Animals
Grendel has a hard time finding his place in the world, and this is made even more difficult by watching the brute, unthinking creatures who seemed to live and breathe without one iota of angst. Th...
The Cave-Dwellers
Grendel's home life does nothing to improve his sense of self or help him understand his place in the world. What do we know about Grendel's relatives? Well, they don't care much for sunlight, spok...
Meadhall
Gardner freely pilfers material from Beowulf. (Since he's openly riffing off of the poem, it's all good, really.) One of the bigger things that makes its way into the novel is the meadhall and all...
Shaper
We were totally hoping this dude would be some kind of shape-shifting weregoat or something, but we're not too disappointed by what he actually is.The Shaper basically writes history. People basica...
Dragon
If you've read Beowulf, you know there's a connection between the dragon and Grendel. Both are monsters. Both like to terrorize humans. Both obey the laws of their own natures: dragons sit on gold...
The Zodiac
If you blink, you'll miss the references to the Zodiac in each chapter of Grendel. Luckily for us, there are clever scholars who have noted the appearance of these symbols and how they help to stru...
Oak Tree
Remember that an oak tree is the first thing to take a bite out of baby Grendel. When he catches his foot in the trunk of that tree, it's also his first close encounter with Hrothgar and his troops...