Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics of the hero by accepting Grendel and the dragon." In Tolkien's view, the poem is essentially about a "man at war with the hostile world, and his inevitable overthrow in Time". The underlying tragedy is man's brief mortal life. Grendel and the dragon are identified as enemies of a Christian God, unlike the monsters encountered by Odysseus on his travels. What had happened is that Northern courage, exultant, defiant in the face of inevitable defeat by "Chaos and Unreason" (Tolkien cites Ker's words), fuses with a Christian faith and outlook. The "Beowulf" poet uses both what he knew to be
The dragon (Beowulf) trigger a chain of events in "The Hobbit". The "Beowulf" dragon is the earliest example in literature of the typical European dragon and first incidence of a fire-breathing dragon. The "Beowulf" dragon is described with Old English terms such as "draca" (dragon), and "wyrm" (reptile, or serpent), and as a creature with a venomous bite. Also, the "Beowulf" poet created a dragon with specific traits: a nocturnal, treasure-hoarding, inquisitive, vengeful, fire-breathing creature. The fire is likely symbolic of the hellfire of the devil, reminiscent of the monster in the Book of Job. In the Septuagint Bible, Job's monster is characterized