All language subtitles for Clash.of.the.Gods.S01E08.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-deadorbit_track3_[eng]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: He is the mythical
hero of the Norse world, locked

in an epic battle of
man against monster,

destined to confront not one
but three terrifying beasts

in a quest for undying glory.

This is the legend of Beowulf.

Yeah!

[soldiers cheering]

NARRATOR: But could it
be more than just legend?

[water gurgling]

[shrieking]

Prepare to experience the oldest
story in the English language

in an entirely new way.

[music playing]

This is the strange truth
behind the fiction of "Beowulf."

[rumbling]

[music playing]

The stench of death permeates
Denmark's Royal Hall.

Headless bodies, bloody
entrails, a savage beast

is on the rampage.

[women screaming]

[monster growling]

He is Grendel, a monstrous
outcast banished from society

whose rage has
turned to violence.

[music playing]

I always compare Grendel
to Predator, you know,

sort of hulking and
dark and threatening.

[monster growling]

NARRATOR: Night after night,
the monster's vicious reign

of terror continues.

[monster growling]

He's killing warriors.

He's tearing them
apart, limb from limb.

He's decapitating them.

There are body parts
all over the place.

NARRATOR: Denmark desperately
needs a hero, someone

strong enough to face off
with the monster, someone who

can take him down.

That hero is Beowulf.

[music playing]

Beowulf is the
biggest possible hero

you could imagine.

He can do anything.

JOHN DAVENPORT: He's not
afraid to lose his life.

This is exactly what
a hero in his culture

has to be like, willing to
lay down his life for honor,

for glory.

Beowulf is no
ordinary human being.

He really is a heroic figure.

Like the heroes in
Greek mythology,

his powers definitely exceed
those of an ordinary man.

[rumbling]

[soldiers yelling]

NARRATOR: In a dark age,
when terror was everywhere

and heroes were few,
the myth of Beowulf

resonated as the ultimate
clash between good and evil,

between a valiant warrior and
a myriad of monstrous enemies.

[music playing]

The legend of Beowulf
is a fictional story

inspired by fact.

Today, experts are still
unsure who created it,

but it's believed to have
originated in England

in the seventh or
eighth century AD,

making it the oldest story
in the English language.

The action of the poem takes
place in the sixth century

in Scandinavia, but the
poem itself was written

in Anglo-Saxon England after the
conversion of the Anglo-Saxons

in 665.

BARRY STRAUSS: Christianity had
recently taken root in England

at the time of the
writing of "Beowulf."

The poem reflects a society that
has a deep pagan background,

and it has stories that
come from its pagan past.

What the poem does is
it recasts these stories

in a Christian mold so that its
listeners would be able to keep

touch with their past.

They would reinterpret
it in a Christian way.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In the myth, Beowulf's
first nemesis, the monster

Grendel, has an intriguing
link to the Christian Bible.

The text says
that he is descended

from the line of Cain.

NARRATOR: According to the Old
Testament, Cain, son of Adam,

was mankind's first murderer.

He slayed his brother
Abel out of jealousy

and came to symbolize the
worst of human passions.

[grendel growling]

Grendel inherits
that vile legacy.

SCOTT LEONARD:
Grendel resents and is

jealous of the humans who are
feasting in the meat halls.

DIMITRA FIMI: All of the
men in the Great Hall

are having a good time and
they're telling stories.

And, you know, they're
all together and united.

And he seems to envy that.

He seems that-- he'll never
be part of that kind of thing.

And his reaction to that
is to attack and destroy.

[grendel growling]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In the ancient text,
Grendel's physical appearance

is left to the imagination.

The only clue is the phrase,
"a fiend out of Hell."

Grendel is described as a
demon of the dark, if you like.

Wherever he moves,
darkness surrounds him.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In the myth,
the monster holds Denmark

under siege for 12 years.

CHARLIE BETHEL: He kills
30 people at a time.

You can't see him coming.

He's bloodthirsty and
likes to crunch on bones.

NARRATOR: After he decimates
the King's warriors,

Grendel turns his rage
on innocent civilians.

[static hissing]

But there is one person he
cannot harm, the Danish king,

Hrothgar.

Like many real kings
of the Dark Ages,

he is thought to have the
power of God on his side.

