead to job opportunities, harhar, kill me now please).

folio 139v, ðing wið þyrse

næfne he wæs mara þonne ænig man oðer

It has been too long (pretty sure I said that last time) - for the past few months a sense of guilt over not updating this thing has crept into my dreams and shadowed my life, resulting in an existence of anguish and marginality ... yeah, not really. But I was reminded that I do actually have this blog, so thought I really should get back to it, seen as it apparently helped me in forming ideas?

So, at the moment I am currently working on a paper that I will be delivering next month at Borderlines XX in Trinity College Dublin, dealing with Grendel (NOT GRENDEL'S MOTHER WHAAAT) and his gigantism. For this I am just going to talk about the word eoten, and will continue on with this topic in further blog posts (in like a year based on the rate I'm going).

Grendel by J.R Skelton

When people think about Grendel (as they often do), the images that come to mind are much like J.R Skelton's ape-like hula skirt Grendel shown above, or the Grendel of Zemeckis's 2007 work, which tends to remind me of some sort of whingy snot-covered ent from LOTR - ugh. Basically, Grendel is fugly, and generally sort of huge, and one of the terms which supposedly proves this, is eoten. 

Eoten itself is generally translated as "giant" or "troll", or something along those lines, when it comes to its reference to Grendel and also often in its appearance in the list of creatures who sprang from Cain - just sprang out of him. When reading a translation of the poem, which to be honest most people do, this is grand. But then you realise the Jutes who appear in the Hildeburh Fragment...well, they might not even be Jutes! They may be Frisians. Shit, they may even be god-damn GIANTS. The appearance of the word eoten in the Hildeburh Fragment has thus caused much debate - firstly cause, well, what the hell are the Jutes doing here, we thought this was a feud between the Danes and the Frisians? What. Secondly...well, if eoten means Jutes...how can it also mean giants? Did the Jutes spring from Cain? IS GRENDEL A JUTE (it seems like today is a regular all-caps day)?

Zemeckis's giant snot-monster

A few theories seem to stand out for this eoten problem:

• R.W. Chambers is of the opinion that the scribe was just some dipshit who wrote down the wrong word - he meant to say eotnum, not eoten, the fool. So basically, in Chambers' mind, the Jutes are at the Battle of Finnsburg
• R. E. Kaske says that the Jutes are not ever mentioned in this piece and the word eoten is actually just an insult for the Frisians - not one that means Jutes, but one that means "giant". Kaske refers to jotnaheiti, "giant-terms" being used in Old Norse as insults for ordinary men.
• David Williams says that the word eoten is used as a reference to Cain and his murder of Abel, and that he is likening them to Finn and Hnæf - presumably he sees the eotenas as figures associated with Cain - possibly the giants of Genesis, the Nephilim. 
• Signe M. Carlson, then, argues that eoten means neither Jute nor giant, but means "blood-thirsty one", a theory which I quite like!

Carlson argues that eoten is related to etan, "to eat" (which it also is in Proto-Indo-European), and so, rather than referring to height, is actually just a term referring to blood-lust. Grendel is blood thirsty, and so, you could say, are the Frisians; they kill the shit out of the Danes.

Arthur Rackham's Giants and Freyja

It may also be useful to look to Norse mythology and the jotunn, or jotnar, the giant-race prevalent in many myths. In general these lads are pretty hostile towards the gods, but it must be noted that this isn't always the case - some of them are related to the Gods, some are described as beautiful (Skaði), and importantly, some of them aren't tall. It may even be argued that the name jotunn is also related to Proto-Indo-European *etan, and refers rather to gluttony or blood-thirstiness as opposed to gigantism.

Lastly, we also the eoten appear in relation to the sword Beowulf uses to kill Grendel's mammy - okay, sure you may say Beowulf is a strong lad, he can pick up any sword he wants. But...Wiglaf and Eofor also have eotenisc swords, and they are never said to have superhuman strength as Beowulf is...unless there are shitloads of lads with superhuman strength running around Denmark, but this I doubt. If the swords are pretty easy for someone (granted, a warrior) to pick up, surely the eotenas must not have been of huge stature and strength either? Yes? No? 

Anyhow, those are my thoughts on the word eoten. I always find I start off strong with these posts and then gradually everything just goes so downhill the more fed up I get. Hopefully sometime in the next year I will write about þyrs and Grendel's connection  with the Nephilim and whether these also make him unnaturally large. Gōd-sped.

