Beowulf is resolute, and his courage is never in question. Having no sure knowledge of what he will find, he dives into the mere dressed for battle. Scholars disagree about the meaning of the line indicating that Beowulf swam down "most of the day before he found bottom" (1496). As Chickering points out in a thorough consideration of the scholarship of the section (pp. 337–341), the lines from the Anglo-Saxon literally are translated, "[T]hen it was the time of [a] day before he could find the bottom" (1495–96). One way of looking at this is that it is simply daytime, daylight, when he approaches the bottom of the lake and encounters Grendel's mother. (Readers should beware of worrying overmuch about the literal, realistic possibilities of certain events and keep in mind that the poet uses certain devices — he likes the number "30" — to indicate significant measure.)
Grendel's mother has ruled the mere for "a hundred winters" (1498) — or a long time. She knows the territory. Only Beowulf's mail-shirt, made by the legendary blacksmith Weland, saves him from injury as she hauls him to her cave at the bottom of the mere. Neither her grip nor the "strange sea creatures / with sword-like tusks" can do him harm. The vaulted cavern, which has served as a hideaway for Grendel and his mother, is dry and lighted only by a glaring blaze (1517) that reminds the audience of the "ugly light" (727) that shines like fire from Grendel's eyes. It is, perhaps, a fire from Hell that lights the cave of Cain's descendants.
Like Excalibur, Hrunting is one of many special swords of legend, which Unferth inherited and gives to Beowulf as a token of the Geat warrior's superiority. We are told that Hrunting has never failed its owners until now, when it cannot pierce the hide of Grendel's mother. Then Beowulf notices "a victory-bright blade / made by the giants" (1557–58) waiting in the cave. Little more is said of this blades origins, except that the poet notes that no other mere man ever carried a sword of this length or weight into battle.
