Beowulf characters part 3
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15 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Healfdane | a Danish king, Beo's son, and father of Hergar, Hrothgar, Halga, and Urs. Whether or not the name means Half-Dane is uncertain. |
| Hemming | a kinsman of Offa, though in what precise relationship is not known. |
| Hengest | a Danish warrior, Hnaf's chief lieutenant and, de facto, his successor. |
| Herbald | a prince of the Geats, Hrethel's oldest son. He is killed, in a hunting accident, by his brother Hathcyn, and his necessarily unavenged death causes his father to die of grief. The parallel w/ the Balder (Baldr) myth has been noted. |
| Herdred | a king of the Geats, Higlac's son, killed by the powerful Swedish king, Onela. |
| Hergar | a Danish king, oldest son of Healfdane, older brother and predecessor of Hrothgar and father of Herward. His reign was apparently a brief one. |
| Hermond | an archetypal but partly historical Danish king, of great military prowess combined w/ the lowest possible character. Like Wayland, the famous smith, he is mentioned frequently in the poetry of other Germanic languages. |
| Herot | the lofy battle hall built by King Hrothgar, to celbrate his victories, house his growing band of followers, and perhaps to perpetuate his fame. As the poet hints, in lines 84-5, a coming war will result in the burning down of it. |
| Herward | Hergar's son. He seems to have been by-passed, at his father's death (his uncle Hrothgar taking the throne), either b/c he was thought too young to rule or b/c he had been out of favor w/ his father. |
| Higd | Higlac's wife, Hareth's daughter. Her name means "thoughful" or "prudent." |
| Higlac | a king of the Geats, Hrethel's son, younger brother of Herbald and Hathcyn. He is both Beowulf's feudal lord and his uncle. |
| Hinaf | a Danish king, killed by Finn; his sister was Finn's wife. |
| Hondshew | a Geat warrior, one of Beowulf's companions on the journey to King Hrothgar's court. He is the man killed and eaten by Grendel, on the evening whent hte Gets instead of the Danes lay sleeping in Herot, Hrothgar's hall - the evening when Beowulf, insteat of becoming the monster's 2nd victim, gave Grendel his mortal wound. |
| Hrethel | a king of the Geats, Higlac's father, Beowulf's grandfather. |
| Hrethric | the older of Hrothgar's two young sons. |
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