Summary
Like most modern fantasy stories,The Elder Scrolls borrows a lot from the centuries of earlier examples. There’s plenty of Tolkien and Howard spread throughout the franchise’s world, butSkyrimborrows primarily from Viking culture.Beowulfis set before the Viking Age but remains tied to its pop-cultural legacy.Beowulf & Grendelis one of the most unusual iterations of the classic tale.
IsSkyrimas popularas it is because it’s great or because it’s never gone away? The game’s first release was over 12 years ago, but it’s continued to produce ports and special editions into last year. There are plenty of other open-world games, many that could be argued to be better thanSkyrim, but Bethesda’s fantasy epic has a unique charm that has been inescapable.
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What isBeowulf & Grendelabout?
It’s early in the sixth century, and Hrothgar, the King of the Danes, has a problem. Twenty of his finest warriors were slaughtered simultaneously in his feasting hall. He knows the culprit. Many years earlier, Hrothgar and his men executed a man believed to be a troll. His adult son Grendel seeks revenge against the Danes. With his favored soldiers dead, Hrothgar is forced to hire from abroad. Enter Beowulf, a celebrated Geatish hero equipped with a squad of 13 trained fighters.Mighty Beowulf finds Hrothgarand his people in a dark depression. Beowulf and his men are tasked with slaying Grendel and freeing the village from his terror. He’ll find the quest and the monster more complicated than it initially appeared.
There’s an intriguing second story surroundingBeowulf & Grendel. The making of the film spawnedan award-winning documentarycalledWrath of Gods. The film was shot on location in Iceland, where weather conditions rendered much of the shooting impossible. Storms battered the crew, howling winds upended tents, and all-consuming mud left much of the production miserable. One scene involving a wooden boat almost left star Gerard Butler at the bottom of a lake. The film was made under shockingly extreme conditions, adding a strange layer of risk to an otherwise straightforward film. As several crew members mentioned, almost every moment of the shooting schedule was in flagrant violation of safety standards. For what it’s worth,Wrath of Godswas far better-received than the film it produced.
How doesBeowulf & Grendelrelate toSkyrim?
Skyrimborrows a lot of details fromBeowulf. The most obvious reference is High Hrothgar, the monasterythat holds the Greybeards. High Hrothgar was named after King Hrothgar, but it’s more than a slight nod. Hrothgar plays a mentoring role to Beowulf in the original story. He’s kind, honest, and generous. His leadership role over the Danes inspires Beowulf when he becomes King of the Geats. Narratively, he fills the same role as the Greybeards. The old monks summon the Dovahkiin for a quest, just like Hrothgar calling upon Beowulf. They offer them guidance and wisdom gathered from their long lives and unique perspectives. It’s a fairly straightforward callback.
Beyond referencing the same source material,SkyrimandBeowulf & Grendeltake a similar path in their adaptations.Skyrimwas designed to divertfrom earlierElder Scrollstitles by shifting away from the classical interpolation of ancient lore and toward a form of “epic realism.“Beowulf & Grendelremoves many of the mystical elements from the original epic myth, replacing them with a sense of historical realism. Both works were crafted to bring epic stories likeBeowulfinto something more modern.
Are there other cinematic takes onBeowulf?
The first big-screen take on the epic myth was an adaptation of John Gardner’s novelGrendel.Grendel Grendel Grendelis a 1981 animated film that tells the story from the perspective of the titular monster. A 1999 adaptation starring Christopher Lambert imagined the tale taking place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The same year, John McTiernanreleasedThe 13th Warrior, an epic historical action flop that combinedBeowulfwith Ahmad ibn Fadlan’s accounts of real Vikings. Two years afterBeowulf & Grendel,Grendel,a SyFy original film, barely referenced the story. The same year saw the release of the most popular iteration,Robert Zemeckis’sBeowulf, aCG animated film that deviates heavily from the poem. Also in 2007,Beowulf: Prince of the Geatswas a no-budget adaptation that dared to cast a black man in the title role, courting much controversy. The most recent cinematic take onBeowulfis a sci-fi film calledOutlanderfrom 2008.
Beowulf & Grendelis a strange beast with a lot of intriguing ideas. Very few films are outpaced by documentaries about their absurd production. Theconnection to the classic mythand the bizarre choices made in adaptation make it one of a kind.Beowulf & Grendelis worth checking out, if only because no one is ever likely to make a film like it again, probably for the better.
