In a 2018 novel, this character is reimagined into two teenage boys who fall in love and kiss as its narrator claims that “history is enough to make a future.” This character is charged by a bull while stuck in a tree in a novel that ends with him claiming to have “had an accident… so may you all.” This character learns about the world from The Shaper and an omniscient dragon in a novel by John Gardner. A man is discouraged from fighting this character by Unferth, who believes this character will win. A giant’s sword melts from the hilt after it is used to cut this character’s head from his corpse, which is taken as a trophy after the killing of his “monstrous hell-bride” of a mother. For 10 points, Beowulf first defends Heorot by fighting what monster, a “descendant of Cain” who dies after his arm is ripped off? ■END■
ANSWER: Grendel (The first clue refers to Maria Dehvana Headley’s The Mere Wife. The John Gardner novel is Grendel.)
<Editors, British Literature>
= Average correct buzz position