Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra to his father's kingdom and defeats and kills Soti and his Vikings. Although numerous sagas contain analogs to the iconic cave battle with Grendel and his mother in "Beowulf," none is closer to the Old English epic than is Hálfdan’s cave battle with Járnnefr and his wife. The saga is found in three, 15th-century vellum manuscripts, but its post-medieval popularity is evidenced by its preservation in over four dozen paper manuscripts. In the 18th century it served as the source for the first known saga forgery. "Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra" has a sequel in "Sörla saga sterka", where it becomes clear
The dragon (Beowulf) referred to in language which is meant to recall the powers of darkness which Christian men felt themselves to be encompassed. They are 'inmates of hell', 'adversaries of God', 'offspring of Cain', 'enemies of mankind'...And so Beowulf, for all that he moves in the world of the primitive Heroic Age of the Germans, nevertheless is almost a Christian knight". Peter Gainsford noted in the article "The Deaths of Beowulf and Odysseus: Narrative Time and Mythological Tale Types" that "In the twenty-first century "Beowulf" does not lack for commentators to defend the literary merit of the dragon episode". Adrien Bonjour opined