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The parallel in the story lies with the similarity to Beowulf's hero Sigemund and his companion: Wiglaf is a younger companion to Beowulf and, in his courage, shows himself to be Beowulf's successor. [ 30 ] [ 31 ] The presence of a companion is seen as a motif in other dragon stories, but the Beowulf poet breaks hagiographic tradition with the ...
The episode in Beowulf (lines 1068–1158) is about 90 lines long and appears in the form of a lay sung by Hrothgar's scop at a feast in celebration of Beowulf's recent exploit. The lay identifies Hnæf's last struggle as the aftermath of a battle described as Fres-wæl ("Frisian slaughter").
Wiglaf is the single warrior to return and witness Beowulf's death. Illustration by J. R. Skelton, 1908. Beowulf returns home and eventually becomes king of his own people. One day, fifty years after Beowulf's battle with Grendel's mother, a slave steals a golden cup from the lair of a dragon at Earnanæs. When the dragon sees that the cup has ...
Beowulf's sword broke, but he dealt the dragon its death-blow with his dagger. He had been mortally wounded by the dragon's poisonous bite. Dying, he was carried out by Wiglaf, and with his last breaths named Wiglaf his rightful heir. His body was burned on a funeral pyre, and his ashes buried in a barrow by the sea.
Wiglaf speaking to the mortally wounded Beowulf after their battle with the dragon. 1908 illustration by J. R. Skelton. Wiglaf first appears in Beowulf at line 2602, as a member of the band of thanes who go with Beowulf to seek out the dragon that has attacked Geat-Land. This is the first time Wiglaf has gone to war at Beowulf's side.
In the Battle on the Ice, the combatants are described as fighting on horseback, although the later Norsemen and Anglo-Saxons who told of this battle in their legends would fight on foot. Likewise, Onela's helmet is called the battle-boar although the boar-crested helmets were long out of use by the time records of the event were written down.
The story of the aquatic adventure with Breca is introduced into the Beowulf saga for a number of reasons. First, we are introduced to Unferth, evidently a significant member of Hrothgar's court, but we are immediately encouraged to dislike him, because we are told he is motivated by envy and wishes to embarrass Hrothgar's honored guest.
Beowulf answers the challenge by boasting that he is the strongest swimmer in the world, and entertains the company with a tale about how, in that contest, he swam the North Sea in full armor while carrying a sword, killed nine huge sea-monsters who dragged him to the ocean floor, and was carried by the currents to the shore of the land of the ...