Grendel's Mother
Plus the Nebula Awards and the MVM Podcast Launch
For this Monster of the Week entry, we will explore the one and only, fierce and supernatural warrior, Grendel’s Mother, from the epic poem, Beowulf. Centuries of oral and written tradition left this monster without a name; she’s even nameless in the film adaptation when she’s played by the impossible to ignore, Angelina Jolie. In the feminist retelling from the 2016, The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife, Susan Signe Morrison did finally give her one — Brimhild —after a powerful valkyrie in Norse mythology. Still, leaving such an epic character from a famous piece of literature nameless for all these years is a patriarchal wrong that needs to be avenged. As much as us mom’s want people to think about our kids first, we also want them to remember our names, especially if it’s in an epic poem that lives on forever.
Before we jump into this infamous and very, wrongly done monster, I’ve got a few things to share with you.
I’m going to the Nebula Conference taking place in Chicago, June 3-7th. If you are in the Chicago area, please consider attending the below event. I’ll be there for meet-and-greets and book signing with other Nebula finalists and amazing science fiction writers like N.K. Jemisin. I’m grateful to be part of it, and would love to see you there!
For anyone attending the conference, I will be doing a workshop on Friday morning, June 5th, where we’ll be digging in to adapting your novel or short story into a comic. Definitely, come start your day with me.
Our podcast, Monster V. Monster will launch June 2nd. I am really so excited about this one. Definitely go give it a follow wherever you get your podcast. There will be a great episode involving Grendel’s mother where we do give this famous entity a name and rewrite Beowulf a bit in our monster encounter.
For paid subscribers, you can watch a sneak peek of episode zero at the end of this newsletter.
Grendel’s Mother
Grendel is the main baddie from the Germaic heroic legend, Beowulf set in a pagan Scandinavia. In this type of story, society is pitted against the wild and monstrous. The poem is very old, composed sometime in the 8th century and passed down orally until it was finally written down around 1000 CE.
The monster, Grendel, is one of the central antagonists, and Beowulf is the heroic protagonist. Seamus Heaney, Nobel Laureate, wrote one of the top translations of Beowulf. When I met Heaney, my obsession with these monsters was cemented. There is also a pretty funny book, Grendel, told from Grendel’s perspective by John Gardner, as well as the feminist retelling The Saga of the Wyrd-Wife, Susan Signe Morrison. Stories told from the monster’s perspectives are my favorites. They have a tendency to reveal deep, dark truths about the culture that the original work does not address. This is very true of Beowulf and the one-sided, male-centric nature of all heroic legends.
In Beowulf, Grendel has been attacking the Dane’s mead hall, Heorot, killing men for the last twelve years. Hrothgar, the king, has been unable to defeat the monster.
Enter Beowulf, a warrior trying to prove that he is the ultimate hero. He is a bit too cocky for my taste (never been an actual fan of the character Beowulf, but love the poem). He decides he will kill Grendel barehanded. Beowulf rips off Grendel’s arm, killing him and then hangs his arm from the wall of the mead hall. This act is incredibly disrespectful and a bit gross but par for the course in these types of blood feuds.
That’s when one of the greatest misunderstood monsters of all times, joins the skirmish. Grendel’s Mother is heartbroken by the loss of her son, and she definitely has no issue engaging in bloody vengeance. She owns a sword built for giants. With that sword, she travels to the mead hall where she kills Hrothgar’s advisor and takes Grendel’s arm back to her lair.
The wandering, murderous monster slew him/ in Heorot; and I do not know where that ghoul,/ drooling at her feast of flesh and blood,/ made off afterwards. She has avenged her son….now another mighty/ evil ravager has come to avenge her kinsman….I have heard my people say,/ men of this country, counsellors in the hall,/ that they have seen two such beings,/ equally monstrous,/ rangers of the fell-country,/ rulers of the moors; and these men assert/ that so far as they can see one bears/ a likeness to a woman….These two live/ in a little-known country, wolf-slopes, windswept headlands,/ perilous paths across the boggy moors, where a mountain stream/ plunges under mist-covered cliffs,/ rushes through a fissure (Beowulf)
She avenged her son, and we’ve been told she was slain by Beowulf, but who and what was this magnificent creature, really? She is referred to in the Old English text as an ides which can be traced to the words noblewoman or female guardian spirit/goddess or a combination of both.
She is also called an Alglaecwif which can mean monster woman or monster wife but it can also be translated as female warrior. So rather than a monster, Grendel’s mother could be a Valkyrie, the Nordic choosers of the slain, depicted as warrior women on horses with spears.
Or, maybe, instead of monstrous or supernatural beings, she and Grendel represented a neighboring tribe who had beef with Hrothgar? And with each drink of mead, the story of their enemy became more supernatural and the feud more epic until they were finally slaying dragons, at least in their minds and stories. Good mead can do that to a group, transform its petty feuds into epic poems.
She is also referred to as Merewif which could mean lady of the water, water witch, woman of the water, or sea goddess. She could be connected to the Nordic goddess, Ran. Many of Beowulf feats do involve the ocean and swimming, defeating sea creatures, at least nine of them according to the hero himself. One of his central antagonists being connected to water makes a great deal of sense.
After she attacks the mead hall, Beowulf tracks her down by swimming through a snake-infested lake to her monstrous lair. He is initially losing the fight against her because his sword, Hrunting, is powerless against this mighty warrior. She almost defeats this hero but Beowulf ends up using her own sword against her, beheading her. Her blood melts the sword and Beowulf takes it home. Eventually, Hrotgar steps down and Beowulf becomes king. He rules for 50 years until a dragon kills him (he and his warrior buddy kill the dragon in the process). This epic poem is very much a man conquering the monstrous wild story, and in sections, it can also be read as a masculine force conquering a divine feminine one.
Grendel’s mother definitely had some type of supernatural if not divine power, and it does seem to be connected to the water and sea creatures. She is also connected to the descendants of Cain, so there is a possible connection the original fallen giants, the Nephilim. Proof of this lies with her sword made for a giant that she uses to slay the king’s advisor, Aechere, and then Beowulf uses against her.
No matter what her form, Grendel’s mother definitely believes in an eye for an eye. Blood for blood. She loved her son and stops at nothing to avenge him. So, for me, I associate her most as a supernatural warrior like the Valykyrie with some divine powers. It is hard to attach a worthy name to a formidable spirit such as Grendel’s mother. Brimhold, the name given to her in Morrison’s retelling, is a strong contender. However, I lean more toward a name like Alga or Angla, somewhat inspired from Alglaecwif. I am also drawn to Mera inspired by Merewif since she is clearly connected to the water as well. Like many female entities throughout time, Grendel’s mother most likely has many names and many forms due to her complex nature. Her remaining nameless in this poem for thousands of years remains a mystery.
What many in the human world do not know is that there are other endings to this story, ones that scholars have not yet discovered. There could very well still be a version of this poem where Grendel’s Mother, with a strong and powerful name, defeats Beowulf and rules the lands until the dragon appears to challenge her. That is a version I want to see in the future.
Upcoming Wicked Tree Press Events:
June 2, 2026 - Monster V. Monster Launch - Virtual
June 3-7, 2026 - Nebula Conference, Chicago
June 13, 2026 - The Last Bookstore Spring Takeover, Downtown Los Angeles
July 23-26, 2026 - San Diego Comic Con, San Diego
August 27-31 - Worldcon, Anaheim
Watch Episode Zero of the Monster V. Monster podcast before anyone else! We did this episode live on Substack a few weeks ago.
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