- Grendel's boredom has been broken: strangers have come. He senses it.
- Grendel watches as the "coast guard" confronts the fifteen warriors. They seem like "walking dead men" in their mechanical movements.
- The leader explains that they have come as friends to Hrothgar—and they have come to get rid of Grendel.
- Remember that giant with the strength of 30 men? Here he is.
- Grendel whispers, "Bring it on!" Well, something pretty close to that, anyway. Yet he feels less sure of himself than he usually does. He feels the danger, but it also excites him.
- And, as Grendel watches the stranger, something really freaky happens: the guy seems to be possessed by something horrible. It's like his lips don't match the words he's saying.
- The whole pack of warriors gives Grendel the creeps. They move together, like a machine.
- Grendel has to think it all over. He's not sure if he's afraid of the strangers. He's definitely excited, though. He's been pretty bored lately, and at least as far as that goes, he feels kind of human. He's seen what humans do when they are bored (they cheat on their wives), so he gets it.
- But all this gets Grendel thinking philosophically (surprise, surprise): order is an illusion, he thinks. It's something men use to navigate between self and the world.
- Um, what does that mean?
- Well, if it's Grendel talking, you know everything's totally going to relate back to identity issues. If you want to know yourself, he thinks, it usually results in violence, chaos. Well, no truer word has been spoken about Grendel, anyway.
- Grendel does know himself pretty well. He toys with the idea of staying in his cave, but the idea of confrontation is too delicious. Off to the meadhall he goes.
- Grendel feels compelled, but he wants to make it a choice, out of his own free will. So basically, there's lots of personal struggling here.
- Grendel remembers the dragon's vision, about how everything will come to blackness and nothingness.
- More identity struggles follow. Grendel reaches the same conclusion every time: it's the universe or him. Only one of those two things can really exist.
- A bit egocentric? Maybe. But Grendel knows, at the end of the day, that he is nothing more than a hole in the universe or one thing relative to another (like a son to his mother). He's not an individual on his own.
- So Grendel's on his way to the meadhall, but he still continues to debate with himself. He could just hibernate until the strangers leave, but he knows he won't.
- Grendel makes it to Hart, even though he's still potentially afraid of the newcomers.
- There are two kinds of things in the world, Grendel decides: things to be murdered and things that stop you from murdering. The big question: which category do these new guys fall into?
- Either way, Grendel wants to see all the chest-beating going on in Hart. He does love the chaos.
- Sure enough, the Danes are not crazy about the newcomers. It's an honor thing.
- The priests don't like any of this—it's not good for business if human effort is rewarded with victory. It's better for the priests if humans suffer.
- Grendel decides to kill the stranger, since the stranger is upsetting his peeps.
- Unferth speaks first, hoping to dishonor Beowulf. He brings up a legendary swimming contest between Beowulf and a friend called Breca. Unferth taunts him by saying that he lost the contest.
- Beowulf calls Unferth out in a big way. He says that Unferth is drunk and talking trash. Let's face it: he's pretty much right.
- Beowulf explains that the contest was kind of a draw. On top of that, he killed nine sea monsters with his sword.
- The Danes stop laughing now, and Grendel realizes that the new stranger is insane.
- And then it happens: Beowulf calls Unferth out for killing his own brothers. He says that is the only "glorious deed" Unferth has ever done. Ouch.
- But Hrothgar is tickled by the stranger's single-mindedness and calls in the queen to start pouring out mead.
- Wealtheow greets the stranger. She is mighty happy to have a real hero in her hall.
- As Beowulf talks, Grendel keeps having that horrible feeling that this dude isn't what he appears to be. Maybe he's a shape-shifter or a wraith. He certainly isn't normal—it takes a monster to know.
- Grendel has that vision of the twisted oak roots and the abyss, but he can't remember what it all means.
- As a killing machine, Grendel doesn't know why he's so terrified. He's murdered bigger things.
- Unferth leaves the meadhall, crying... and just in time, too, because Hrothgar goes right over the top and tells everyone that this stranger is like a son to him. Oh, boy.
- Wealtheow freaks out a little bit. Hrothgar already has too many potential heirs.
- Hrothgar decides to lay all his bad plans on the table. He talks about marrying his daughter Freawaru off as a peace offering.
- Beowulf knows a dying dynasty when he sees it.
- As the party goes on, the Shaper sings about the inevitability of time—seasons changing and things die and get restored.
- The king goes to bed, and everything drops into darkness. Grendel knows it's show time.