Wife of Cain

Okay, first of all, the suggestion that Grendel's mother is Cain's wife is a ridiculous one (but hey, what can we expect from yahoo answers), but I have decided that if in the very unlikely event I start a death metal band, it will be called Wife of Cain. WIFE OF CAAAAIN.

And yes, I downloaded a font to make my dreams more solid. It's a slow study day. It's almost as illegible as some Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. 

Back to the issue at hand then... well first things first, Cain is obviously not Grendel's wife because...well...time. For us measly human beings, we perceive time as linear, and Cain could not have existed both for numerous generations before the Flood and the many many years after the Flood that Beowulf is set. Cain, you are NOT the father! If that's not a condescending paragraph then I don't know what is! Please accept it as the lowest form of humour. But you must admit, that would make for a great Jeremy Kyle episode, eh? I think it could even push for a two hour Christmas special.

*facepalm* Cain by Henri Vidal

As a side note, do you know how hard it is to find a decent artistic depiction of Cain where he's not bating the shite out of Abel or walking into exile? 

Now, to start taking things a bit more seriously. The issue on the table today is Grendel's relationship to Cain, and whether or not she is descended from him as Grendel is. 

Firstly, Grendel's mother is never described with such devilish language as Grendel is. Grendel, throughout the poem, is called Godes andsaca ("God's adversary"), a feond on helle ("enemy from hell"), he is fag wið God (not what you're thinking, but "hostile with God"), he is helle hæfton (a "captive of hell"), and when he finally dies, him hel onfeng ("hell received him"). I mean, he has a pretty strong connection with hell here, and it seems he's not on the very best of terms with God (although I imagine raping and pillaging put the Danes not too far down the naughty list also). Grendel is a bad guy, he commits serial murder for no exact reason, except that he was possibly feeling a bit left out or the scop's mainstream music choices just weren't to his taste, but basically he is like Historic Denmark's high school shooting perpetrator. 

The story of a mother's struggle to control her son, spawn of Cain, eotan

On the other hand (not Grendel's other hand anyway, harharr), such language is never used of Grendel's mother - she is called sinnige ("sinful, guilty"), sure, but that's about as far as the narrator calls her that has any relevance to God. She doesn't commit rampant murder like her son does, and her only crime is to avenge him...which in Old Norse society was not a crime - she follows the rules of wergild, an eye for an eye sorta thing - but that's about it. 

As to her relation to Cain...well, we know Grendel is related, because it is said twice in the poem, and referenced once more. Whereas Grendel's mother, although we are told se þe wæteregesan wunian scolde cealde streamas siþðan camp him wearð to ecgbanan angan breþer fæderenmaege ("She who dwelt in terrible waters and cold streams since Cain raised the sword against his brother, his father's kin"), once Cain is mentioned, the narrator says þanon woc fela geosceaftgasta wæs þaera Grendel sum ("from him awoke many spirits, Grendel among them"). Edward B. Irving argues, “the total effect of this passage, illogical as it may seem, is to suggest that Grendel is a lineal and faithful descendent of Cain in a way that his mother is not . . . she appears in no theological context” (Rereading Beowulf 71). Of course, this is up for speculation, but it does seem rather odd that the poet says Grendel was among his descendants, yet doesn't say his mother is. 

Again on line 1352, when we are told that the Danes knew about two figures mooning about the marshes, Hrothgar tells us of Grendel's mother, then of Grendel, and only says Grendel walked in the tracks of the exile (Cain). If he meant for Grendel's mother to be related to Cain, could he not have just said so, the way he is constantly telling us that Grendel is? Come on, man, stop beating around the god-damn bush!

Sticking to this paragraph, WHY THE HELL DID HROTHGAR FAIL TO MENTION ABOUT GRENDEL'S MOTHER? Well...one possibility is because she was not a monster and therefore not a threat to Heorot. Either that or Hrothgar is a fucking dope. But I am going with the former, because hey, let's give him a bit of credit. Sure, the poem is full of some unbelievable things, but I think Hrothgar's a guy I could trust.

