Hi josie,
I saw the film in the theatre, (Took my ninth graders on a school trip.) The dragon was her son from Beowulf , to replace the son Grendel he killed and also in exchange for his greed to be great. It has been a long time since I read the real story, we only read a short, simplified portion in class, so I am not sure of the differences. I do know that Beowulf was supposedly a "Christ-like" literary figure, much like Arthur, so the idea of him 'selling' himself seems off. Even the students picked up on that. perhaps AB has a more scholarly academic than myself who can shed more light. (Or we could both read the cheat notes) LOL
ET