The 13th Warrior is a 1999 film adaptation of Michael Crichton’s book “Eaters of the Dead”. The film follows Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan (played by the arguably well-casted Antonio Banderas) during his legendary travels with the Vikings, and combines elements of his manuscripts with a retelling of the epic 8th-11th century Scandinavian poem “Beowulf”. The film begins with Ibn Fahdlan describing a romantic affair between him and an important Baghdadi official’s wife. He is banished from the kingdom and eventually meets a group of Vikings. He is drafted as the thirteenth man in a group of warriors that are venturing North to help rid a King of “monsters” known as Wendol that are plaguing his kingdom. Keeping true to history, Fahdlan meets the Vikings …show more content…
The leader of the 13 warriors is named Buliwyf (Beowulf), and he is played by Vladimir Kulich, who later played Leif in the History Channel “Vikings” program, and could certainly be typecast as a stereotypical Viking hero. The monstrous enemy faction is called the Wendol – a name much like Beowulf’s troll-like adversary Grendel. The King who enlists the warriors is named Hrothgar, which is also the name of the King that Beowulf assists in his legend. Buliwyf even fights the Wendol’s matriarch and beheads her, just as Beowulf did to Grendel’s mother, though the outcome is slightly different and Buliwyf gets dealt a fatal poison blow. Clearly, there are parallels between the film’s plot and the plot of …show more content…
Scenes like Buliwyf’s introduction, in which, during the funeral party, he quickly dispatches an attempted assassin and moments later, the party resumes as if nothing had happened serve to highlight the Vikings’ brutality – a brutality, judging by Fahdlan’s amazement, unlike any he had encountered previously. Other presumably normal events in Scandinavian culture leave Fahdlan in either exasperation or surprise. When he witnesses the holmgang, he tries to stop it, and goes so far as to call it “madness”. He is introduced to mead, which he initially declines due to his Muslim faith, until he finds out it is based on honey, not wheat. This leads to another humorous moment when the Fahdlan and the Vikings are fortifying the village in preparation for the Wendol’s attack – he is offered a refreshment from a village girl, and questions if it’s mead, showing his naivety in belief that the Vikings would drink mead during laborious affairs rather than
After reading the epic poem Beowulf and watching the movie The 13th Warrior, I find that the differences greatly outnumber the similarities. However, the theme of good versus evil reflects the values of the Anglo-Saxon people in both the poem and the movie. Numerous differences exist in the poem and the movie including the characters, the bloody battles, and the deaths of the heroes.
Nobody dared to stop the bravest man in all the land known as Beowulf. Beowulf is the strongest warrior from Geatland. When Beowulf hears about the Danes and Hrothgar’s struggle to keep his men safe, he offers to help. The Danish king, Hrothgar, accepts Beowulf’s request to kill Grendel and his mother. Beowulf proves his strength and becomes famous when he defeats Grendel in a battle using nothing but his bare hands in Herot. He keeps Grendel’s arm as a symbol of his victory. Grendel’s mother looks for revenge, but she is also killed by the brave warrior. Beowulf becomes the King of Geatland after the king’s son, Heardred, is killed. Beowulf rules for 50 years and he is very successful in keeping peace across the land and Geatland becomes very prosperous. Beowulf later dies after a final fight against a dragon. The Geats build a tower strong and tall just as Beowulf requested so that sailors could find it from far and wide. Beowulf perfectly embodies the Germanic heroic ideal.
Beowulf is an epic poem that was written in the late tenth-century, at the kingdom of the West Saxons. The two main characters are Beowulf, a young man; and Grendel, a furious dragon. Beowulf's world is a very violent society with wars as a dominant part of daily life. Dragons and monsters are a constant threat to the Danes and the Geats. Warriors are a necessity to this war-like society. Beowulf is a hero as well as a great, and honorable, warrior.
