Compare And Contrast The 13th Warrior And Beowulf

Beowulf vs. The 13th Warrior Beowulf, an Old English epic poem—written sometime between the 8th and 11th century by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet, and The 13th Warrior, a 1999 action film—produced and directed by John McTiernan, share many similarities and differences regarding character, setting, plot, and theme. Because John McTiernan’s film is so similar to the epic poem, it is widely assumed that The 13th Warrior is directly inspired by and based off of Beowulf. Not only is the plot and setting of the two works very similar, but the characters and overall theme is as well. As always, with the similarities, we also see many key differences. The differences, however, do not stray far from their original interpretations. The most fundamental comparison of characters begins with the analyzation of the two epic heroes—Beowulf, from Beowulf, and Buliwyf, from The 13th Warrior. Both Beowulf and

Beowulf and The 13th Warrior share the same general storyline of a kingdom in need of an epic hero to aid them in defeating a ferocious, evil being. In the poem, this ferocious, evil being is a single monster known as Grendel. In the film, this ferocious, evil being is a multitude of monsters known as the Wendol. In both Beowulf and The 13th Warrior, there are three battles that take place throughout the storyline. Both of which consist of a victorious battle against Grendel and the Wendol, as well as the slaying of the two’s mother. The point at witch the two storylines steer away from each other comes right after the second battle. In the film, directly after the second battle, Buliwyf dies—leaving it up to his fellow warriors to fight the third battle alone. In the poem, Beowulf waits fifty years to fight his third and final battle against a fire breathing dragon, ultimately leading to his heroic