and encounters the demon, who takes the form of a beautiful, gold-covered naked woman. He tries to kill her with Hrunting but fails due to her magic. Instead, she seduces him with promises to make him king in exchange for the drinking horn and a son to replace Grendel, which Beowulf agrees to when they both kiss. Afterwards, Beowulf returns to Heorot with Grendel's head and announces he has killed his mother the demon. He recounts embellished stories of a fight, claiming he left the sword impaled in the body of Grendel's mother and lost the golden drinking horn in the battle. Hrothgar speaks to Beowulf privately, and asks if he truly killed Grendel's mother. Despite Beowulf's boasting and calling Grendel's mother a 'hag', Hrothgar is not fooled and indirectly reveals he had been seduced by the demon, and Grendel was the result of their tryst. Hrothgar says all that matters is that Grendel is dead and the curse of Grendel's mother is no longer his to bear. Beowulf then realizes that the curse has now been passed on to him after his affair with the demon. Hrothgar declares Beowulf to be king upon his death and he then commits suicide by jumping from the castle parapet onto the beach below. Grendel's mother appears as a gold light in the surf, and drags Hrothgar's corpse into the sea as the crowd kneels to the newly-crowned King Beowulf, fulfilling their bargain. Fifty years later, the elderly Beowulf is the estranged husband of Wealtheow, who has converted to Christianity. Beowulf has a mistress, Ursula, but his tryst with Grendel's mother has left him sterile to both his wife and mistress. On the anniversary of Beowulf's victory against Grendel, Unferth returns the golden drinking horn, which his slave had found on the moors. That night, a nearby village is destroyed by a dragon, which then transforms into a golden figure, who orders Unferth to give a message to King Beowulf, the dragon's father: the sins of the father have returned to him (referencing the Faustian bargain curse cycle, which Wealtheow knows about). Afterwards, Beowulf privately confesses to Wealtheow about his affair with Grendel's mother and they reconcile. Beowulf and Wiglaf go to the cave once again, and Beowulf enters alone. When Grendel's mother appears, Beowulf throws her the golden horn, but she refuses it and the dragon attacks Beowulf's castle, threatening Wealtheow and