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Beowulf: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Beowulf_JRSkelton1908_w250i_9705.jpg|frame|[[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|Luckily his shield protects him.]]]]
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* [[Author Filibuster]]: Did you know that a proper ruler should always be benevolent, open-minded, and willing to honour his people who honour him in return? No? Don't worry, the poem will make sure you don't forget it.
* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Beowulf, of course.
* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: The hero's name means [[
* [[Badass Boast]]: Unferth, one of Hrothgar's men calls Beowulf a loser for losing a swimming contest. Beowulf responds that he got ambushed and had to stay on the sea floor ruining the shit of nine monsters, and tells the drunk he's going to hell.
** He took part in ''a swimming contest'' equipped with [[Self
* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Beowulf is one of these during the third and last part of the story.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Why is Beowulf the only one destined to kill Grendel? ''Because he's a hero.'' It should be noted that was how the Anglo-Saxons portrayed their heroes.
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* [[Establishing Character Moment]]: We first learn just who Beowulf is when we learn that as a boy, who participated in a swimming contest across the sea. In armour. Which he only lost because he was too busy beating up sea monsters.
* [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]: Grendel basically lives in his mother's basement.
* [[
* [[Famed in Story]]: "The most eager for fame."
* [[Folk Hero]]: To the Geats of the story.
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* [[Mutual Kill]]: The dragon and Beowulf.
* [[Name of Cain]]: Grendel is Cain's descendant. His mother probably is, too.
* [[
** It's fairly widely accepted that Shield's son was called Beow, and that the copyist wasn't paying attention and corrected a mistake that wasn't there.
** The translations usually shorten the first Beowulf's name to "Beow" to avoid confusion.
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* [[Rags to Royalty]]: see [[Made a Slave]]
* [[Rated M for Manly]]: Beowulf ''is'' this trope.
* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]]: Wiglaf gives one to the troops [[Dirty Coward|who fled from the dragon]] rather than help their king.
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: When the lake that Grendel's mother lives in is described, we know it's a bad place because it's described as being infested with all kinds of reptiles, including, but not limited to, sea dragons, serpents, and wild beasts.
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Of course, kings in that era [[Asskicking Equals Authority|became kings by proving themselves in combat]]. Hrothgar is capable, but can't do anything, because ... he's not a hero. (No, seriously.) Of course, there is also Beowulf himself.
* [[Shout Out]]: A minstrel in the poem compares Beowulf to [[Norse Mythology|Sigurd Fafnebane]], a hero that was known throughout the Northern tribes since the 6th century. And it's [[Foreshadowing|fitting]].
* [[Spell My Name With an "S"]]: Various characters have had their names translated in several different ways across different translations. For example, the king of Geatland is most commonly named "Hygelac", but at least one translation uses "Higlac". Then there's Hrothgar's great-grandfather, who has been variously called "Scyld", "Shild", or "Shield". Beowulf's father's name has been translated as "Ecgtheow" and "Edgetho". Not even the eponymous hero himself is immune - while "Beowulf" is universally accepted as the translation, some passages in the original poem spell it as "Biowulf".
** The reason for this lies in that Anglo-Saxon, like most ancient languages, had no set spelling conventions. Authors wrote what they heard, and the latter part of the manuscript was copied by a second author at some point. It's entirely possible he spoke a different dialect than the original author.
* [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]]: Each of the three monsters (Grendel, Grendel's Mother, and the dragon) is more formidible than the one before it.
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* [[The Wise Prince]]: Hrothgar, and later Beowulf.
* [[World of Badass]]: Although Beowulf manages to stand out anyway.
* [[
* [[Wrecked Weapon]]: Twice in the story, Beowulf's sword falters when he needs it most. {{spoiler|It leads to his death.}}
* [[Youth Is Wasted On the Dumb]]: A key part of Beowulf's [[Character Development]] is discovering how rash he was as a younger man and how he makes a much better king now that he's older.
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