By Angela Maria Carlucci
What do a Viking warrior, a Copenhagen startup CEO, and an American road-tripper have in common? They are all heroes embarking on transformative journeys: facing challenges, forging alliances, and seeking deeper meaning in their lives. This timeless narrative, known as The Hero’s Journey, has been passed down through cultures for centuries, from ancient epics like Beowulf to modern-day road narratives and tech sagas.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how the ancient tale of Beowulf and its modern-day reinterpretations, like the tech-world Beowulf 2025, align with the Hero’s Journey, a universal framework outlined by mythologist Joseph Campbell. We’ll also explore how American road narratives mirror this hero’s quest for self-discovery and cultural critique, as discussed in my dissertation, Travels Throughout the American Continent in Search of Identity.
Beowulf Then: The Viking Hero’s Epic Quest
Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic poem in Old English, dating back to the 8th to 10th centuries. Set in the heart of Scandinavia, it tells the story of Beowulf, a Geatish warrior who is called upon to defend King Hrothgar’s mead hall, Heorot, from the monstrous Grendel. Beowulf’s bravery leads him to battle Grendel and later Grendel’s vengeful mother. As he grows older, now a king, Beowulf faces his final trial – a deadly encounter with a dragon, which ultimately costs him his life.
While the tale is rich in themes of heroism, loyalty, fate, and the inevitability of death, it is also about legacy. Beowulf’s journey is one of self-discovery through battle, where every victory brings him closer to understanding his place in the world. But ultimately, no matter how heroic, even the greatest warriors must meet their end – leaving only stories behind.
Beowulf 2025: The Hero in Copenhagen’s Tech Startup Scene
Fast forward to the 21st century, and Beowulf’s epic journey looks a lot different. In Beowulf 2025, Beowulf is reimagined as a tech entrepreneur navigating the fast-paced world of cybersecurity in Copenhagen’s startup scene. The battlefield is no longer a mead hall but a sleek startup hub, and his enemies aren’t mythical creatures – they are hackers, botnets, and cyber-criminals threatening the digital world.
King Hrothgar has transformed into the CEO of Heorot Inc., a tech company under siege by malicious forces. Beowulf, now a startup founder, must confront the digital demons threatening the company and ultimately, the future of technology itself. Instead of wielding a sword, he uses encryption keys, firewalls, and cutting-edge algorithms to battle against AI-powered threats.
Just as the original Beowulf fought monsters, today’s Beowulf faces his own demons – grappling with the immense pressures of startup culture, dealing with betrayal from insiders, and finding a way to save his company from total destruction. His final confrontation is with a powerful ransomware attack, a digital “dragon” that threatens to destroy everything he’s worked for.
While the setting has changed, the themes of courage, sacrifice, and the pursuit of glory remain central to the modern Beowulf’s journey. He still seeks to leave a legacy, this time through the lens of technological innovation and ethical business practices.
The Hero’s Journey: Connecting the Ancient and the Modern
Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is a narrative framework that helps us understand the common stages heroes undergo across different cultures and time periods. Whether it’s the ancient Beowulf, the tech startup CEO, or the road-trip hero, they all share similar stages: leaving the ordinary world, undergoing tests and trials, facing life-or-death challenges, and ultimately returning with wisdom to share.
In my dissertation, Travels Throughout the American Continent in Search of Identity, I explored how American road narratives – works like Jack Kerouac’s On the Road and John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley – embody this very same pattern. The open road in these stories serves as both a physical and symbolic journey, offering a space for self-discovery and reflection. The traveler’s journey mirrors that of Beowulf – whether he’s battling monsters in the wilds of Denmark or wrestling with personal demons on an endless highway.
The road narratives I focused on were not mere vacation accounts; rather, they represented a distinct genre, blending elements of pilgrimage, quest romance, Bildungsroman, and the picaresque. These narratives encompass social protest, the search for national identity, and journeys of self-discovery. In examining these, I looked at how the road functions as a liminal space – both sacred and transformative.
Just as Beowulf’s maritime crossings and underwater descents parallel his inner trials, so do Kerouac’s or Steinbeck’s highways become sites of psychological penetration to ‘sources of power,’ culminating in narratives of return and reintegration. These enduring story structures reflect a shared human impulse: to frame movement – whether heroic, technological, or geographic – as a quest for wholeness and meaning.
The American Road Narrative: A Sacred Space for Self-Discovery
William Least Heat-Moon’s Blue Highways (1982) is one of the most celebrated works in the American road narrative tradition. In this reflective travelogue, Heat-Moon embarks on a journey across the backroads of America, exploring forgotten towns and hidden landscapes. His quest is not just geographical but also deeply introspective, as he searches for meaning and self-discovery, much like the road heroes of old. Blue Highways serves as a modern counterpart to the mythic journeys of figures like Beowulf – offering a “liminal” space for transformation, renewal, and revelation.
