The "victory-bright blade" is just what Beowulf needs, and here the reader needs to consider, for just a moment, God's intervention. In this sequence, the Beowulf poet apparently has a Christian God control the outcome after Beowulf breaks free from the mother and stands on his own. Students may want to question whether this intervention is part of a Christian theme throughout the section (or the whole epic) or whether it is intrusive. Whether it adds to or detracts from the action is a matter of perspective. The best of critics have debated the point. At any rate, the sword is there, and in a life-or-death move, Beowulf takes one mighty swing at the mother and cuts through her spine, killing her.
Perhaps miraculously, the cave fills with brightness, "even as from heaven comes the shining light / of God's candle" (1571–72). The reader is again reminded of the motif of dark versus light, the darkness of the swamp and the light of Heorot, the dark of evil and the light of goodness in the epic. This light, whatever its source, also serves a practical purpose: Beowulf is able to explore the cave. Among various treasures, his most valuable find is the corpse of Grendel. With vengeance, Beowulf chops off the ogre's head. Eschewing all the other treasure, Beowulf leaves the cave and swims up through the mere taking only Grendel's head and the hilt of the giant sword.
On the surface of the marsh, things have changed. When blood began seeping up to the top of the mere, "a churning foam" (1593), Hrothgar and the Danes despaired of Beowulf's ever surviving and returned to Heorot. Only the Geats remain to keep a desperate vigil, wishing with no real hope that their leader would triumph. Beowulf emerges to a hero's welcome. The Geats help him out of his armor and joyfully march him back to Heorot. It takes four men to carry Grendel's head on a war-spear. The gruesome trophy makes quite an impression in the mead-hall.