So....how is Grendel related to Cain? Well...there's quite the possibility that there is a father. I mean, that's how reproduction works right? And seen as all the evidence (in my humble opinion) points towards Grendel's mother being human, then I don't see how there couldn't be a father....except...if...wait.. maybe it's an immaculate conception... and Grendel is Christ, and Beowulf represents the Jews. Oh god, I think I'm definitely onto something here, shove over Frederick Klaeber. On a more serious note... no, she isn't analogous to the Virgin Mary, and no, I don't think she impregnated herself (unless she's a komodo dragon). So yes, I think there's quite the possibility that a father exists. I know Seamus Heaney calls them "fatherless creatures" whose "ancestry is hidden in a past of demons and ghosts", but if there's one thing I try to express in my blog-posts it's "ixnay on the anslatorstray", because what is said is:

no hie fæder cunnon, hwæþer him ænig wæs acenned dyrna gasta

Which I will now use my super translating skills (yep, don't trust me either, I'm one of them *theme music to The Twilight Zone*) as "They do not know the [or 'a'] father, or whether any mysterious spirits were born before him". So, it's possible. This, coupled with the fact that Grendel's mother is never explicitly mentioned in any theological contexts, suggests that a paternal link to Cain could well exist.

See, Grendel has a hunk of a daddy in Gunnarsson's adaptation

Then, on top of all that (yes, even more is coming, God hilpeþ þu), there's the whole thing about the melting of the giant-sword. Well, it only melts after Beowulf beheads Grendel. It could have just conveniently been waiting for him to behead him before Grendel's mother's blood decided to set in, but...no. No? 
On top of this, after Grendel is beheaded, the water in the mere goes a bit 2012 apocalyptic on us - the water turns bloody and turbulent - ". . .the turbulent water saw blood drifting up, a churning foam; the spreading stain was dark, lake-wide" (Chickering) - much like a scene from Jaws. And yes, this is sometimes attributed to Grendel's mother's death also, but good woman herself, M.W Hennequin notes that the mere does the same thing the night Grendel returns home to die - “There the lake water boiled with blood, terrible surgings, a murky swirl of hot dark ooze, deep sword-blood". 

And one last thing (I promise....for any of ye still left reading...ie, nobody), she is never described as an eoten ("giant", or possibility of "blood-thirsty one" - see Signe Carlson). Both her and Grendel are called micle, "large" or "great" (literal or metaphorical), yet a few lines later Grendel is described as being the one who is "bigger than any other man" and "misshapen/ wretched-looking" and it is only about Grendel that it is wondered hwæþer him ænig wæs acenned dyrna gasta. 


Just saying.

Grendel's Mother: Warrior Princess!

Unlike most of my friends, I wasn't very much a television child, and so I missed out on Xena: Warrior Princess (along with Saved by the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Friends - which apparently makes me a freak of nature, causing people to gasp when I admit to these facts). But, little did I know that when I was doing my MA I would be faced with the program which I associated so much with strange costumes and even stranger shouting.

I am in China now? Whut? I share your confusion, Xena.

Anyway, strangely enough, Xena appears to be one of the very few out of the many adaptations that presents Grendel's Mother to us in an explicitly positive light. Even when she looks like the giant cockroach from Men in Black, we still think she's pretty okay. 

So, Grendel's Mother appears in three episodes of Xena from 2000 - "The Rheingold", "The Ring" and "Return of the Valkyries". She appears as Grinhilda, chief of the valkyries and lover of Odin. Beowulf and Grendel (who appears as Grindl) also appear in these three episodes but don't really have much importance...cause...well, it's Xena. 

At the start of "The Rheingold" we see Grinhilda through a flashback, where she appears as the extremely powerful giant turd/cockroach fighting Xena for possession of the Rheingold (a magical ring from Richard Wagner's 19th century opera, Das Rheingold, itself influenced by Norse and Germanic mythology - the Rhine gold can be made into a ring which will let its bearer rule the world, so long as he or she has renounced love). 

Grinhilda

Xena and Grinhilda have a bit of a tussle before Xena manages to lock Grinhilda in a cave. We are then taken to the present day, where the story of Grinhilda is recited by the character Brunhilda (prepare yourselves for a long-winded and probably confusing retelling of these episodes): 

Back in what is known as Xena's "dark days" (try not to laugh), Xena is chosen by Odin as a valkyrie. Unlike the peaceful Grinhilda, Xena is absolutely gagging for some fightin' and blood spill. In her attempt to gain more power, Xena visits the three Rhein maidens and steals the Rheingold from them, and smelts it into a ring (as the dwarf Alberich does in Wagner's Ring Cycle). Grinhilda, being a good girl, tries to stop Xena from using the ring, and so, places it on her own finger, where we see her transformed into the monster she has become, for she has not forsaken love. The ring destroys that which is most loved by the wearer - in this case, it is Grinhilda's own beauty and humanity. 

