ANST - Re: 13th Warrior & Beowulf

[Joel Schumacher]

Gunnora Hallakarva, OL wrote:
> (2) Which is NOT in any way, shape or form based on Ibn Fadlan's actual
> accounts of the Varangian Rus.

> (5) No, this really is not the story of Beowulf as described in the
> Anglo-Saxon poem, either.  The real epic has no Arab warriors in it,
> no tribes of wendols, just two troll-like underwater-dwelling
> monsters, Grendel and Grendel's mother.  Oh, and in Beowulf's old
> age, a dragon, but that's almost another story.

Yes and no.  From what I recall, reading the notes in the paperback
edition, it is sort of related to Beowulf and Ibn Fadlan's accounts.
I don't have the book in front of me, and it's been a while, so I'll
try to explain as best I remember.

I haven't read Beowulf, so I'm not qualified to make a comparison.
But the fact that many of the names are similar to names in Beowulf
are not mere coincidence.

Apparently Michael Criton was going on the premise that behind
every legend or fable, there's some factual account that grew
into the legend.

On some sort of challenge, he was supposed to (or chose to) create
a more believable tale that could have, through telling, and
retelling, evolved into Beowulf.

To do this, he started with the actual accounts of Ibn Fadlan and
worked them into the beginning of his book.  Like another post said,
after chapter 3 or so, it's all fiction.

>From what I've seen of the movie trailers, it seems they've
added quite a bit of Hollywood to the novel.  But the novel itself,
while heroic, is not really supernatural.  There were no dragons
or mythical creatures other than in the minds of the superstitious.

-Karl von Augsburg
______________________________________________________________________
Joel Schumacher                    JCPenney Co. - UNIX Network Systems
jschumac at uns-dv1.jcpenney.com      12700 Park Central Pl   M/S 6021
(972) 591-7543                     Dallas TX  75251
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