<P> This is a list of Beowulf characters . Beowulf is an Old English heroic epic poem . Its creation dates to between the 8th and the 11th centuries, the only surviving manuscript dating to circa 1010 . At 3183 lines, it is notable for its length . It has reached national epic status in England ." There are a great many characters in Beowulf ranging from historical people such as Hygelac to purely mythological dragons . </P> <Ul> <Li> Ælfhere - a kinsman of Wiglaf and Beowulf </Li> <Li> Æschere - Hroðgar's closests counselor and comrade, killed by Grendel's Mother . </Li> <Li> Banstan - the father of Breca . </Li> <Li> Beowulf - an early Danish king and the son of Scyld, but not the same character as the hero of the poem . </Li> <Li> Beowulf - the eponymous hero of the Anglo - Saxon poem . </Li> <Li> Breca - Beowulf's childhood friend who competed with him in a swimming match . </Li> <Li> Cain - biblical character described as an ancestor of Grendel who is infamous for killing his brother Abel, the first murder . Killing your kin was the greatest sin in Anglo - Saxon culture . </Li> <Li> Dæghrefn - a Frankish warrior killed by Beowulf . </Li> <Li> The Dragon - beast (Old English, wyrm) that ravages Beowulf's kingdom and which Beowulf must slay at the end of the poem . It is the cause of Beowulf's death . </Li> <Li> Eadgils - a Swedish king also mentioned extensively in the Norse sagas . </Li> <Li> Eanmund - a Swedish prince, and the brother of Eadgils . </Li> <Li> Ecglaf - Unferð's father . </Li> <Li> Ecgþeow - Beowulf's father who belonged to the Swedish Wægmunding clan . He joined the Geats after having been banished for killing the Wulfing Heaðolaf, and married a Geatish princess . </Li> <Li> Ecgwela - an earlier Danish king . </Li> <Li> Elan - possibly an incomplete name for Hroðgar's sister, see Yrsa, below . </Li> <Li> Eofor - the "boar". A Geatish warrior who avenged the death of Hæþcyn by slaying Ongenþeow during the Swedish - Geatish wars . He was recompensed with the daughter of king Hygelac . </Li> <Li> Eomær - son of king Offa of Angel </Li> <Li> Eormenric - a legendary Gothic king . </Li> <Li> Finn, a Frisian lord whose tale picks up where the Finnsburg Fragment ends . </Li> <Li> Fitela - a Germanic hero </Li> <Li> Folcwalda - the father of Finn </Li> <Li> Freawaru - the daughter of King Hroðgar and Queen Wealhþeow and wife of Ingeld, king of the Heaðobards . </Li> <Li> Froda king of the Heaðobard's and father of Ingeld . He also appears in Norse tradition . </Li> <Li> Garmund - the father of Offa of Angel </Li> <Li> Grendel - one of three antagonists (along with Grendel's Mother and the dragon). </Li> <Li> Grendel's mother - one of three antagonists (along with Grendel and the dragon). </Li> <Li> Guðlaf - a warrior in Hnæf's retinue . </Li> <Li> Healfdene - Hroðgar's father and predecessor, also prominent in Norse tradition . </Li> <Li> Hama - a Germanic hero </Li> <Li> Halga - Hroðgar's brother . He is hardly mentioned in Beowulf but he is a prominent character in Norse tradition . </Li> <Li> Hæþcyn - the son of the Geatish king Hreðel . </Li> <Li> Hæreð - the father of Hygd, queen of the Geats . </Li> <Li> Heaðolaf - Wulfing killed by Beowulf's father Ecgþeow . </Li> <Li> Heardred - the son of Hygelac, king of the Geats, and his queen Hygd . </Li> <Li> Heming - a kinsman of Garmund </Li> <Li> Hengest - a Danish lord who attacked the Frisians to avenge Hnæf </Li> <Li> Heorogar - Hroðgar's brother and predecessor . </Li> <Li> Heoroweard - Heorogar's son; Hroðgar's nephew . According to Norse tradition, his