Grindl - and what a handsome boy he is

We are then brought back to the present day, where Xena and Beowulf (who has called on her help) are seen fighting a monster who is revealed to be Grindl (Grendel - and presumably Odin's son). They manage to kill him and we are shown Grinhilda mourning his death, and presumably intent on revenge (who would Grendel's Mother be without revenge?), and she then shows up, along with Odin, to fight Xena. Xena then places the ring of power on her finger, but, surprise surprise, it turns out the Xena has not forsaken love either, and loses her memory. 

The next episode presents to us the amnesiac Xena who is now known as 'Wealthea' (an obvious reference to Wealhtheow) and is marrying Hrothgar. Thankfully, Beowulf shows up and reminds her who she really is, and she can go back to fighting Grinhilda. Rather than fighting with her however, she convinces Grinhilda of her former humanity, and she is transformed back into her good old self. Funnily enough, with this, all is forgiven (even Xena's killing of her son...) and Grinhilda returns to her former valkyrie job. 

So! That's that. A rather confusing retelling, interlaced with a lot of Norse and Germanic Mythology and obviously influenced very much by Wagner's opera. But... it must be said, it's original, if a bit silly at times - but then again, it is Xena. It is very much like Parke Godwin's Tower of Beowulf, with its strong threads of Norse mythology as well as a very complex Grendel's Mother,, but that is for another day.

I'm going to focus more on Grendel's Mother as she is depicted here. I know I said she was explicitly positive in this, and then went on to talk about how she was a giant turd-monster, BUT, this is a positive retelling of her character, because it's not her fault that she turns into a monster (it's actually Xena's fault), and her extreme humanity and noble background are very much pushed in this. She is physically cursed and turned into a monster, very much like critics and translators have turned the Grendel's Mother of Beowulf into a monster (I'm getting deep here). Also important, is the fact that unlike Zemickis's or Baker's adaptations, her human form is not capitalised upon, and she is not overly sexualised.

Ride of the Valkyries by Arthur Rackham

And what about Grendel's Mother as a valkyrie, one of the "choosers of the slain"? Although it seems like a bit of an unorthodox view, and simply another norsification of the story, it's not an unfounded view, as Helen Damico (in "The Valkyrie Reflex in Old English Literature") argues that the valkyries were "half-mortal, half-supernatural beings called idisi in Old High German, ides in Old English and dis in Old Norse". Damico believes that the Beowulf poet is characterising Grendel's Mother as one of these "deadly battle demon[s]". She is after all, called an ides aglæcwif and a wælgæst wæfre, which Damico translates as "roaming slaughter-spirit". Damico also suggests that Grendel's Mother's protective covering may relate to the helm and byrnie of the valkyries. 

Although I'm not necessarily agreeing with this view of Grendel's Mother as a valkyrie, I am pointing it out as a possible influence on Xena's depictions of her, as, I feel, many adaptations, especially film or television adaptations, are often not given credit for researching their sources or the scholarship surrounding them. Of course, the writers of Xena may not have even heard of Helen Damico, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and either way, such depictions, whether or not based on an already established theory, can offer new possibilities and new ways of viewing the original poem. 

Overall, for once, Grendel's Mother plays a pretty important role, one more important than both her son and Beowulf. In general, Xena (along with shows like Buffy) is one of those shows that differs from the rest, in that its centred on female figures, but as well as that, it's characters rely less on their sexuality (as so many unfortunately do) than on their physical strength and cunning - they are some of the few accessible feminist role models available in mainstream culture (Girl Culture). And there is nothing bad about that, no matter how cringey Xena may be.

Raping the darkness, d-d-death by his side

So I have had the misfortune to hear Marillion's SEVENTEEN minute long song 'Grendel'. About one minute in I couldn't help but be reminded of Spinal Tap's 'Stonehenge' (except at least that's actually good). Apologies in advance to any Marillion fans. Let's agree to disagree.

