Here’s a list of shit that I’m sure is to come about when the Grendel movie hits theaters
Haters are going to completely miss the point of the narrative and call it woke or offensive.
Nobody’s gonna read the book
LGBT/disabled/POCs identifying with Grendel because of how isolated and lonely he feels
People who only saw Beowulf 2007 bitching and moaning about the movie is woke and not faithful to the legend because Grendel’s Mother is a wicked awesome puppet and not being played by Naked Angelia Jolie™️
As the only other prominent female character, Wealhtheow will be infantalized and despised by the fandom, who will call her sexist, unnecessary, and bland
Grendel will be woobified, vilified or infantilized by people who don’t understand the point of the story
People will want to screw the dragon. I may be one of these people but we’ll see when the trailer drops
Fanon Hrothgar will be reduced to a senile old man
Nobody’s gonna read the book
People will ship Grendel with everything BUT Wealhtheow despite him wrestling with a romantic attraction to her. Additionally, Grendel/Wealhtheow shippers will be attacked because the ship is “problematic” while their attackers nut over even MORE problematic ships, such as Grendel/Beowulf, Grendel/Hrothulf (Hrothgar’s child-aged nephew) or Grendel riding the Freudian roller coaster with his own mother
Trans Grendel headcanons because he doesn’t have visible male genitalia and is referred to as a “he” (I don’t mind that headcanon at all actually, I would LOVE to see where people take it)
Fanfic and fanart about Grendel interacting with The Shaper and seeing him as a surrogate father
Fanon Grendel will suddenly have a positive relationship with his mother
LOTS of fluffy and adorable child Grendel fanart
So many memes replacing Grendel with The Dude from The Big Lebowski
People suddenly remembering that Grendel Grendel Grendel (1981) exists and decrying that it is MUCH better than the Jim Henson movie
People nutting over Unferth because Aiden Turner (valid)
People nutting over Beowulf because Dave Bautista (also valid)
Fanart of Grendel meeting the other Muppets because they’re all created by Jim Henson. I myself hope to one day see him vibe with Uncle Deadly and Gonzo
So many historically inaccurate OCs
OCs that take note from Norse mythology
So much Unferth/Grendel smut because enemies to lovers I guess
The dragon is Grendel’s father theory
The Shaper is Grendel’s father theory
The dragon is The Shaper theory
People calling Grendel an incel and modern AUs where Grendel IS an incel
Omegaverse fanfics where Grendel is always the omega
Fanfics about Beowulf not killing Grendel and keeping him as a kinky pet
Incels identifying with Grendel and turning it into a major problem
Edit 2026: Among the ship wars that will be fought, there will be a heated debate about Grendel being an abuser. It will be based solely around his personality and participants will conveniently forget that Grendel was isolated for his entire life up until his conflicts with Heorot — so he probably has no idea what a healthy relationship is like. Thi makes him equal parts vulnerable to both becoming an abuser OR an abuse victim — in my opinion, the latter is much more likely bc he’d be heavily reliant on his human partner to know how this works.