- And so Grendel's spirit quest to the heart of darkness—that would be the dragon—begins.
- Grendel finds himself in the presence of something more monstrous than himself. And yes, dragons really do sit on piles of gold and jewels—at least they do in this novel.
- Grendel has never been more frightened in his life. But somehow, the dragon sounds like an old man.
- The dragon also has a sick sense of humor, which truly terrifies Grendel. Seriously, how can you tell if a dragon is really joking? Who knew dragons could even joke at all?
- The dragon makes a good point: Grendel now knows what humans feel when they see him.
- The dragon points out that Grendel looks like a frightened rabbit and busts a gut laughing at him. Grendel is enraged and tries to chuck an emerald at the dragon's head.
- At this point, Grendel learns an important lesson: never touch anything in a dragon's hoard. It'll get real pretty quickly.
- Grendel sobers right up and mentally swears off human beings.
- But the dragon can read Grendel's thoughts and is all like, "That ain't gonna happen. Anyway, humans are stupid and totally deserve what they get."
- The dragon wants to know why Grendel has come, but it seems like just a formality—the dragon already knows. There is some kind of weird psycho-spiritual link between these two, and Grendel can feel himself falling farther into darkness.
- The dragon knows that Grendel is beginning to die.
- But here's the big question: who is this Shaper guy, and is he for real?
- The dragon tells Grendel he's on the right track: the Shaper is a pusher of illusions.
- Why should we believe the dragon? Well, for one thing, he tells us that dragon-minds are all-seeing: dragons can see the past, the present, and the future.
- The dragon sees the future, but he doesn't make it happen. God is sometimes talked about in a similar way—as a being who sees everything but allows humans free will to make their own choices.
- Grendel and the dragon have a long philosophical discussion about the nature of God and man and the reality of free will.
- Here's a takeaway point: according to the dragon, humans do not have "total vision." They are schemers and game players with no real understanding of the big picture. Sometimes they get lucky.
- And the Shaper? His job is to patch up the disillusionment and doubts that pop up when man's theories don't work out.
- And now guess what? The dragon wants to go off about Time and Space, but Grendel is already in over his head and drooling. He's bored to tears.
- The poor dragon has to hold his temper—after all, Grendel is a limited creature.
- The dragon tries something else. He asks: why does the universe need chaos?
- The dragon doesn't get very far with this question, so he decides to use a visual aid. He picks up a jug to use as an example, but his use of the words "monistic" and phrases like "the infinitude of the finite" make Grendel's eyes glaze over.
- Finally, a bit of success: the dragon describes human nature by comparing animal organization to vegetable organization. (Bear with us, folks.)
- The bottom line? Vegetable life lacks the highly concentrated organization that animal life has. Example: if you cut off the head of an animal, it's done for, but you can subdivide a cauliflower many times over without killing it.
- Grendel feels dumb, but he understands this much.
- The next bit throws him for a loop. The dragon explains that man doesn't fight with the universe—he just knocks his neighbor down. A rock, however, attracts the universe through gravity.
- Whatever. Grendel just wants the dragon to eat him and be done.
- The dragon wishes he had eaten Grendel right away, but he tries again. All things, he says, will pass away—even the dragon himself and his precious hoard.
- Grendel grows defiant and challenges the dragon. But the dragon continues to press his philosophy on the poor monster: we're just dust in the wind, more or less. We can talk about the dust with all kinds of pretty words, but dust is dust. Poof.
- Gardner's got an apocalyptic vision of ecological meltdown ("oil" and "dead things") that he throws in here.
- Space-Time Continuum Note: Grendel won't believe him, but the dragon reminds him that all of this has already happened, including the big ecological meltdown in the future. Remember, the dragon can see into the future, even if he can't alter it.
- The dragon's message boils down to this: nothing really matters.
- But Grendel hasn't given in yet. He still thinks he can change. He wants to punch Big D in the nose.
- The dragon has one last surprise piece of advice for Grendel: Don't change. Being a monster makes the human beings better, um, humans. It drives their poetry and their schemes. It gives them something to fight against.
- It's all a funny identity game. Humans define themselves as non-monstrous. If the monster disappears, they'll have to play that role, too. They would instantly be way more brutal—believe it or not.
- Grendel doesn't want to play that game. He doesn't want to believe the dragon. He brings up the Shaper, the creation story—and God.
- The dragon is baffled: what God would he be talking about?
- And to burst Grendel's bubble entirely, the dragon puts the final nail in the coffin: we're a mere blip in the face of eternity, he says. So how can all the great stuff the humans say about themselves be true of things so insignificant?
- What advice can the dragon offer the poor, destroyed little monster? He gets all financial adviser on him: find your own gold and sit on it.