attempt to become king would cause the end of the Scylding clan . </Li> <Li> Herebeald - the son of the Geatish king Hreðel . </Li> <Li> Heremod - an early Danish king . </Li> <Li> Hereric - a relative of Heardred </Li> <Li> Hildeburh - the daughter of the Danish king Hoc and the wife of the Finn - king of the Frisians . </Li> <Li> Hnæf - the son of the Danish lord Hoc and brother of Hildeburh . He was killed by Finn . </Li> <Li> Hoc - a Danish lord and the father of Hildeburh and Hnæf . </Li> <Li> Hondscio - a Geatish warrior . He is killed and devoured by Grendel, right before Beowulf fights and defeats the monster . </Li> <Li> Hreðel - king of the Geats . </Li> <Li> Hreðric and Hroðmund, the two sons of Hroðgar . </Li> <Li> Hroðgar - king of the Danes; married to Wealhþeow . Also prominent in Norse tradition . </Li> <Li> Hroðulf (also known as Hrólfr Kraki), Hroðgar's nephew, but more prominent in Norse tradition . </Li> <Li> Hun - a Frisian warrior who gives Hengest the sword Lafing . </Li> <Li> Hygd - queen of the Geats; the wife of King Hygelac . </Li> <Li> Hygelac - king of the Geats; the husband of Hygd . Existence attested by other sources . Death during the poem dated to c 516 . </Li> <Li> Ingeld - a Heaðobard lord; married to Freawaru, daughter of Hroðgar . He also appears in Norse tradition . </Li> <Li> Merewing - a Frankish king . </Li> <Li> Modþryð - a princess, later queen, who punished inferiors who looked her directly in the eye; later marries, and is reformed by, Offa of Angel . </Li> <Li> Offa of Angel, a king of the Angles who also appears in Norse tradition . </Li> <Li> Ohthere - king of the Swedish house of Scylfings, and also mentioned in Norse tradition . The father of Eadgils and Eanmund, and the brother of Onela . </Li> <Li> Onela - king of the Swedish house of Scylfings, and also mentioned in Norse tradition . The brother of Ohthere . </Li> <Li> Ongenþeow - king of Sweden . Slew the Geatish king Hæþcyn, but was himself killed by Eofor, during the Swedish - Geatish wars . </Li> <Li> Oslaf - a warrior in Hnæf's retinue . </Li> <Li> Scyld - (Scyld Scēfing) warrior king who founded the ruling house in Denmark . </Li> <Li> Sigemund - a legendary Germanic hero whom Beowulf is compared to . </Li> <Li> Swerting - the grandfather of Hygelac </Li> <Li> Unferð - a thegn of the Danish lord Hroðgar . </Li> <Li> Wæls - the father of Sigemund </Li> <Li> Wayland Smith - a smith of Germanic legend who forged Beowulf's breast plate . </Li> <Li> Wealhþeow - queen of the Danes; married to Hroðgar . </Li> <Li> Weohstan - the father of Wiglaf and a Swedish warrior fighting for Onela . He also appears to be mentioned in a stanza in the Prose Edda . </Li> <Li> Wiglaf - Beowulf's relative . A Swedish warrior of the Waegmunding clan who helps Beowulf slay the dragon . </Li> <Li> Wondred - the father of Eofor and Wulf . </Li> <Li> Wulf - the brother of Eofor </Li> <Li> Wulfgar - (wolf + spear) the herald of Hroðgar, renowned for his great wisdom . </Li> <Li> Yrmenlaf - younger brother of Æschere . </Li> <Li> Yrs (e) - a character borrowed from Norse tradition that appears in some translations (e.g., Burton Raffel) and commentaries, as an emendation of a corrupt line (62) where Hroðgar's sister is mentioned . His sister is, however, named Signy in Norse tradition (Skjöldunga saga and Hrólfr Kraki's saga), whereas Yrsa was Halga's daughter and lover with whom he had Hroðulf . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Ælfhere - a kinsman of Wiglaf and Beowulf </Li>

Is the king of the danes in beowulf