BARRY STRAUSS: Strangely
enough, Grendel

doesn't attack King Hrothgar.

The King is seated on a
throne that's protected by God

himself, and so Grendel
has to keep his distance.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: All of Hrothgar's
warriors have failed him.

But in the nearby
Kingdom of Geatland,

there is one who will
stand above all others.

[static hissing]

BARRY STRAUSS: Beowulf
comes from Scandinavia.

He is a warrior descended
from great warriors,

and he is a man who has a
reputation for strength,

his courage, and his ambition.

He wants to make a
great name for himself.

[music playing]

THOMAS FINAN: At the
outset of the poem,

Beowulf is a well-known warrior.

He's a leader of a-- of
what seems to be a war band

or a group of men who
traveled together.

He's not really a
mercenary, per se.

It's not as if he
is looking for pay.

It's merely along the lines of
him looking for a good fight.

JOHN DAVENPORT: Beowulf is
primarily seeking glory, what

the Old English called "lof."

It's this kind of glory that
attends a person of high honor

who's lived up to
his obligations

under the honor
code at the time.

It's a kind of glory and status
that nobleman of his time

aimed for that really
motivates Beowulf.

NARRATOR: Beowulf knows
there is one way to achieve

everlasting distinction, to
do what no man before him

has done.

He must slay Grendel.

[music playing]

Night falls.

[crowd chattering]

The hall comes alive with
the sounds of celebration.

But, this time, it is a
trick designed by Beowulf

to lure Grendel from his lair.

HELGA LUTHERS: He's not
going to wait for an attack.

He's going to make sure
that attack will happen,

and he's uses actually
a surprisingly the

scientific method.

He recreates the circumstances
of the first attack.

And there is singing
and there is merriment.

And Grendel, sure
enough, hears this,

and he comes to get his meat.

NARRATOR: The beast
is thirsty for blood.

[grendel growling]

But Beowulf is ready.

In the dead of night,
as the party dies down,

the hero lies in wait.

He will either
kill or be killed.

Finally, Grendel makes his move.

[guests screaming]

Beowulf and his warriors
brace for attack.

[grendel growling]

All the warriors
pull out their swords,

and they start to try and
hack and hew at Grendel.

NARRATOR: But Grendel
is impervious.

No sword can harm Grendel.

No metal weapon of any kind.

Grendel has put a curse
on all such weapons,

preventing them
from affecting him.

[grendel growling]

CHARLIE BETHEL: He grabs
one of Beowulf's warriors,

and he rips him in half,
drinks down his blood,

throws the body down, and
then goes for Beowulf.

NARRATOR: This is the myth, but
what is the link to reality?

[thunder]

[wind howling]

90 miles north of London,
England, is a place called

Sutton Hoo.

This area was once ruled by
powerful Anglo-Saxon kings.

[music playing]

In the 20th century,
archaeologists

excavated the
ancient burial mounds

and made a startling discovery--

evidence of bodies mangled and
murdered in a very brutal way.

They died violently, suddenly.

[screaming]

Almost as if killed
by a monster.

ANGUS WAINWRIGHT: Many
of them buried face-down

or with their heads
lopped off, necks broken,

buried in all kinds
of strange positions.

So they were buried
in a shaming way.

NARRATOR: It is shocking
evidence of violence

in a once-prosperous
kingdom in the same era

when the is thought
to have originated.

Experts theorize
that these victims

were Anglo-Saxon criminals
sentenced to death for defying

the King.

MICHAEL DROUT: These seemed to
be criminals who were executed

and buried in this place, which
had apparently gone from being

a place of worship
to a place of terror.

Now, the connection
to Beowulf simply

could be that these kinds
of violent public executions

were a way that a king
could maintain order

within his kingdom.

NARRATOR: Could
these gruesome deaths

have inspired the
story of carnage

in the court of King Hrothgar?

The hunt for clues
leads back to the myth.

[music playing]

Ya!
Hey!

[grendel growling]

NARRATOR: The monster
Grendel is terrorizing

the blood-soaked
hall of the King.

No sword can pierce his skin.

But Beowulf refuses to give in.

He has one weapon
left, his bare hands.

It is a classic struggle
between David and Goliath,

monster versus man.

The future of Denmark's
people hangs in the balance,

and Beowulf is their
last line of defense.