Grendel: 

I. Heorot's plea and Grendel's awakening 

Midnight suns bid moors farewell, retreats from charging dusk 

Mountain echo, curfews bell, signal ending tasks 

They place their faith in oaken doors, cower in candlelight 

The panic seeps through bloodstained floors as Grendel stalks the night 

Earth rim walker seeks his meals 

Prepare the funeral pyres 

The shaper's songs no longer heal the fear 

Within their eyes, their eyes 

Wooden figures, pagan gods, stare blindly cross the sea 

Appeal for help from ocean fogs, for savior born of dreams 

They know their lives are forfeit now, priestly head they bow in shame 

They cannot face the trembling crowd that flinch in Grendel's name 

Earth rim walker seeks his meals 

Prepare the funeral pyres 

The shaper's songs no longer heal the fear 

Within their eyes, their eyes 

As Grendel leaves his mossy home beneath the stagnant mere 

Along the forest path he roams to Hrothgar's hall so clear 

He knows that victory is secured, his charm will testify 

His claws will drip with mortal blood as moonbeams haunt the sky 

Earth rim walker seeks his meals 

Prepare the funeral pyres 

The shaper's songs no longer heal the fear 

Within their eyes, their eyes 

II. Grendel's Journey 

Silken membranes span his path, fingerprints in dew 

Denizens of twilight lands humbly beg him through 

Mother nature's bastard child shunned by leaf and stream 

An alien in an alien land seeks solace within dreams 

The shaper's lies his poisoned tongue malign with mocking harp 

Beguiling queen her innocence offends his icy heart 

III. Lurker at the Threshold 

Hounds freeze in silence bewitched by the reptile spell 

Sulphurous essence pervades round the grassy dell 

Heorot awaits him like lamb to the butcher's knife 

Stellular heavens ignore even children's cries 

Screams are his music, lightning his guide 

Raping the darkness, death by his side 

Chants rise in terror, free round the oaken beams 

Flickering firelight portraying the grisly scene 

Warriors advance, prepare for the nightmare foe 

Futile their sacrifice as even their hearts must know 

Heroes delusion, with feet in the grave 

Lurker at the threshold, he cares not for the brave, he cares not for the brave 

So you thought that your bolts and your locks would keep me out 

You should have known better after all this time 

You're gonna pay in blood for all your vicious slander 

With your ugly pale skins and your putrid blue eyes 

Why should I feel pity when you kill your own and feel no shame 

God's on my side, sure as hell, I'm gonna take no blame 

I'm gonna take no blame, I'm gonna take no blame 

So you say you believe in all of Mother Nature's laws 

You lust for gold with your sharpened knives 

Oh when your hoards are gathered and your enemies left to rot 

You pray with your bloodstained hands at the feet of your pagan gods 

Then you try to place the killer's blade in my hand 

You call for justice and distort the truth 

Well I've had enough of all your pretty pretty speeches 

Receive your punishment, Expose your throats to my righteous claws 

And let the blood flow, and let the blood flow, flow, flow, flow

And there you have it. I'm not sure what makes me more embarrassed; the picture chosen for the video, the comments that say things like "Most unique, beautiful, fantasy, heroic song ever" or "Breath taking. gasping for air!" or the awful lyrics.
I feel bad for being so critical of this, but it really is awful. Apologies again to Marillion fans (as if any exist). On a good note however, the song is obviously influenced by Gardner's Grendel and some of the lyrics (despite their cheesiness) are....thought provoking? The last section of the song at least. 

Unfortunately for Grendel, his name hasn't had much look in the music industry, with the likes of this. It's also of little surprise that there's a Finnish power metal band also named Grendel. Those Finnish lads are crazy anyway. Whereas at least Grendel's Mother gets a good song, which I previously posted about. 

I think this explains everything

This is the kind of stuff you're driven to listen to (and write about) when you're supposed to be doing an assignment. But hey, at least I'm not doing something completely irrelevant. 

Grendel and Cain

Grendel was the name of this grim demon haunting the marches, marauding round the heath and the desolate fens; he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain's clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts (Beowulf, trans Seamus Heaney)

I'm finally going to talk about Grendel, who is probably more interesting to most people than Grendel's Mother (except when she's Angelina Jolie, of course). There's lots of different views on Grendel, mostly whether he's human or beast or human-beast or a bipedal dragon (seriously). I haven't quite made my mind up about Grendel - I do know I am sympathetic to his character, but I'm not certain how human he is. I don't think I can be quite so certain about Grendel as I am with Grendel's Mother, but I'm sure within the next year of studying my arse off I will have a better idea!

