In 2019, the Met Opera in New York mounted a small production of a contemporary retelling of the Beowulf story, and it was fantastic. In a tiny moment at the beginning, a coin is tossed. The two principal players look at each other, smile knowingly, nod, and begin. I take this moment to be the decision of which actor would play the hero and which would play the monster. It’s poignant because, by the end of the story, the two are essentially reflections of one another.