By Jim AOR In examining references to the Christian god in Beowulf, we can discern the presence of pre-Christian Germanic deities. Many academics today minimize the etymology of certain terms found in Beowulf and many translators use their poetic license to dilute the Heathen meanings of these same terms. Yet we can see in many ways the presence of Wyrd, the Norns, and sacral kingship in Beowulf. These implied uses of pre-Christian deities reinforce the idea that the church had not “won” in England in the early middle ages and still had to compromise with the Odinic spirit of the Anglo-Saxons.