Heat-Moon, like Thoreau and Whitman before him, embodies the idea of the road as a sacred space for personal and cultural transcendence. Just as Thoreau’s Walden (1854) and Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1891/92) focus on self-exploration and finding harmony with nature, Heat-Moon’s road trip becomes a search for an authentic American identity, questioning the disconnect between society and nature. His journey, like that of Beowulf, mirrors a quest for unity, renewal, and a deeper understanding of self.
In my dissertation, I focused on how road narratives like On the Road, Travels with Charley, and Blue Highways combine elements of pilgrimage and self-discovery, reflecting broader social and cultural movements. These narratives often explore themes of escape, social protest, and the search for national or personal identity. The road, much like Beowulf’s battlefields, functions as both a literal and symbolic space of transformation, where protagonists are tested and ultimately reborn.
Comparative Table: The Hero’s Journey in Beowulf, Beowulf 2025 & American Road Narratives
| Stage (Campbell) | Old Beowulf (Epic Poem) | Beowulf 2025 (Tech Startup Saga) | American Road Narrative (from my dissertation) |
| 1. Ordinary World | Beowulf in Geatland, a warrior seeking glory. | Beowulf in his startup hub, GeatTech HQ, running apps and pitching VCs. | Ordinary life under “confinement”: characters feel stuck in social norms, craving escape and meaning. |
| 2. Call to Adventure | Hrothgar calls for help: Grendel ravages Heorot. | Heorot Inc. under cyberattack; Hrothgar pleads for rescue. | The lure of the road: characters hear the “open road” promise of freedom, progress, and self-discovery. |
| 3. Refusal of the Call | None: Beowulf leaps at the chance for glory. | Minimal hesitation: risk vs. reward in startup culture. | Often implicit: fear of change, financial security, or societal judgment tempers initial enthusiasm. |
| 4. Meeting the Mentor | Hrothgar’s wisdom on pride and leadership. | Hrothgar as seasoned CEO warns against hubris and burnout. | Literary mentors: Thoreau, Whitman, and mythic predecessors provide ideological guidance and cultural scripts. |
| 5. Crossing the Threshold | Beowulf sails to Denmark. | Beowulf leaves the safe dev lab for the digital underworld. | The traveler leaves home, crosses into liminal space of highways: the car becomes the “threshold vehicle.” |
| 6. Tests, Allies, Enemies | Battles Grendel, then Grendel’s mother; earns loyalty of warriors. | Combats Grendel the hacker, infiltrates botnet networks; allies include loyal coders. | Encounters diverse America: farmers, drifters, truckers; trials test endurance and belief systems. |
| 7. Approach to the Inmost Cave | Descent into the underwater lair of Grendel’s mother. | Dive into the darknet core to neutralize AI malware. | Enter the sacred space of the road: diners, deserts, vast landscapes – places of introspection and testing. |
| 8. The Ordeal | Climactic battle with Grendel’s mother, risking death. | Final hackathon vs. AI botnet queen – one wrong line of code ends it all. | Existential crises: loneliness, temptation, cultural dissonance, and facing inner demons while in motion. |
| 9. Reward (Seizing the Sword) | Beowulf claims the giant sword; ultimate honor. | Gains the master encryption key – the tool to save Heorot Inc. | New awareness, spiritual renewal, sense of identity or cultural critique: the “inner treasure” of travel. |
| 10. The Road Back | Returns home a hero; fame grows. | Returns to GeatTech as unicorn founder; new investors swarm. | The difficult reentry: from timelessness of the road to structured society; boredom and compromise await. |
| 11. Resurrection | Slays the dragon but dies from wounds; immortalized in story. | Defeats ransomware dragon but sacrifices himself for his company’s survival. | Narrative reintegration: turning transient experience into lasting cultural meaning through storytelling. |
| 12. Return with the Elixir | Leaves legacy of heroism and stability for his people. | Leaves behind an ethical-tech empire and an innovation-driven culture. | Produces literary works (Kerouac, Steinbeck, Heat-Moon): stories as “boons” for readers and cultural dialogue. |
Why the Hero’s Journey Still Matters
The Hero’s Journey endures because it taps into something universally human. We all face moments of departure – leaving the ordinary world for something unknown. We encounter obstacles that test us, and we return changed, often with wisdom to share. From ancient epics like Beowulf to modern road narratives and Copenhagen tech sagas, this framework resonates with the shared human need for meaning, transformation, and self-discovery.
Whether through the bloodshed of a Viking battle or the stress of startup culture, Beowulf’s story – both ancient and modern – reminds us that the journey, with all its trials and triumphs, is what shapes who we become.
Further readings:
The Hero’s Journey in Business: From Beowulf to the AI Age
Travels in Search of Identity: Hunters and Shamans on the Road
A Step Inside This City of the Future
Interested in more literary journeys and how they shape our culture? Stay tuned for upcoming explorations on the connections between ancient epics and modern storytelling.
Angela is a Multilingual Communications Professional | Writer & Speaker | Managing Director | Entrepreneur
“Inspiring and empowering people is what I love doing, for I firmly believe everyone deserves to feel great at any time. Communication is my passion.”