Beowulf

Beowulf is a young hero from the land of the Geats and later the aged king of that same land. Propelled by the desire for heroic glory, Beowulf sets out from Geatland to Denmark to rid the Danes of a monster called Grendel that has been slaughtering their finest warriors. Beowulf succeeds in slaying Grendel and his mother and, later in his own country, a fire-breathing dragon. Beowulf is the archetypal hero acting with courage and honor above what might seem to be judgment. His fighting and survival skills are far greater than those of even the greatest of his peers and he is, at the same time, famously even tempered. The greatest offense of which Beowulf can be accused is of dying and leaving his people without a proper heir thereby making them vulnerable to civil insurrection and outside invaders.

The character of Beowulf is also a...