[music playing]

[grendel growling]

[women shrieking]

It's mayhem in the Danish
court of King Hrothgar.

[music playing]

Beowulf and the
monstrous giant Grendel

are locked in a death match.

Suddenly, our hero
gains the advantage.

CHARLIE BETHEL: Beowulf
grabs Grendel's arm,

and he twists it.
[crunching]

[grendel growling]

NARRATOR: Beowulf, the
world's strongest warrior,

pulls at the monster's
arm with all his might.

Grendel howls and, you know,
his shoulder is dislocated.

And Beowulf twists it
again and twists it again,

and then pops it right off.

[grendel howling]

And the bone splits
from the sinew.

It springs apart.

The muscle rips away.

NARRATOR: Agonized
cries flood the hall.

[music playing]

Grendel tears off into the
night, hemorrhaging blood.

[grendel growling]

SCOTT LEONARD: There was
Grendel, armless, and the life

draining out of his arm,
heading back to his marshy home,

knowing he has very
little time left.

NARRATOR: Deep in the
woods, the wounded monster

stumbles to the ground
and draws his last breath.

[music playing]

Beowulf has slain the beast.

He holds high his prized
trophy, Grendel's bloody arm.

News of Grendel's death
spreads fast across the land,

and Beowulf is celebrated
as a superhero.

He has achieved the glory
and honor he set out to find.

[eerie music playing]

But a grim reality soon sets in.

There are scores of
slain warriors to bury.

The "Beowulf" text describes how
the Warriors were laid to rest.

The description matches what is
now known about real funerals

in the ancient Norse world.

BARRY STRAUSS: In a ship
burial, the person who

is going to be buried and his
valuables and gold and silver

will be put in the ship, and
the ship will be sent out to sea

and it will be burned.

It was a wanton destruction
of valuable goods in a society

that was not awash
in goods, but it's

a sign just of the
seriousness of the loss

and the prestige and
importance of the person

who's being buried.

[flames crackling]

NARRATOR: Amazingly, evidence
of these ritual burials,

the same ones
described in "Beowulf,"

can be found not
underwater, but underground.

[music playing]

Today, there are hundreds of
mysterious mounds scattered

across northern Europe.

Many are still waiting
to be excavated.

At Sutton Hoo, in England,
where archaeologists discovered

those mysterious mangled
bodies, the burial mounds

have yielded more
stunning evidence

about the world of "Beowulf."

In 1939, excavations
turned up a buried ship

dated to the time when the
"Beowulf" myth is believed

to have been written.

That wood had
completely decayed away,

but you could still see the
shapes of all the planks

and the ribs running at
right angles across it.

It looked like a
complete wooden ship.

NARRATOR: But closer
examination revealed

it was more than just a ship.

It was the tomb of
an unknown ruler,

teeming with buried treasures.

ANGUS WAINWRIGHT: Sutton Hoo is
the richest grave from England

and is, well, the richest
grave from the Dark Ages

from Northern Europe.

It's telling us about the
elite of Dark Age society.

[music playing]

MICHAEL DROUT: The actual
artifacts that were dug out

of Sutton Hoo looked
like the things that

are described in "Beowulf."

There are helmets with
boar crests on them.

There are swords with decorated,
twisted handles, and so forth.

And so there seems to be
some kind of connection

between what's
described in "Beowulf"

and what we found in Sutton Hoo.

NARRATOR: The Sutton
Hoo excavation

proved, for the first time,
that the legend of Beowulf

is more than just a
fictional thriller.

But it's not the only
site yielding evidence

of the truth behind the myth.

[music playing]

In the Danish countryside,
archaeologists

have made an unusual
discovery, evidence

of a real ancient hall.

The wooden superstructure
rotted away centuries ago.

But, based on the location
of its post holes,

it once stretched 150 feet long,
making it one of the largest

halls of its kind ever found.

Could this be the mythical
hall of King Hrothgar?

In the story of Beowulf, the
scene of Grendel's attack

is called Heorot, which
means Hall of the Stag.

It is both a throne
room and a banquet hall,

where the King's warriors
gathered to celebrate victory.

DIMITRA FIMI: Heorot is
described as this great hall

which is comparable to
none other in the world.

