This list of artistic depictions of Grendel refers to the figure of Grendel. He is one of three antagonists (along with Grendel's mother and the dragon) in the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf (c. 700–1000 CE). Grendel has been adapted in a number of different media including film, literature, and graphic/illustrated novels or comic books.

Cinema

1999 Baker adaptation

Vincent Hammond portrayed Grendel in Graham Baker's film Beowulf (1999). Among the artistic liberties taken in this version set in a post-apocalyptic future, Grendel is depicted as an armored creature with jagged fangs and clawed hands and feet, and he's stated to be the son of Hrothgar and he is shown to be capable of rendering himself partially invisible in a Predator-like manner. His manner of death also differs from the original source. As with the poem, Beowulf tears off Grendel's arm during their first battle, though Grendel survives the wound in the film. Beowulf kills Grendel later on by stabbing his stump.

2005 Gunnarsson adaptation

The film Beowulf & Grendel (2005) purports to be a more realistic depiction of the legend. Grendel, played by Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, is portrayed as a large, Neanderthal-looking primitive man, whom King Hrothgar and his men believe to be a "troll". His mother, referred in the credits as a "sea hag", is portrayed as more inhuman-looking.

2007 Zemeckis adaptation

Crispin Glover portrayed Grendel in the Robert Zemeckis film, Beowulf (2007). This version changes elements of the poem by introducing a relationship between Grendel's mother and Hrothgar which results in the birth of Grendel, much like Graham Baker's adaptation eight years prior. Grendel is portrayed in the film as a diseased and deformed creature. Described by the film crew as "The embodiment of pain", he was born with a large external eardrum which causes him pain whenever the singing in Heorot echoes in his lair. This weakness is exploited by Beowulf in his battle with the monster. When frightened or weakened, Grendel is shown to shrink in size. When not attacking the Danes, he is shown to be a timid, childlike creature who speaks in Old English in the presence of his mother. During his battle with Beowulf, his arm is severed and he bleeds to death. He's also the older half-brother of the dragon fathered by his killer. Philosophy professor Stephen T. Asma argued in the December 7 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education that, "Zemeckis's more tender-minded film version suggests that the people who cast out Grendel are the real monsters. The monster, according to this charity paradigm, is just misunderstood rather than evil. The blame for Grendel's violence is shifted to the humans, who sinned against him earlier and brought the vengeance upon themselves. The only real monsters, in this tradition, are pride and prejudice. In the film, Grendel is even visually altered after his injury to look like an innocent, albeit scaly, little child. In the original Beowulf, the monsters are outcasts because they're bad (just as Cain, their progenitor, was outcast because he killed his brother), but in the newer adaptation of Beowulf the monsters are bad because they're outcasts [...] Contrary to the original Beowulf, the new film wants us to understand and humanize our monsters."

Other film adaptations and portrayals

Comics and graphic novels

Essays

Grendel appears in the speech Harold E. Varmus gave for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on oncogenes, at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1989. He stated a cancer cell is "like Grendel, a distorted vision of our normal selves".

Games

Literature

Grendel has appeared in multiple works of contemporary literature.

Military

Music

Television