Be me

>Be me
>reading beowulf
>think to myself
>why would a evil sea monster keep the only thing that can kill it, in it's house
>wonder why people enjoyed stories like this
>mfw logic wasn't inverted until modern day

>why would a evil sea monster keep the only thing that can kill it, in it's house

So no one else can get to it you dolt.

>Beowulf can be killed by a sword
>carries a sword around with him

The only explanation is that premodern people were retarded.

Beowulf is so good. When I realized the dragon's treasure was his blood-price I felt like one of those mind-explosion memes.

Nice, thanks for the spoiler and ruining that realization for everyone else

:( I was just excited. I though everyone read this book like 500 years ago :( :(

>ugly giant bitch that lives with her autistic mead-hall wrecking incel son
>not having something to kill herself

You thought this in a thread about reading beowulf

>dragon's treasure was his blood-price
Can you clarify what you mean by that? I read it a long time ago and I don't remember any of that.

See In order to get the weapon that can kill the monster, you presumably have to kill the monster first in order to get it. It's a seemingly foolproof plan which makes the villain look smart, and it also sets up an event where the hero outwits the villain.

People used to hang their trophies in their rooms all the time back then. It was a sword made by giants, from what I remember, and her hall was filled with such artifacts because muh display of splendour and power. Grendel's mom probably thought that no man could even wield that monstrosity... if he ever came into her cave, literally under the bottom of a poisoned lake.

Single mothers are toxic and should not be allowed to raise their children unsupervised.

In Beowulf, user continuously mentions paying the blood-price of the fallen warriors. But Beowulf himself is so valuable to his kingdom that losing him is risking its status as a kingdom. The dragon was fated to kill him, and the treasure it rested on was symbolic of his worth to those around him.

Isn't the blood price a sum of money out other valuables that the killer of a person pays to that person's heirs or family so that the heirs give up their right and obligation to avenge their kin and thus settle the matter, otherwise the feud might go on forever? But how can there be any settling of a feud with a beast? The dragon is to be slayed at all costs and Beowulf does just that. Are you saying that the treasure is to be Beowulf's blood price that the dragon "pays" as it were to his comrades? Is that what the poet says? I don't remember any of that but your reading is fresher so, if you say so...

You're problem is from reading beowulf when you should've read Beowulf. beowulf sounds like it's probably one of those cheap Chinese knockoffs to Beowulf. You see it's a capital b instead of a lowercase b. Examine the titles to see whether your copy has the uppercase or lowercase b, and a lowercase b is not what you want; what you want is the uppercase b. Uppercase and capital are synonyms. I'm sorry if there was any confusion when I switched terms like that, but I'm in a hurry right now. Did you understand what I meant by uppercase and lowercase? If you don't have the uppercase b Beowulf then you'll want to get that and maybe burn the lowercase b beowulf into dust. Whether you understand, please reply to me for me to help you further in this dilemma.

>So no one else can get to it you dolt.
This. Seems pretty obvious, OP.

Wait, I think I'm getting it. The dragon was fated to be the one who kills Beowulf because: 1. Beowulf is a warrior king so it would be beneath him to die otherwise than in battle, and 2. The dragon is the only one who can "afford" to pay back for Beowulf's slaying since he sits on top of a huge hoard the likes of which were never seen before, therefore it is the only price fit for this most famous and valiant of kings. Is that what you're saying?

Anyway, I should read it again. Which translation do you guys recommend? I read the Heaney the first time around.

>Reading a thread about a book you haven't finished reading yet.

You deserve to be spoiled.

That suicidal feel when reading John Gardner's Grendel

Yes! Sorry for the late reply, but I'm glad it made sense after a bit. That whole realization i huge part of why I feel in love with it (along with Heaney's god-tier translation)

Fav line:
>Heaven swallowed the smoke

Reading this soon, is it as good as everyone says?

I read Grendel years ago and it's resonated with me ever since. Just don't wallow in Grendel's self pity with him too much.

Nice. Someone should write a novel from the perspective of the dragon, where it realises it must both kill Beowulf and die by his hand at the same time. It gives up its earthly life and mission as guardian of the greatest treasure that ever existed because it understands that there can be no other end for both its life and the treasure than as blood price for the slaying of the most famous warrior and king (whose life also couldn't have ended any other way).