Who's Afraid of Beowulf?

1988 novel by Tom Holt. Archaeologist Hildy Frederiksen has always wanted to make a major discovery, and an intact Viking ship burial certainly fits the bill. She most definitely does *not* expect the dead Vikings to come back to life, and is understandably rattled when they do.

It seems that a thousand years ago, King Rolf Earthstar of Caithness ('God-forsaken place but it is my Kingdom') and his band of heroes fought a dreadful battle with the evil Sorcerer King. They won the battle but lost track of their enemy, and so found it necessary to do a 'King Arthur'; that is, put themselves into an enchanted sleep to wake when they are needed to destroy the Sorcerer King once and for all. Thus Hildy finds herself the dazed and bewildered guide to an unflappable King Rolf and his bickering band of heroes as they make their way southward to confront the enemy in his new stronghold, London.

Tropes used in Who's Afraid of Beowulf? include:

Starkad: I forgot my battle-cry.
Brynolf: It's Starkad, Starkad.

  • The Berserker: Starkad Storvirson
  • Calvin Ball: The game the Cthonic spirits Prex and Zxip use to while away their thousand-odd years trapped in the howe.
  • Can't You Read the Sign?: Vikings Arvarodd and Brynolf come to a perfectly logical but completely wrong conclusion about the London Underground by reading the signs.
  • Circling Monologue: How King Rolf approaches the sorcerer king in their final showdown.
  • The Dragon: Thorgeir Stormherder, former timber-wolf.
  • Faux Affably Evil: The sorcerer king
  • Famed in Story: Both King Rolf and Thorgeir Stormherder comment on the absence of a King Hrolf's Saga, but Rolf's heroes are known to Norse scholar Hildy from other sagas.
  • Genre Savvy: The heroes are old hands at adventure and know just what to expect.
  • Gentle Giant: Starkad the Berserker again. His comrades call him "Honey-Starkad" because he's 'sweet and thick'.
  • I Have Many Names: King Rolf buys time with this trope.
  • Immune to Bullets: The heroes, thanks to their state-of-the-art magic armor.
  • King in the Mountain: Or mound. Played for laughs.
  • Last Second Chance: The sorceror-king has the good sense to accept this.
  • Only Sane Man: King Rolf.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: King Rolf again—and the sorcerer king, too.
  • Traffic Wardens: Like all law enforcement officers, they do poorly against the Vikings.
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