Andre

I haven't felt as sad for any movie creature as for Grendel from the Beowulf 2007 animated movie adaption. I frequently side with the "bad" guys because they often have valid reasons - from their point of view at least - to do what they do.

Grendel is one of three antagonists (the others are his mother and later step-brother turned dragon) in the Old English heroic epic poem Beowulf written somewhere between the 8th and the 11th century.

[Spoilers ahead]

In this movie's story, he's the son of King Hrothgar who had an earlier involvement with his mother (a daemon/witch/whatever living in a cave nearby). Grendel is a monster in appearance with terrible wounds, an external eardrum, disfigured and generally a bad living environment (a wet cave with plenty of gold treasures).

Grendel's face being the least monster-looking part of his body.

As it it's not enough to live in such conditions, the nearby celebration of the construction of a new mead hall by King Hrothgar drives him crazy; that external eardrum doesn't come in handy with the beats of a loud party. Long story short: he visits the neighbors and kills (throwing, stomping, crushing, biting...) everyone but the King, Queen Wealtheow (by pure luck) and Unferth, the King's most trusted advisor who hides in a water trough.

Of course, being unwanted and actually never mentioned to anyone by his father, being a monster in pain and living in a cave, it's no easy life. His mother warned him not to interfere with humans but the pain of the loud beats was too much: he had to stop it. And thus he sealed his fate.

His father would offer half of his kingdom in gold to any man who can defeat Grendel and so plenty of people would take on the challenge, just adding to his misery. Eventually, Beowulf shows up and lures him to the mead hall once more. Fighting with Beowulf, Grendel looses his arm and just makes it home to die in his mother's arms.

Grendel pleading with Beowulf to let him go. His arm being trapped by a chain, it's eventually torn off when Beowulf shuts the door.

Grendel's later step-brother (Beowulf being the father) awaits no better fate either. Becoming a dragon, he dies by Beowulf's hand - thus his father, who only sees his son in human shape once: when both lie next to each other on the beach, dying.