In Beowulf, what are the characteristics of Thanes and what are some examples?

Throughout the course of events in Beowulf, the Thanes seemed to transform from happy people celebrating God to a group of sad men that ran for their lives to escape being killed by Grendel. 

For one, the Thanes were religious. Readers find them singing of God's praises in the opening lines of the section titled "The Wrath of Grendel":

As day after day the music rang

Loud in that hall, the harp's rejoicing

Call...

Throughout the course of events in Beowulf, the Thanes seemed to transform from happy people celebrating God to a group of sad men that ran for their lives to escape being killed by Grendel. 

For one, the Thanes were religious. Readers find them singing of God's praises in the opening lines of the section titled "The Wrath of Grendel":

As day after day the music rang

Loud in that hall, the harp's rejoicing

Call and the poet's clear songs, sung

Of the ancient beginnings of us all, recalling

The Almighty making the earth, shaping 

These beautiful plains marked off by oceans,

Then proudly setting the sun and moon

To glow across the land and light it;

The Thanes sang of their appreciation and pleasure for the world the Almighty created for them. 

Before the disturbance of Grendel started, the Thanes lived happily in Herot as stated in the text:

So Hrothgar's men lived happy in his hall

The transition began once Grendel started his attacks. The Thanes then quit celebrating and enjoying their once-content lives. After they saw the damage Grendel did to their people and their hall, their laughs and cheers turned into tears and cries. Following the attack in which Grendel captured the lives of 30 Thanes, they awoke and interrupted their celebratory lives with "tears and laments." 

Then their sadness turned into fear. They assumed distance was the only safety, so they deserted the land in which they had called home for twelve years. 

The Thanes could be characterized from one spectrum to the other throughout different parts of the epic. They first appear to readers as happy warriors celebrating life and religion, and then quickly find themselves a group of sad, fearful followers that flee in order to save their own lives.