| Beowulf | Geatish hero who fights the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and a fire-breathing dragon. He personifies all of the best values of the heroic culture. In his old age, he proves a wise and effective ruler. |
| King Hrothgar | The king of the Danes. He enjoys military success and prosperity until Grendel terrorizes his realm. represents a different kind of leadership from that exhibited by the youthful warrior Beowulf. He is a father figure to Beowulf and a model for the kind of king that Beowulf becomes. |
| Grendel | A demon descended from Cain, he preys on Hrothgar’s warriors in the king’s mead-hall, Heorot. Because his ruthless and miserable existence is part of the retribution exacted by God for Cain’s murder of Abel, he fits solidly within the ethos of vengeance that governs the world of the poem. |
| Grendel’s mother | An unnamed swamp-hag. she seems to possess fewer human qualities than Grendel, although her terrorization of Heorot is explained by her desire for vengeance—a human motivation. |
| The dragon | An ancient, powerful serpent that guards a horde of treasure in a hidden mound |
| Shield Sheafson | The legendary Danish king from whom Hrothgar is descended. The mythical founder who inaugurates a long line of Danish rulers and embodies the Danish tribe’s highest values of heroism and leadership. |
| Beow | The second king listed in the genealogy of Danish rulers with which the poem begins. The son of Shield Sheafson and father of Halfdane. He is a gift from God to a people in need of a leader. |
| Halfdane | The father of Hrothgar, Heorogar, Halga, and an unnamed daughter who married a king of the Swedes. He succeeded Beow as ruler of the Danes. |
| Wealhtheow | Hrothgar’s wife, the gracious queen of the Danes. |
| Unferth | A Danish warrior who is jealous of Beowulf. He is unable or unwilling to fight Grendel, thus proving himself inferior to Beowulf. |
| Hrethric | Hrothgar’s older son. He stands to inherit the Danish throne, but his older cousin Hrothulf will prevent him from doing so. |
| Hrothmund | The second son of Hrothgar. |
| Hrothulf | Hrothgar’s nephew. He betrays and usurps his cousin, Hrethic, the rightful heir to the Danish throne. His treachery contrasts with Beowulf’s loyalty to Hygelac in helping his son to the throne. |
| Hygelac | Beowulf’s uncle, king of the Geats, and husband of Hygd. He heartily welcomes Beowulf back from Denmark. |
| Hygd | Hygelac’s wife, the young, beautiful, and intelligent queen of the Geats. She is contrasted with Queen Modthryth. |
| Wiglaf | A young kinsman and retainer of Beowulf who helps him in the fight against the dragon while all of the other warriors run away. He adheres to the heroic code better than Beowulf’s other retainers, thereby proving himself a suitable successor to Beowulf. |
| Ecgtheow | Beowulf’s father, Hygelac’s brother-in-law, and Hrothgar’s friend. He is dead by the time the story begins, but he lives on through the noble reputation that he made for himself during his life and in his dutiful son’s remembrances. |
| King Hrethel | The Geatish king who took Beowulf in as a ward after the death of Ecgtheow, Beowulf’s father. |
| Breca | Beowulf’s childhood friend, whom he defeated in a swimming match. Unferth alludes to the story of their contest, and Beowulf then relates it in detail. |
Beowulf characters (from SparkNotes)
February 21, 2020