But his great warrior status comes from God's wishes. This status is God's calling for Beowulf. He is sent to a city haunted by Grendel who he must defeat. He is viewed by the people of the town he saves as being "sent by God". Religion was a huge part of life in this time period. Beowulf symbolizes "good" as opposed to Grendel who symbolizes "bad". All fate rests in God's hands alone. God does what he chooses to do. Beowulf has no control over what happens to him. His only job is to live out life and allow God to decide what should happen. All Beowulf's amazing features including his strength and courage come directly from God. .
God controls all. When Beowulf and his warriors are traveling to the Danish shore, they have no trouble at all crossing through a treacherous and unpredictable sea. "The wind hurried them over the waves, / The ship foamed through the sea like a bird / Until, in the time they had known it would take, / Standing in the round-curled prow they could see / Sparkling hill, high and green, / Jutting up over the shore, and rejoicing / In those rock-steep cliffs they quietly ended / Their voyage." (Lines 218-224) No one, without God's help, could ever travel across this sea with such ease. Once they arrive and the King is notified, King Hrothgar says, "Our Holy Father / Has sent him as a sign of His grace, a mark / Of His favor, to help us defeat Grendel / And end that terror." (Lines 381-384) This shows that Beowulf is viewed as a symbol of God. Beowulf is merely a pawn which God chooses what to do with. Beowulf knows this. He knows that he was put on this earth to play out his role as a warrior. While talking to Hrothgar of what he has defeated in the past, he says, "I drove / Five great giants into chains, chased / All of that race from the earth. I swam / In the blackness on night, hunting monsters / Out of the ocean, and killing them one / By one; death was my errand and the fate / They had earned.