It's a sign of civilization,
a sign of sophistication,

and becomes kind of a Wonder
of the World, this culture.

NARRATOR: The hall recently
uncovered in Denmark

is in the same area its
ancient kings once called home.

Radiocarbon testing dates the
site to the sixth century AD,

the same period when the myth
was said to have taken place.

But there's more.

Excavations in the area
around the ancient hall

have yielded precious artifacts
that could only have belonged

to a powerful king.

TOM CHRISTENSEN: Some
are for daily life,

knives, needles, and so on.

But they are also rather
beautiful jewelry made of gold

and silver, coins, and so
on, that give the impression

that this is a site
of some importance.

NARRATOR: But who was the
king behind this hall?

And could he be
connected to the myth?

[music playing]

[wind howling]

An intriguing clue can be
found in a series of stories

collectively called
"The Legendary Sagas."

They are fact-based accounts
about the Norse world

that were written
between 1100 and 1400 AD.

DIMITRA FIMI: Many
of the Norse sagas

are based on family histories,
and we find this very

engaging combination
of historical material

and mythological traditions.

[music playing]

[horse whinnying]

NARRATOR: The sagas tell of a
Danish King named Hrothgar, who

lived around the fifth
or sixth century AD.

If Hrothgar was a real
king, could Beowulf

have been a real hero?

[music playing]

[soldiers yelling]

[wind howling]

[music playing]

Deep in the marshes, a mother
mourns the death of her son.

Her son is Grendel.

Her grief becomes rage.

[woman shrieking]

This is the second of Beowulf's
three monstrous enemies.

He's defeated Grendel.

Now, he must take
on Grendel's mother.

[music playing]

She's quick, cunning,
and out for blood.

TRACEY-ANNE COOPER:
Grendel's mother

is a very, very enigmatic
figure in the texts.

She certainly seems more
bestial than Grendel.

Her emotions are
more beast-like.

She's just bent on revenge.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Revenge for the death
of her son, whose severed arm

has become a trophy, a mockery.

[woman shrieking]

TRACEY-ANNE COOPER: Grendel's
mother feels a mother's pain

when her son is
killed by Beowulf.

So she enters into a feuding
frenzy to attack Heorot,

and she goes without much
regard for her own safety.

NARRATOR: As the warriors
sleep, Grendel's mother

enters the hall.

[music playing]

[woman shrieking]

She pounces, killing
with brutal efficiency.

Terror grips the
King's court again,

but Beowulf is not
there to save it.

He is spending the
night away from Heorot,

unaware of the unfolding terror.

With her hands stained by the
blood of Denmark's warriors,

Grendel's mother
vanishes into the night.

Beowulf is enraged when
he learns of the carnage.

Just days ago, he heroically
saved the warriors

who now lay dead.

But the King is alive.

He sits protected on his
untouchable throne, despondent.

SCOTT LEONARD: Hrothgar is
humiliated by the fact that so

many of his men have
been killed by Grendel

and also, now, his mother.

And he is not able
to be a shield.

And Beowulf says to
him, "It's better

to act than to sit in mourning."

NARRATOR: Once
again, Beowulf knows

he must look death in the eye.

He has built his reputation
through heroic deeds.

Now, he must maintain it.

With Hrothgar and
his men by his side,

Beowulf will hunt
down Grendel's mother.

They follow the blood
trail along a winding path.

[music playing]

Grendel's mother and
Grendel live at the bottom

of the Haunted Mere.

[beasts growling]

NARRATOR: The Mere
is an icy lake

swarming with poisonous
snakes and sea dragons.

[beasts growling]

The only way to get
to Grendel's mother

is to go through them first.

To the early Christian writers
who recorded this myth,

these serpents represented
something equally threatening

in the real world, pagans.

[beasts howling]

[music playing]

The hunt for Grendel's mother
has led Beowulf to an icy lake

teeming with venomous serpents.

To get to her, he'll
have to go through them.

[beasts growling]

This will be a decisive battle
in the fight for Denmark,

between a warrior hero and a
wicked mother who was descended

from the Bible's most
infamous murderer, Cain.

Grendel's mother is
never named in the poem.

She just is Grendel's mother.

But she is a very fearsome
creature in her own right,

perhaps in some ways even
more dangerous because,

now that her son
has been killed,

she has the rage of
a bereaved mother.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Before Beowulf
plunges beneath the ice,

his men give him
a special sword.

