Comparison of Beowulf to The 13th Warrior. Similarities and differences of the two stories.

Beowulf and The 13th Warrior have a various amount of similarities and differences. Beowulf is an epic told about the great achievements of the great hero, “Beowulf.” The 13th Warrior is a movie based on only one major character from Beowulf but instead, the main character is a poet named Ibn. The differences of the main characters, battle occurrences, conclusions, and the similarities of the characters, battles, and the results make up the majority of the major similarities and differences.

The similarities of the stories include characters, battle events, and the terminations. Beowulf and Grendel are the names of the characters in both. Grendel, sometimes pronounced as “Wendol,” along with the mother, are the enemies in the stories. Beowulf, also worded as “Buliwyf,” is the chief warrior who later dies after battle in the two. The battle events of Beowulf and The 13th Warrior are comparable because Beowulf and his followers seek entrance into the mother’s home to kill her.

The Old English epic poem Beowulf is written in al...

An illustration of Grendel by J.R. Skelton from St...

English: An illustration of Beowulf fighting the d...

Along with the fact that the “Wendol” seeks to Beowulf’s location, and the others, in hopes of killing the people, makes these battle events similar between the two stories. In both endings, its possible to conclude that evil is defeated, but only for the time being.

Even though the tales have major similarities, they also have key dissimilarities as well. The main character is an obvious difference of the two. In Beowulf, the main character is a heroic Viking warrior, but in The 13th Warrior, the main character is an educated Muslim poet who is chosen to travel with Beowulf and the other warriors. Another difference is the order in which the battles take place. For example, in the 13th warrior, killing of the “Wendol” takes place after the killing of its mother,