Hrothgar is best known from the Anglo-Saxon epic poem, Beowulf, where he appears in a background role as the king whose hall is attacked by the troll, Grendel. This book aims to put Hrothgar in the foreground. His story is fleshed out with information from other sources, particularly the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus. Other famous figures from Nordic legend appear in Hrothgar s story, some of them briefly alluded to in Beowulf, making this book something like a Who s Who of Nordic legend. These include the greatest warrior of the Northlands, Starkath, Halga Hundings bane, the berserker, Bjarki Bear-Sark, Frodo the dragonslayer (whose name inspired the Frodo of the Lord of the Rings), Ingeld (the singing of whose lay by monks was criticized by Alcuin in 797), Hrolf Kraki, the half-elven Skuld, and the dragon of doom, Nithoggr.