In the stories known as Beowulf and Once and Future King, there are two equally famous heroes in both of those novels. Although both of those heroes may and look similar, they are more different than I could possibly imagine. There are many things that are different between Beowulf and King Arthur, but the ones that stand apart are their heroic actions that made them a hero in their peoples’ eyes and those heroic qualities that the people in the stories remember and what we remember of them today. Probably the only quality that they might share is that both of them become leaders of the people like King Arthur, ruling over England and Beowulf becoming the King of the Geats. This is interesting since both heroes managed to receive magical swords during their…show more content… Arthur's motivation to become a hero has been in his nature since in the beginning of the novel; King Arthur always wanted to do good for himself and others. However, Beowulf's motivation to save Hrothgar from Grendel and his mother was more personal when he said " Every elder and experienced councilman among my people supported my resolve to come here for you, King Hrothgar, because all knew of my awesome strength" (pg.29) since his key motivation to become a hero was to give himself a fight or a sense of adventure. The difference that is the most astounding, however is their sets of ideals since both of them have different ideas regarding on how to rule a kingdom. Arthur's way to rule a kingdom was to have the violence that was in his kingdom being channeled through his round table so that violence could be used in beneficial ways instead of slaughtering thousands mindlessly. Beowulf's method of ruling a kingdom was to maintain peace throughout his kingdom by holding off " the fierce aggression of the Shylfings, ruthless swordsman, seasoned campaigners"