Although Beowulf might have been a great warrior, usually people do not think that he is the greatest warrior from a story. Beowulf had the strength and the tactics to take down tons and tons of men on his own, but did not have the wisdom of other warrior figures. Beowulf was mainly strength and toughness, and sometimes a warrior needs to have some type of knowledge to ever be able to fight. A great example to Beowulf would be Luke Skywalker. Luke is in a story that is not the same type of story but, has the same concept. The only main difference would have to be the setting and the type of movie. Beowulf is a warrior that is considered super human and doesn't really belong anywhere, because he is not truly con...
The epic Beowulf is one of the oldest poems written in English. According to the Norton Anthology, "the poem was composed more the twelve hundred years ago, in the first half of the eight century. Its author may have been a native of what was Mercia, the Midlands of England today, although the late tenth-century manuscript , which alone preserves the poem, originated in the south in the kingdom of the West Saxons" (Norton 21). Although the poem is of English origin, it speaks of tribes (the Danes and the Geats) that are from the "Danish island of Zealand and southern Sweden respectively" (Norton 22). The main character, Beowulf, demonstrates that he is a warrior who places heroism and bravery over his own well-being and life. Beowulf is a hero and an example of a great warrior. His actions give us a good example of the pagan warrior mentality. The pagan society is a warrior society, in which courage and bravery are extremely prevalent. Beowulf fights against monsters and dragons, and he would rather die in battle, then anywhere else. Beowulf is called upon to help defeat Grendel, who is a monster that has taken over the hall of Heorot. He is greeted with great hospitality. Hrothgar, the King of Denmark, is relived to see Beowulf. There is some skepticism by Unferth, who recalls a fight in which Beowulf lost in Battle. Unferth is wrong, and Beowulf says this great line: "fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good." Beowulf defeats Grendel with great ease and the people of the hall are gracious to Beowulf.
The character of Beowulf stands as a hero to the ancient Danes because of his actions. He is constantly being cited as a "war-chief" and a "gold-giver" (61). Beowulf has achieved fame through what he has done with his own hands. His identity as a leader is based upon the Danish society’s emphasis on personal action, as opposed to the delegation of responsibility through conscious thought. It is this very sense which spurs Beowulf to fight the dragon: "In my youth I engaged in many wars. Old guardian of the people, I shall still seek battle, perform a deed of fame, if the evil-doer will come to me..." (59). Beowulf derives his power from a strong link to the past. Without his history of glorious deeds, he would see himself bereft of the very power which qualifies him to be a good King. Beowulf’s bravery never comes in to question, he does meet every challenge head-on, with deadly attention. The society which labels Beowulf as a legendary hero, recognizes his actions and his bravery as a integral part of his definition as a hero. Without the society to support th...
The main character, and protagonist, Beowulf is first introduced in the novel by means of ancestral lineage. Born into greatness, Beowulf makes his reputation indisputable through action. With the King Hrothgar as witness, Beowulf declares his intentions to aid the Danes by way of slaying the awesome beast Grendel who has caused havoc among the lands. "Now I mean to be a match for Grendel, settle the outcome in single combat." As every great hero fulfils his boast, Beowulf did not fall short. Though the destruction of Grendel brought relief and rejoicings- a mother's wrath would cause it to fall short. Again, the mighty Beowulf takes on this mighty beast, descendant of Cain. As Hrothgar desperately states: "Now help depends again on you and you alone./ Seek it if you dare."
Beowulf begins with a history of the Danish kings. Hrothgar is the present king of the Danes. He builds a hall, called Heorot, to house his army. The Danish soldiers gather under its roof to celebrate and have fellowship with each other. Grendel, who lives at the bottom of a nearby swamp, is awakened and disgusted by the singing of Hrothgar's men. He comes to the hall late one night and kills thirty of the warriors in their sleep. For the next twelve years Grendel stalks the mead hall known as Heorot.
