Grendel's mother
Anglo Saxon · numen · heroic age · Recorded classification
A FIGURE WITH NO NAME AND THE CLEAREST MOTIVE IN THE POEM. She does exactly what the poem's own ethic requires of a kinsman: she takes one life for one life, and she takes it from the man the king loves best. The record files her under the phrase the poem uses and invents no name, as lane 20 did for Marjatta's son.
Children
Relations
- mother of: GrendelIn-batch; Grendel also carries her in parentIds.Reference treatment: Grendel's mother comes to Heorot seeking revenge for her son's death. (secondary)
- killed: ÆschereIn-batch.Reference treatment: she murders Aeschere, one of Hrothgar's most trusted advisers. (secondary)
- killed by: BeowulfNon-symmetric.Reference treatment: Beowulf kills her with a sword forged for a giant in her underwater lair. (secondary)
Sources
- Grendel's mother avenges her son by killing Æschere and is killed by Beowulf in her hall beneath the mere.: Reference treatments of Beowulf and of Grendel's mother. (secondary)