The Epic Tale of the Dragonslaying Hero has been told a hundred times over. But where did the archetype start? Historians believe that the original Dragonslayer story was the English epic, Beowulf, written sometime between the eighth and eleventh centuries. The story of the Dragonslayer is that of a Hero, who starts off insignificant, but after his journey, is strong enough to face and defeat the evil Dragon. The Hero’s Journey is split into three phases; in order they are: Separation, Initiation, and the Return. The story of Beowulf was written for a specific purpose, other than creating a whole genre. The bards who wrote it as though it was a history, describing the past as the way things are when they wrote it. In a sense, they were trying to rewrite history. It was mainly written in an attempt to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity and change the governing style to Feudalism, among other things. Examples of this are their use of the Forest as a metaphor for Hell. Anglo-Saxon Paganism made the forest the home of their Gods, and the Bards needed to change that. Another element, is the role women play in society. The Bards made women out to be servants, rather than equal. Finally, the bards added Irony to improve the scenes in the story, as irony adds flair to the tale. Nowadays, our society knows that the forest is just a forest, and that women are equal to men, but those concepts put in place by the Bards, along with irony, still show up in our entertainment. You can find it in movies such as Howard McCain’s Outlander, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Chris Columbus’ Harry potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. Through the use of the Dragonslaying Metaphor, the Hero’s Journey archetype, and elements such as the Forest being Hell, Women’s Place in Society, and Irony, the Bards of olde concocted an Epic perfect for changing the past and converting the Anglo-Saxons to a…
