Modern day cinema has done a turnabout within the past few years. When I say turnabout, I mean the modern day film writer using the big screen to bring vision to some of the greatest works of literature. Of recent this has been seen with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the upcoming Troy, based on the Iliad. But approximately five years ago it was done in a movie called the 13th Warrior. When I first saw this movie I noticed right from the start that it was a parallel to the epic poem Beowulf. In the following paper I would like to further explore the similarities between the two. In exploring these ideas I will be able to conclude that great works of literature can be enjoyed by the masses when translated into terminology that present day people can understand. I make a disclaimer that the movie the 13th warrior was a movie adaptation of Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead. I have never read the book so all my thoughts are drawn straight from the movie adaptation.

At the start of the movie there is an Arab that meets up with this band of Viking types to go on a quest. The Arab throughout the entire movie is also the narrator in a sense. His role is the role of the thirteenth warrior which is the first parallel drawn between the poem and the movie. In the poem Beowulf the title and main character, Beowulf, has a band of friends that is twelve that included him. This Arab character is very important to the movie because he is the Pagan religion counter. I am sure you are all scratching your heads at what I am getting at with this. The Vikings were a culture of in which there were many gods that all sat in the Halls of Valhalla. This type of religion is referred to as a Pagan religion. It is very similar to the ancient Greeks practice of worshiping the gods of Mt. Olympus. However, the writer of Beowulf was Christian. This draws a parallel to the Arab in that he was a practicing Muslim. Both Christianity and the Muslim religion have a belief system that revolves around one god. Having the storyteller practice a one-god religion was very important. This makes him seem very much like the writer of the poem. I thought the way the movie writers placed him the movie was done very well. He was able to do the storytelling via his involvement in the story.

The obvious comparisons between the movie and the poem are plentiful. When I say obvious comparisons I mean the instances in the movie and the book that are more right in your face. You could have just read the poem and seen the movie to instantly see these compares. To better understand this, I used the example of the storyteller and the original writer. This example is one that in order for you to pick up on this you have to be fairly educated on the topic. This is what originally drew me to the idea of comparing the two. The way I want to do these compares is by taking the movie adaptation and relating it to the poem instance. I think this would be proper order of operations because the movie was done based on the poem.

The names used in the poem and movie have many close similarities. In the poem the lead character is name Beowulf. This is a stretch but the lead warrior in the 13th Warrior is named Buliwyf. The pronunciation is very close and it is very easy to see the cross being made between the two characters. Names continue to be important again when greeted at the village. In both the poem and the movie, the band of warriors are greeted by a king named Hrothgar. The movie writers make no attempt to change this name. Names are also important later on when talking about the monster. In the movie the "monster" (I will describe why the quotes later) is named Vendel. The cross is the name of the monster in the poem is named Grendel.

The movie starts with a funeral of a king. This is also the case in the poem. They describe this very vividly. The warrior and king are set a float with all there worldly possessions. Then the raft is set on fire. This scene in the movie is acted out almost exactly as it is described in the poem. Then a great feast is held in the movie to celebrate the death and life of a great king.

In the movie the warriors travel to a village in distress and offer their assistance. In the poem the warriors led by Beowulf, set off on a quest for glory and decide aiding this town will be a huge selling point on their resumes. All the strong men of the village have been killed attempting to defend the town from this terror. So the band of warriors all stay the night in the main hall and wait out the monsters in an attempt to kill them right then, these guys do not waste any time getting to business. While waiting they are all on edge not a single one is sleeping. When the monsters do show up they fight them off, and in the process they only manage to hack off one of the creatures arms. This is extremely close to the poem. In the mead hall, which is described similar to the one in the movie, the men are all waiting in anticipation of Grendel's arrival. They are all encamped in the mead hall wide-awake waiting for the monster. When the guest of honor shows up the group greets him. He manages to kill one of the warriors however when faced with Beowulf he has met his match. Beowulf is able to take the monsters arm, this make this scene and obvious comparison to the movie. The movie writers didn't really even attempt to take much creative liberty with this first encounter of the monster they just made the scene exactly as described in the poem.

In the movie the warriors celebrate this battle and then start preparation for the return of these monsters. They know that they will be back only in greater force. This does end up happening and a greater force of monsters arrives and is much more destructive then before. This compares very closely to the instance of Grendel's mother going to the village and just destroying everything in her wake. She is deemed in the story as a monster even fiercer then her son. The Vendel in the movie come back in even greater force then they did in the hall.

This leads to the warriors going after the Vendel on there turf. Much like Beowulf when he hunts down the mother on his own. They come to the Vendel's cave and sneak in. In this scene some creative liberty is taken when they have to sneak past all the Vendel to get to what is deemed as the mother of the Vendel. She is in a sense the Queen Bee. Her and Buliwyf end up fighting in which he ends up killing her. In the process she is able to poison him, which leads to the only real difference between the movie and the poem that I will get to later. After she is killed the warriors have to escape by swimming under water for quite a long period of time and then they are safe again. Again a really similar scene to what happens in the poem. Beowulf goes after Grendel's mother all by himself though. In the process of doing this he has swim for a whole day to get to her lair, which is described as a cave like dwelling. When he arrives he battles her to the death and then triumphantly returns to the praise of his men and the village. He also has swim underwater for an extended amount of time to return to the surface were it is safe once again. The scene with the Queen and the part in poem with Grendel's mother are again not hard to see the similarities.

The final scene in the movie is kind of a stretch to compare the poem and the movie. I am, however, going to try and do this. In the final scene the warriors know that the Vendel will be coming to avenge the death of their Queen. So the warriors attempt to fortify the town for one last stand. As the Vendel arrives they are described collectively as a "fire worm". Then the battle ensues and the Warrior are triumphant. This cross I am trying to make is to the last blaze of glory Beowulf has. He fights this dragon that is terrorizing the kingdom that he now rules over. The terror in the poem is a dragon. This is where the stretch is. I am comparing the "fire worm" that the Vendel create to this dragon. The way the movie ends is with Buliwyf killing the head Vendel and then the Vendel retreat assumed never to be heard from again. Then Buliwyf dies of the poison; I talked about ealier, in a royal looking way. He takes his seat on a throne line chair and appears to be satisfied with the work he has doe. All that know him just look on him in aw, knowing how great of a warrior he is. This is what Beowulf going after the dragon represents, that one last major jaunt before he retires as a warrior and gives in to his age.

This is a major element that exists in both Beowulf and 13th Warrior. Honor and courage are exhibited by both groups of warriors. The themes are repeated over and over again in both the poem and the movie. They also make note how important royalty is. This is obvious when they all pay tribute to their king in the opening with the raft set afire, sending their great leader to the halls of Valhalla. The honor and courage is demonstrated time and time again with the battling of the Vendel and then the going after the Queen and the cross to the poem with Beowulf fighting Grendel and then fighting the mother. There is also a sense of loyalty in both. The reason for Beowulf going to the Danes and helping them is because of a bond that dates throughout his ancestry. This same instance occurs in the movie with Buliwyf and his crew and the village they help.

Thanks to Hollywood filmmaking and special effects, they make a classic work of literature come to life. This is really great because the Hollywood version does not take much liberty in trying to liven up the story. Matter of fact they actually play down the grandeur of Beowulf and make it more believable for modern audiences. What I find great is how they can take something that most kids are forced to read in high school and bring it to life for them.