Beowulf wants to help Hrothgar because he realizes that, despite his current rivalries, he has a commitment to serving humanity. He also wants a chance to show his skill to more people and wants admiration. Hrothgar manages to save face because Beowulf comes to him asking for permission to kill Grendel. Put this way, it seems that the king was the mastermind behind the operation and the one who made the decision to kill Grendel. The number twelve has many religious connotations, including, but not limited to, the twelve days of Christmas, the twelve apostles, and the twelve tribes of Israel. By using the number 12, the transcriber is able to pay homage to his Christianity. Beowulf wants to stay inside to fight Grendel. He mentions that Grendel may have been a descendant of Cain. Ultimately, Beowulf's sacrifice for his people has also been compared to the sacrifice of Jesus. On several occasions, characters in the story thank God or refer to God in what was originally written as a pagan myth. This once again contributes to the cyclical nature of the story, but this time the moods are different. The tower at the beginning is a symbol of greatness and the beginning of an era while the tower at the end has a more melancholic meaning and marks the end of an era. Fire and Water seem to be represented more throughout the story, mostly to convey the setting as creepy and dangerous. Earth and Air are both mentioned, but less frequently and mostly by accident. If a section of the epic was missing, this may have been a consequence. Wiglaf's rule and the people's reaction to King Beowulf's death were abrupt and anonymous. I feel like the ending may not have done justice to the exciting and noble life Beowulf had lived, so perhaps there was more that was simply lost by letting the story end so soon. They discussed Beowulf's funeral, but very briefly and without it