What allusions to Beowulf in modern stories such as the Lord of the Rings books or movies influence us today?

You know, I've heard this dabate since forever -- what effect has Beowulf had on LOTR. After careful consideration (which means actually reading Beowulf), I find nothing that really ties the two together. Heroic sagas and morality tales predate even Beowulf. Things that go bump in the night? Well -- legends like Grendel go back into the dawn of time. Even cave drawings occassionally depict terrifying creatures we can't identify with an actual species. And -- to me anyway -- Beowulf is part and parcel of these. Just as art post middle-ages developed perspective (but the images were always there), tale-telling has improved, as language and writing became over time more and more pervasive. Recall that when Beowulf was writen, the majority of the local populace was deeply illiterate. JRRT had a far more sophisitcated audience of communicators to appeal to, and did so in a manner that didn't so much leave Beowulf behind as it completely bypassed (as well as surpassed) it. Of course, my opinion only here. Summarizing, I feel Beowulf has, at this point, had little or no effect. I think that it was put into Words was fortuitous and also incidental. This is the tale everyone told, and someone finally wrote it down. LOTR is of another order. In closing, I'd like to note that I always felt a lot more attached to Grendel than Beowulf -- I think he would have been a better conversationalist. WRT this last point, John Gardner's novel "Grendel" respins the first part of the Beowulf story from Grendel's point of view. If you felt aligned with the monster from reading Beowulf, this novel will put you even more in its camp.