Its iron blade is
tempered in blood

and has never failed
in battle before.

Beowulf's comrades cannot
bring themselves to go further.

The hero must brace
for battle alone.

[music playing]

Under the surface, deadly
serpents lie in wait.

[beasts growling]

Beowulf tries to use
his sword against them,

but no human weapon can harm
these supernatural beasts.

He manages to break away and
find the entrance to the lair

of Grendel's mother.

[music playing]

For a second time, man
will confront monster.

Grendel's mother comes
in and she attacks him.

(YELLING) Ah!

CHARLIE BETHEL: He grabs her
hair, grabs her shoulder,

throws her down.

And she's up in a
shot and she snags him

with her filthy claws, and
he tumbles back on the floor.

NARRATOR: Beowulf
is in grave danger,

and his sword again
proves useless.

It's supposed to be very
powerful and very strong,

but it actually has no effect
on Grendel's mother at all.

It can't penetrate
her scaly hide.

NARRATOR: Suddenly, something
catches Beowulf's eye.

He sees, on the
wall or nearby,

an ancient sword forged
by giants, which is not

a mortal making.

It's really a magic weapon.

NARRATOR: In one resolute arc,
he strikes Grendel's mother

and severs her head.

[music playing]

It is the death of a second
evil, dawn of a new hope.

Beowulf has proven
his bravery again.

But this is more than
a mythical triumph.

It is a reflection of the
changing world in which

the Norse people framed the
myth, a world where paganism

had eroded and Christ had risen.

BARRY STRAUSS: We might see
the death of Grendel's mother

as a religious metaphor.

Just as Grendel's mother
dies, so paganism is dying

and Christianity is rising.

And just as Beowulf
frees Hrothgar's kingdom

from the threat of
Grendel's mother,

so Christianity is bringing
light to the world of paganism

that preceded it.

[church bell ringing]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: 600 AD, the British
Isles, a religious revolution

is underway.

Roman Christians have come North
to convert all nonbelievers.

THOMAS FINAN: In the
late sixth century,

Pope Gregory sent
Augustine to England

to convert these
Anglo-Saxon pagans.

Augustine was told by Gregory,
go to the pagan temples

that the Anglo-Saxons
already used

and convert them
to Christian use.

Convert the kings so that the
people underneath the King

will follow the King.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The Anglo-Saxons
were ultimately converted,

but their pre-Christian
legends lived

on in the stories
they passed down,

including the legend of Beowulf.

SCOTT LEONARD: Beowulf
attempts to update and bring

into the Christian present some
of the old-fashioned heroic

values of the early
Norse-era people

who are brave in
adversity, people

who are loyal to comrades.

NARRATOR: When the
Christians conquered,

they recast the myth of
Beowulf as a metaphor

of good versus evil.

[music playing]

[wind howling]

[music playing]

The story continues.

At the haunted lake of serpents,
Beowulf surfaces victorious.

He heads for the
hall of King Hrothgar

and arrives triumphant.

[crowd cheering]

Beowulf's return shocks
the King's court.

He had been given up for dead.

Hrothgar hails him
as the ultimate hero

and stages a great celebration.

Beowulf has achieved
the glory and honor

he came to Denmark to find.

Now, he is eager to
return to his own kingdom

to the north, Geatland.

There, more danger awaits.

[beast growling]

[wind howling]

In the story of
Beowulf, the Geats

were not a mythical tribe.

They were real warriors from
the southern tip of Sweden,

well-known to the
writers of the myth.

HELGA LUTHERS: The poem
refers to the gates

and it refers to Swedes.

What we're looking at are
two different dynasties.

It is a deep-rooted split
that you see actually

last all the way to the
end of the Viking Age.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: This real-life
rivalry between the Geats

and the Swedes comes to a
head in the next chapter

of "Beowulf," and
it is up to Beowulf

to lead his people to victory in
one epic battle on a giant lake

of ice.

[music playing]

This is Lake Vanern.

It is the largest body
of water in Sweden,

covering some
2,200 square miles.

In harsh winters,
it freezes over,

forming a land bridge between
two distant territories.