So...what we know about Grendel from his first introduction is that he is of Cain's clan, or at least lives with the feckers. From Cain also sprang the orcs and the elves and the giants (or as translated by Edwin Morgan (presumably while on an intense high), "kobolds and gogmagogs, lemurs and zombies"....eh, sure). So, for the purposes of this post, we'll say he is of Cain's descent, because let's face it, I wouldn't be writing this otherwise.

Cain slaying Abel, by Peter Paul Reubens

We all know Cain - he's the feen who killed Abel, his brother, for some reason or another, and thus became the first murderer and the first to fall under a curse. As a punishment, he was exiled and so were all who descended from him, and bore the "mark of Cain" (not necessarily a physical mark).

So, as one theory goes, the sons of God (conflicted ideas of whether these are men of Seth or the "Watchers") mated with the daughters of men (Cain) and produced the Nephilim, a race of giants who inhabit the earth in Genesis. However, there are conflicting ideas about this theory - it never says directly that the Nephilim were the offspring of the sons of God and daughters of men. Grendel being a giant, and being a descendent of Cain, means he is possibly connected to the Nephilim, but, the only problem here is that these giants were washed away in the Great Flood of Cork in 2014...or whatever time frame it was that Noah was around.

HOWEVER, fear not ( I know you were), another door lies somewhat ajar here. There are some roads leading from the statement in Genesis about the earth having to open her mouth and receive Abel's blood, quite the cannibalistic image. This is also repeated in the Old English Geneis A; "Feud occurred for the kin of men, since the earth first swallowed Abel's blood". In the Book of Enoch (aka I Enoch), a book which, judging what the good old Bede says, was somewhat popular with the Anglo-Saxons, it is said that the race of giants born from the daughters of men "devoured one another's flesh and drank the blood from it". It is possible that Beowulf was written in a time in Anglo-Saxon England when everyone from Ælfric to Bede and Wulfstan were freeaaking out about blood and laying down prohibitions about drinking it (this was mostly to do with animals in case you are wondering), along with major issues such as eating while taking a dump. Bede himself said that consuming blood was the greatest sin of the giants. And, finally getting to the point...Grendel also consumes blood - so in this way, he is linked to the Genesis giants and Cain.

The Great Flood, by Bonaventura Peeters

Yes, but still, the Great Flood. Well, apparently, Ham (or Cham), son of Noah, was the first person to be cursed after the Flood, as he inscribed secrets into stone and metal to preserve them from the Flood: "When the Flood was over he sought them out with the same curiosity for sacrilegious things with which he had hidden them, and transmitted the seeds of perpetual wickedness to later generations" (Book of Cassian). Similar episodes can also be seen in a number of Irish works, including the Middle Irish Sex aetates mundi, which states that Cham is the "heir of Cain after the Flood, and from him sprang leprechauns, and giants, and horseheads, and in general every unshapely form that men have", which is extremely, in a too-good-to-be-true way, really similar to the line in Beowulf about "ogres and elves and evil shades - as also the giants" (Alexander's trans). I really love that leprechauns and horseheads bit though. Kind of makes me wonder why I didn't study ancient Irish texts...too feckin' late now though.

The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

According to Andy Orchard (who I owe much thanks to in this post: Thanks, man), there is another possible link in the sword that is found in Grendel's mere, the one Beowulf uses to finally kill Grendels Mother. In the Book of Enoch we are told about "The Watchers" or "Grigori", the fallen angels who are credited with teaching metalwork and weapon-making to men: "And Azâzêl taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals of the earth and the art of working them . . . And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways." (I Enoch, Chapter 8). Such an inscription on a metal sword depicting the Flood and the giants may also be linked to Cham's inscription on the metals and stone of the earth. Although, a bit of a weaker link, but I am clutching at straws here!

So, with texts like the Book of Enoch floating about (a latin translation from Britain dating from around the possible time of Beowulf) and these numerous Irish texts with similar features, it's not impossible that Beowulf, and in particular the story of Grendel was influenced by them. Either way, it makes for some interesting reading (in my warped mind at least)

Grendel  by Robert Ingpen