Editing Grendel (section)

===Description in the poem===
During the decades following Tolkien's essay, the exact description of Grendel was debated by scholars. Indeed, because his exact appearance is never directly described in [[Old English]] by the original ''Beowulf'' poet, part of the debate revolves around what is known, namely his descent from the biblical [[Cain and Abel|Cain]] (the first murderer in the [[Bible]]). Grendel is called a ''sceadugenga'' – "shadow walker", in other words "night goer" – given that the monster was repeatedly described to be in the shroud of darkness.{{sfn|Thorpe|1855|p=48}}{{sfn|Heyne|2018|pp=129,228,298}}

After Grendel's death, Hroðgar describes him as vaguely human in shape, though much larger:

{| width="100%"
! width="50%" | [[Old English]] text{{sfn|Beowulf (OE)|loc=Stanza 37 & 38}}
! width="50%" | [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] translation{{sfn|Tolkien|2014|loc=Stanzas 1128-1131|p=52}}
|-
|
:{{lang|ang|... óðer earmsceapen}}
:{{lang|ang|on weres wæstmum wraéclástas træd}}
:{{lang|ang|næfne hé wæs mára þonne aénig man óðer}}
:{{lang|ang|þone on géardagum Grendel nemdon}}
|
:... the other, miscreated thing,
:in man's form trod the ways of exile,
:albeit he was greater than any other human thing. 
:Him in days of old the dwellers on earth named Grendel
|
|}

Grendel's severed head is also so large that it takes four men to transport it. Furthermore, when Grendel's torn arm is inspected it is described as being covered in impenetrable scales and horny growths.{{sfn|Heaney|2012|loc=Stanzas 983-989}}

{| width="100%"
! width="50%" | [[Old English]] text{{sfn|Beowulf (OE)|loc=Stanza 985 & 990}}
! width="50%" | [[Seamus Heaney|Heaney]] translation{{sfn|Heaney|2012|loc=Stanzas 983-989}}
|-
|
:{{lang|ang|steda nægla gehwylc stýle gelícost}}
:{{lang|ang|haéþenes handsporu hilderinces}}
:{{lang|ang|egl unhéoru aéghwylc gecwæð}}
:{{lang|ang|þæt him heardra nán hrínan wolde}}
:{{lang|ang|íren aérgód, þæt ðæs áhlaécan}}	
:{{lang|ang|blódge beadufolme onberan wolde}}
|
:Every nail, claw-scale and spur, every spike
:and welt on the hand of that heathen brute
:was like barbed steel. Everybody said
:there was no honed iron hard enough:
:to pierce him through, no time proofed blade
:that could cut his brutal blood caked claw
|
|}