Beowulf V.S the 13th Warrior

There are many vast differences and many similarities between the story of Beowulf and The 13th Warrior written by a Christian Monk and the story called Eaters of the Dead what was later know as The 13th Warrior written by Ibn Fadlan who was Moslem which was later written by Michael Crichton. Then there was a movie called The 13th Warrior. The two things that will be compared and contrasted are going to be the movie of The 13th Warrior and the Epic of Beowulf.

Instead of doing a translation of Beowulf, the writer of the “The 13th Warrior” used his creativity to fabricate a new story. To start off, “The 13th Warrior” is seen through the eyes of Antonio Bandera’s’ character, Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, while Beowulf told the story of Beowulf from a third person point of view. The characters, Beowulf (Beowulf), and Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan (“The 13th Warrior”) are of different groups. Beowulf is Anglo-Saxon and Buliwyf is Swedish. In “The 13th Warrior” groups of men fight the evil which are men dressed up as bears, called Wendol’s possibly to seem more frightening, and their mother, who is an evil witch person and the leader. Beowulf generally fights the evil, which is represented by Grendel and his mother, who are both monsters, descendants of Cain, alone. The warriors of “The 13th Warrior” and Beowulf, clearly, had reasons for fighting the Grendle, his mom, the Dragon, and the Wendol’s. Beowulf wanted to be famous and Buliwyf and his men just wanted to help out. Beowulf was more of a super hero type unlike the men in “The 13th Warrior.” Buliwyf and his comrades were not offered money or any reward; they did not so much want to be remembered for their heroic deeds at Herot. They just wanted to help save the place. Like Beowulf and Buliwyf, Grendel and the Wendol’s had reasons for attacking Herot. Every night the men at the kingdom would stay up late laughing, dancing, drinking; celebrating their greatness and Grendle was never invited because he was Gods curse. Grendel grew weary of this night after night and eventually went to go get his revenge. Grendel attacked because he was impatient but the Wendol’s of “The 13th Warrior” had a completely different reason. They were a fairly selfish group of men who wished to take over other villages around them; therefore they attacked Herot, showing their power. “The 13th Warrior” had to keep something in common with Beowulf in order to be known as being something from the epic poem.

There are a few scenes in “The 13th Warrior” that compare to scenes in Beowulf. When Buliwyf and his men were attacked by the Wendols in the small hut, they fought for a while and the Wendols fled back into the night to their cave. This scene is correspondent to when Beowulf defeated Grendel in the mead-hall. Grendel fled back into the night, down to his cave under the waters of the lake. After these scenes in Beowulf and “The 13th Warrior” another event takes