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Beowulf Characters Of Beowulf (2007) Movie

Beowulf Characters in the epic movie Beowulf are a blend of real actors, animation and special effects, which resulted in “video-games-like” characters. The Beowulf movie is a cinematic adaption of the English Language’s most enduring epic adventure poem, which was written between 7th and 8th Century. The movie, which is directed by Robert Zemeckis is a computer animated movie using the motion capture technique. In this animation technique, frames of the actors’ motions and sceneries were computer generated. The movie was released on November 16, 2007 in the United States, Canada and UK.

The main character is Beowulf, a hero of the Geats in Ancient Sweden. The antagonists are the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother and a fire-breathing dragon. The story was based on an ancient poem of unknown authorship. The poem details Beowulf heroic exploits and his battle with the three antagonists, until his death after being mortally wounded in the final battle.

Beowulf: Beowulf, the main character in the movie is a Greatish hero. In the movie, Beowulf is portrayed by Ray Winstone. Beowulf is the ultimate hero, who exemplifies all the traits of a true hero - courage, strength, loyalty, courtesy, pride and compassion. In his youth, Beowulf was a great warrior and a great King when in old age. He become king when King Hrothgar died. He fought in three major battles. In the final battle with the dragon, Beowulf succumbed to his injuries and died in the arm of
Wiglaf.

Grendel: Grendel is a trollish creature descended from the Biblical Cain. This character is portrayed by Crispin Glover. Unable to stand the loud celebration of the newly constructed mead hall, Grendel attacked and devoured King Hrothgar’s warriors. King Hrothgar offered a handsome reward for anyone who can defeat Grendel. The battle of Grendel and Beowulf is the first battle of Beowulf. In this battle, Grendel’s arm was torn by Beowulf and Grendel ran off to his home in the mashes to die.

King Hrothgar: King Hrothgar is a Danish King. In the movie, King Hrothgar is portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. He was good and generous king. In the opening scene of the movie, King Hrothgar was shown celebrating the construction of his new mead hall called the Heorot. The noise from the celebration infuriated Grendel who broke into the Heorot and killed King Hrothgar warriors.

Grendel’s mother: An unnamed character, who is the mother of Grendel was portrayed by Angelina Jolie. Grendel’s mother attacked the Heorot in revenge, after Grendel was killed. She killed King Hrothgar’s most trusted warrior, Eschere, in revenge for Grendel’s death. Later, she battled with Beowulf with he ventures into her cave home. She appears to Beowulf as a beautiful nude woman with gold liquid dripping from her skin. Grendel’s mother nearly won the battle until Beowulf found a sword in the swamp. She was killed by Beowulf with the sword.

The Dragon: The dragon’s battle with Beowulf is the third and last battle for Beowulf. The dragon attacked a village outside of Heorot. Beowulf and Wiglaf went to the cave of Grendel’s mother, to search for the dragon. A battle ensues and the dragon was finally killed with Wiglaf’s help. The dragon was then revealed to be the son of Beowulf.

Wiglaf: Wiglaf is one of the warriors who went with Beowulf to the cave to fight the dragon. However, he was the only one brave enough to help Beowulf, while the rest run away in fear. Beowulf died in his arm when he succumbed to the injuries from the battle with the dragon.

Unferth: Unferth is portrayed by John Malkovich. He is King Hrothgar’s most trusted adviser who is jealous of Beowulf’s fame. Unferth is not brave enough to fight Grendel himself.

Wealhtheow: Queen Wealtheow, Hrothgar’s wife is the Queen of the Danes.

The other minor Beowulf characters are Shield Sheafson (the legendary Danish king), Hrethric (Hrothgar’s elder son), Hrothmund (the second son of Hrothgar) and Hrothulf (Hrothgar’s nephew).