Sellic Spell Promo Post

[grundyscribbling]

(Written by narya_flame )

Summary: Sellic Spell ('strange tale', 'wondrous tale') is a short prose tale which attempts to reconstruct the folk story behind Beowulf, and also draws inspiration from the Norse Hrólfs saga kraka.  It mostly follows the plot of Beowulf, up to the death of Grendel's mother.

Why should I check out this canon? If you're a fan of folk tales and fairy stories, and/or you're interested in Beowulf and Tolkien's responses to that text, this one is for you!  It has magic and horror, heroism and treachery, treasure and monsters, and can be read and enjoyed on its own merits, whether you're familiar with the source material or not.  For the linguistically minded, the 2016 edition of Tolkien's Beowulf also includes the Old English version of the tale - and if your comfort zone is the Middle-earth legendarium, there are plenty of little links you'll pick up on as you read.

Where can I get this? The manuscript is held at the Bodleian library, but for those of us who can't access the Oxford special collections, it was published in 2016 alongside Tolkien's translation of Beowulf.  It's also available as a free PDF courtesy of the Internet Archive.

What fanworks already exist? At the moment there are three fanworks on AO3 - a drabble from the point of view of the Queen of the Golden Hall, an encounter between the Queen and Grinder's mother, and a crossover with The Hobbit which blends the tale with the history of the Beornings.