Week 11 Story: Grendel

Far away in the land of Daneland, lived an unusual creature. Not many knew what to think of him, for he was unlike anyone people had ever seen before. Rumors flooded the land that it was an evil beast out to get everyone. The monster-like human was known as Grendel. Hair grew from every inch of his massive stature. His build was mighty and although he did not intend to scare people, the way he looked frightened those around him. Grendel was an outcast, and for that he stayed isolated.

His isolation made him a more reserved character. Grendel never thought of himself as mean, but the people of Daneland made him more protective over himself. There were many days and nights that people came after him because of what he looked like.

Grendel's mother knew what her son was going through, so early on she taught him how to defend himself. He trained unlike any other and had to always be prepared for battle. Grendel tried to do nice things for the town and offered to defend Daneland, but the people were still too afraid of him and ridiculed him for the way he looked even more.

With low self-esteem and no friends, Grendel resorted to his isolated home. Grendel and his mother had to build it far away from civilization so that they would not get terrorized on a daily basis. The house was cozy to them, but to outsiders, it was dark and cold. It looked as if it was an uncompleted puzzle. The house was patched together with parts from all over and gave off a feeling of fear to those that were around it because it wasn't exactly like their home.

As years went on, Grendel got extremely lonely which transitioned into his anger for people that weren't accepting of him and the way he looked. He didn't understand why society was so fearful of him and even after trying to change his appearance, nothing worked. He grew back his hair after shaving almost immediately and his build wouldn't change no matter how little he ate. The combination of people afraid of him and him not being able to change had a huge impact on his life.

What triggered his rampage was the people of Daneland taunting him. Grendel then devised a plan. He thought that maybe he could terrorize the people so that they would stop making fun of him and not allowing him to do the things he wanted to do. In planning out what he would do, he hoped that in doing this no one would get harmed, but that they would make him the protector of their land instead.

Well... things didn't go as well as what was anticipated for Grendel. He was right about the people being fearful, but that made them dislike him even more. They wanted Grendel dead, and would do whatever it took to make that happen. This is what led to the people of Daneland to send the wanderer off to find someone to fight the mighty Grendel.

This is also what led to the Beowulf coming to fight Grendel. Maybe if Beowulf really knew what Grendel was going through things might have turned out differently for him...

(Grendel the mighty)

Author's Note: After reading the story of Beowulf, I was inspired to tell the story from a different perspective. In the original story, we do not learn much about Grendel or why he is causing havoc towards the Danes. In this story I wanted to explain why Grendel was so angry. I feel like for every underlying anger there is a reason behind it. Grendel was feeling like an outcast and society didn't help him to be a part of it. The moral of the story is to be accepting of other people and to not judge a book by its cover. Although Grendel went around terrorizing people, the whole situation could have been prevented.

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf by Stafford Riggs