Today it is peaceful,
but 15 centuries ago,

according to the
myth of Beowulf,

it was the setting of a
bloody battle, the Swedes

against the Geats.

TRACEY-ANNE COOPER: On
his return to Geatland,

Beowulf discovers that the Geats
are embroiled in the middle

of a Swedish feud.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: A civil war between
members of the Swedish royal

family has spilled over
into Beowulf's homeland.

The hero must confront
death once again.

But, this time, not
against monsters,

but against his fellow man.

[soldiers yelling]

Yeah!

[soldiers yelling]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Beowulf's
forces prevail

and, in return for
his heroism, he is

granted the throne of Geatland.

His quest for glory
is now complete.

It is a decisive
moment in the myth.

But could this epic battle
have really happened?

According to old Norse sagas,
which are thought to be based

on real history,
a violent battle

did occur on a frozen lake
around the year 530 AD.

MICHAEL DROUT: The
Battle of Lake Vanern

is the decisive battle between
the Geats and the Swedes,

and it happens on the frozen
water of an enormous freshwater

lake.

It's one of the first
known giant cavalry battles

in the North, and
many, many warriors

are slain on both sides.

NARRATOR: This real battle
was said to have happened

near Earnaness, Sweden.

Modern scholars believe
Earnaness was a real settlement

right on the shore
of Lake Vanern.

Once again, the
historical record

seems to match the myth, a
real battle in a real location.

Could there also be
evidence of a real hero?

The search for clues
leads back to the myth.

[music playing]

[wind howling]

[music playing]

After the ice battle, Beowulf
rules Geatland in peace

for many decades.

JOHN DAVENPORT: He's no
longer that young hero

that he was when he was fighting
Grendel and then Grendel's

mother.

He's much older.

He's no longer in his prime.

But, still, he's exemplary.

NARRATOR: As a young man,
Beowulf had quenched his thirst

for glory.

As an aging king, he
has no desire for more.

[music playing]

But 50 years after his
heroic conquests in Denmark,

the old warrior must
face one final showdown

with a terrifying monster.

[beast growling]

The dragon of Earnaness,
it stretches 50 feet long

and guards a gargantuan
hoard of gold.

DIMITRA FIMI: Dragons
represent human greed,

but really amplified because
this is this monstrous creature

whose only interest is in
gathering gold and keeping it.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The trouble begins
after a young slave escapes

from his master and
hides in a cave.

He doesn't realize
he is entering

the lair of the dragon.

[dragon snoring]

As the monster sleeps, the
slave spots the hoard of gold

and succumbs to temptation.

[music playing]

THOMAS FINAN: He steals the
cup from the dragon's treasure,

not knowing that this cup is,
in fact, the favorite item

of the dragon.

NARRATOR: The dragon stirs,
finds the golden cup missing,

and sets off for revenge.

[flames hissing]

[music playing]

[dragon growling]

SCOTT LEONARD: So he starts
setting farms and fields

on fire, creating
much destruction

in a very short time.

NARRATOR: The dragon wreaks
havoc across the land.

Then, the ultimate insult.

Beowulf's own home is burned,
and he prays for restoration

of his loss and seeks
some kind of redress

and begins to think
about revenge.

NARRATOR: Once more,
the old warrior

is called to defend
a nation's honor.

It will be his last
stand against evil.

He's the kind of
hero who's going

to be willing to
go out and face,

at this point, certain death.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Beowulf leads
his men into battle,

with his kingdom and honor
hanging in the balance.

This will either be the
hero's final triumph

or his tragic end.

[music playing]

A fire-breathing dragon
is devastating the kingdom

of the Geats.

[villagers screaming]

Beowulf, the aging hero-king,
dons his battle gear one more

time, and the hunt for
a third beast begins.

[music playing]

The bravest soldiers
ride alongside Beowulf.

Ha!

NARRATOR: Among them is the
young son of a fallen warrior.

His name is Wiglaf.

He's immature.

He's inexperienced.

He's the one that
you would probably

say is going to contribute
the least to the actual fight

against a dragon.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The men come upon
the dragon's lair in the middle

of a dense forest.

Beowulf steps cautiously inside
and finds the monster asleep.

But before the hero can strike,
the dragon awakens and attacks.

[dragon growling]

[music playing]

Beowulf yells to his
other warriors for help.

