In the Old English epic Beowulf, the hero defeats Grendel in the hall Heorot. Grendel is a man-eating monster who attacks the hall of King Hrothgar for many years before Beowulf arrives.
Beowulf fights Grendel without weapons and tears off the monster’s arm. Grendel then retreats to his mere and dies. The following episode introduces Grendel’s mother, who seeks revenge and forces Beowulf into another dangerous battle.
Beowulf is not a Norse poem in the strict sense: it was written in Old English, probably between the eighth and early eleventh centuries, and its setting lies in Scandinavia. Its characters include Danes, Geats, and other Germanic peoples, making it essential to the broader literary study of northern European legend.
Readers sometimes connect Grendel directly with a named figure from the Norse gods’ family tree, but the poem does not identify him as a standard Norse deity. He is a unique monster of the Beowulf tradition.