How does Gardner present the shaper and what does Gardner want us to think of Grendel's reaction to the shaper?

THe Shaper is this mystical soothsayer/manipulator who captures the imagination of all. The shaper is the artistic embodiment of perception. THe Shaper baffles Grendel. He wanders the forest confounded by the Shaper's power and his (Grendel's) own weakness to it.