Hrothgar and the Danes hold a celebration after they finished of their new mead hall, named Heorot. During the celebration Grendel, a monster in the swamps, hears the loud cheers of the Danes singing and chanting as the festivities take place. Grendel becomes furious from
The pessimism of the poor Danes was palpable. They had even despaired of appealing to the Christian God and had reverted to offering sacrifice to their heathen idols. Grendel had killed 30 warriors the first night and had taken even more the next night. But their pessimism is dispelled by one Beowulf who is ready and willing to sacrifice himself to repay the debt of Ecgtheow, Beowulf’s father, to Hrothgar. This Geat warrior possesses almost miraculous qualities: “He was the strongest of men a...
Many people who read the poem Beowulf would probably find it hard to find similarities between the poem and life in modern America. How could one compare an ancient Anglo-Saxon culture with the sophisticated world that we are living in today? But, if we look closely, we may be able to pinpoint some parallel between the two societies. This essay will discuss the topics of warrior life, the “bad guy,” and social similarities. One might wonder how a warrior culture might be similar to our own? But if we consider American culture, we are actually still very war-like. We have a strong military system built to protect our country and the people that make it up. We are also known for going to the aid of other countries that aren’t able to defend themselves. This is very similar to the mentality of the warriors in Beowulf. Beowulf comes to the aid of Hrothgar’s falling kingdom.
The 13th Warrior is told on the viewpoint of Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan. In the epic poem the story is told from Beowulf`s point of view. The movie explains the risk the warriors went through in the battle. It shows Ahmed saving two kids who were running from the attack and his big heart for those who were suffering. The film shows the better side of Beowulf, the more gentleman side. It shows Beowulf fighting to protect people. The characters in the film and the poem have totally different personalities and do all the task in a different ways. Throughout The 13th Warrior and Beowulf the warriors show off their attributes and physical talents. The main characters are different, but they have similar goals with just different reasons for doing
The warrior culture was a dominate aspect of Anglo-Saxon society. Anglo Saxon’s lived an agrarian lifestyle relying of the land as a source of life. Because of their lifestyle, the Anglo Saxon’s lived in small communities. Anglo Saxon England consisted of hundreds of tribes and clans. These tribes and clans were always at war between one another. This is where the warrior culture was dominate. Each tribe needed a warrior to protect them from neighboring clans. In the epic poem Beowulf, Beowulf is the warrior who goes to Denmark to fight the evil monster Grendel. Like a good warrior, Beowulf possesses the traits of loyalty and bravery. The Danes have been under attack of Grendel for twelve year. The people of Denmark live in destruction,
Beowulf is characterized as a leader from start to finish. In the beginning of the story, Beowulf, a Geat thane, catches wind of the monster Grendel and decides he wants to assist, “so Beowulf chose the mightiest men he could find, the bravest and the best of the Geats, fourteen in all, and led them
Beowulf has just killed Grendel and hung that infamous claw in the hall of Heorot. Everyone under King Hrothgar’s rule is celebrating Beowulf’s triumph. In the midst of the celebration a court singer begins to sing about the glory of the former Danish people many years ago. The song chronicles a battle between the Danes and the Frisians. The leader of the Frisians, Finn, engages in battle and ends up with most of his army being defeated. However, Finn ends up killing Hnaef the leader of the Danes. Hengest, successor to Hnaef, makes peace with Finn and the rest of the Danes end up living with the Frisian people. An important part of this episode to note is that the wife of Finn, Hildeburh, is also the sister of Hnaef. Hnaef and Hildeburh’s son were both killed in battle and their burial is described in grotesque detail. A member of the Frisian tribe gives a sword to Hengest who has long debated this newly forged allegiance with the Frisians. Hengest decides to take revenge and wages war once again. It’s unclear who exactly kills Finn, but he is murdered by a member of the Danish people. Hildeburh is taken captive and is brought back to her homeland with the Danes (lines 1065-1161). Thus ends the story that scholars refer to as the “Finn episode”.