Beowulf

[CMarie727]

Why does Grendel live in a swamp?

[WaldoMcFroog]

And where should any self-respecting monster live, if not a swamp? Beowulf is set before dungeons, you know!

[chemsatain]

What an odd question. Why does Gawain accept the Green Knight's challenge? Why does the sun set and so forth?

[gerhold]

Beowulf originates from a time when much of Germany and England was forested and what was not forested was often swamp or marsh land. Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskerville's has as its non-living villain the awful Grimpen Mire from which nothing can escape. I guess (and its only a guess) that anything that can live and go and return from and to a swamp has supernatural powers. I've only ever glanced through the saga but its certainly contains a powerful imagery although I have never been able to really envisage Grendel or his mother!