All of Beowulf's other
fellows have run away

to hide in the woods
because they're

too terrified of the dragon.

NARRATOR: All except
for one, young Wiglaf.

Once mocked for his youth, he
now stands out for his bravery,

risking his life to fight
alongside the hero he idolizes

as Beowulf confronts
his greatest enemy.

So goes the myth, but what
is the connection to reality?

[music playing]

The dragon is mythology's
ultimate monster.

JOHN RENNIE: Within a sort
of Christian tradition,

dragons often represent
the super serpent,

a gigantic
manifestation of Satan.

But if you go back before
Christian tradition,

dragons seemed to
represent something

like an ultimate embodiment of
power and ferocity and mystery.

[music playing]

But the great fear that
people have always had

is that, despite all of the
seemingly regular patterns

that you see in nature, there
might also be fantastic,

chaotic unknowns, the monsters
that could suddenly leap out.

NARRATOR: Dragons
play a central role

in myths throughout the world.

And despite the thousands of
miles and thousands of years

that separate them,
the similarities

between the stories are more
striking than the differences.

Most of them have
hard scales, have

these long serpentine bodies
with long pointed tails,

long necks ending
in a horned head.

Many breathe fire.

Many have wings.

NARRATOR: Are these
shared traits coincidence?

Or did ancient storytellers
have some common real-world

inspiration?

Many wonder whether
there were actual dragons.

Given how prevalent
the stories about them

are in the world's myths,
it would seem that they must

be based on something real.

My own theory, which is--

other people have it, too--

was that, at some point, someone
was walking through the Gobi

Desert or parts of Central
Asia where dinosaur bones are

exposed, and they
saw a T-Rex skeleton

and said, "Wow, if
those are the bones, can

you imagine what the
thing looked like?"

And, from there, you could
imagine the creature.

So they're large.

They're scary.

They're fierce.

NARRATOR: Dinosaur fossils
have been discovered

around the globe since
mankind's earliest days.

In a time before
science, could they

have inspired mythology's
ultimate monster?

[music playing]

[dragon roaring]

The myth concludes.

Beowulf charges the
dragon with his sword.

The dragon strikes
back, wounding Beowulf.

But there is still one
more chance for victory.

The belly is the
beast's Achilles heel.

As Wiglaf looks on,
Beowulf maneuvers his way

underneath the dragon
and thrusts his sword

into its stomach.

[music playing]

[screaming]

The monster is
defeated, but Beowulf

has paid the ultimate price
for this final moment of glory.

MICHAEL DROUT: Beowulf is bitten
in the neck by the dragon.

So even as he slays
the beast, he himself

knows he's going to die
because the wound begins

to swell and to burst.

[music playing]

JOHN DAVENPORT: He
says, at least bring me

some of the dragon's treasures
so that I can see what we

fought for, what we've
won, and look once more

upon the glorious treasure.

SCOTT LEONARD: Beowulf says,
I am the last of my line.

I have no heir.

My fathers before
me are all dead.

So because you were
brave, Wiglaf, I'm

giving you my famous chainmail
and my sword and my helmet.

NARRATOR: An old hero dies,
and a new one is born.

[music playing]

[thunder]

[winds howling]

[music playing]

The final stanzas of the epic
describe Beowulf's funeral,

his body placed on a
pyre and set alight.

Beowulf's death at
the end of the poem

represents the idea that all men
and all their works shall die.

NARRATOR: A great hero, the icon
of Northern warriors, is dead.

But his legend is
just beginning.

[wind howling]

[music playing]

Today, hundreds of
ancient burial mounds

still dot the landscape
of Scandinavia.

Some have yielded evidence
of truth behind the myth,

but many are still unexcavated.

Could one of them be the
gravesite of a real Beowulf?

HELGA LUTHERS: Is it possible
that Beowulf was a real person?

Yes, of course, it is.

The history surrounding
him fits with history.

And the reason why
we tend to say,

yes, it's possible that
he was a real person

is the very simple
fact that there

were legends that were
kept orally that were

the basis for this poem.

That tells us there should
be some truth to it.

[music playing]

Whether real man or myth,
Beowulf is bravery personified.

To the ancients, he
embodied the best in man.

[sword ringing]

A warrior's life
and a hero's death.

[music playing]