Æschere

Background
Æschere is a retainer to King Hrothgar. He also a close friend, consultant, and mentor to Hrothgar. He is killed by Grendel's Mother when she attacks Heorot after Grendel is fatally wounded by Beowulf. Æschere's head is discovered at the entrance of Grendel's Mother's lair after a party goes out to take revenge.

Etymology
Æsc: Ash Tree, Lance, Small Ship

Here: Army, Battle, Devastation

Story-wise, Æsc seems unrelated, but Here is relevant as there was a short battle that killed Æschere causing King Hrothgar and the Danes to be devastated.

Role in Beowulf
Æschere's death and consequent beheading solidify Grendel's Mother as a villain, and are justification for Beowulf to go out and fight Grendel's Mother. Æschere's death is also used to show Beowulf's skill at communication when he inspires King Hrothgar to take revenge.

Æschere's death can also be used to show that the bonds between Geats may be weaker than the bonds between Danes by comparing it to Hondscioh's death. "The poet reveals very little about Hondscioh, and does not identify him until Beowulf retells his adventures to Hygelac more than 1,300 lines later. In contrast, only some twenty lines separate Æschere’s death and Hrothgar’s use of his name in a passage"

This thought could be taken further as foreshadowing of the ten Geats abandoning Beowulf before his battle with the dragon.

In some translations, Æschere is also the person who reads for the king, so his death may also describe "an anxiety within Beowulf about 'things' that defy human interpretation [letters] and convey monstrous, marginal, or unknowable messages [beheading] instead."

Strengths:

 * A close confidant of the king.
 * Having others care about him.
 * Having allies who want to avenge him.

Weaknesses:

 * Monstrous women.
 * Being ambushed.

Lines Referenced in Beowulf
{| class="article-table" !

Old English
!

Translated (Heaney)
!"Hraðe heo æþelinga anne hæfde fæste befangen, þa heo to fenne gang.

Se wæs Hroþgare hæleþa leofost

on gesiðes had be sæm tweonum,

rice randwiga, þone ðe heo on ræste abreat,

blædfæstne beorn. Næs Beowulf ðær"

(1294-1299) !"She had pounced and taken one of the retainers in a tight hold, then headed for the fen.

To Hrothgar, this man was the most beloved

of the friends he trusted between the two seas.

She had done away with a great warrior,

ambushed him at rest. Beowulf was elsewhere"

(Heaney 1294-1299) !"Denigea leodum. Dead is Æschere, Yrmenlafes yldra broþor,

min run-wita ond min ræd-bora,

eaxl-gestealla, ðonne we on orlege

hafelan weredon, þonne hniton feþan,

eoferas cynsedan. Swylc scolde eorl wesan,

æþeling ær-god, swylc æschere wæs!

Wearð him on Heorote to handbanan

wælgæst wæfre"

(1323-1331) !"Alas for the Danes! Aeschere is dead. He was Yrmenlaf's elder brother

and a soul-mate to me, a true mentor,

my right-hand man when the ranks clashed

and our boar-crests had to take a battering

in the line of action. Aeschere was everything

the world admires in a wise man and a friend.

Then this roaming killer came in a fury

and slaughtered him in Heorot."

(Heaney 1323-1331) ! "                   ... Denum eallum wæs, winum Scyldinga, weorce on mode

to geþolianne, ðegne monegum,

oncyð eorla gehwæm, syðþan Æscheres

on þam holmclife hafelan metton."

(1417-1421) ! "                                     ... It was a sore blow to all of the Danes, friends of the Shieldings,

a hurt to each and every one

of that noble company when they came upon

Aeschere's head at the foot of the cliff."

(Heaney 1417-1421) !"               ... þær wæs Æschere, frodan fyrnwitan, feorh uðgenge."

(2122-2123) !"                         ... Thus life departed from the sage Aeschere, an elder wise in counsel."

(Heaney 2122-2123)
 * }