Scenes from Njal's Saga

Njal's Saga is considered among the greatest of the sagas of Icelanders. Encompassing a timeline of fifty years, with the introduction of over 300 names and over two dozen key characters, this epic touches on Icelandic family life, legal proceedings of the Althing (the world's oldest parliament, held on the the plains of Thingvellir Iceland each summer), the law and lawlessness of blood feuds, the prevalence of poetry in daily life, and the forging of friendships in the Viking Age. It is worth noting that the events which take place here occur from the late 900's and include the conversion of Iceland to Christianity in the year 1000. This story, like many testimonials of the time - including Icelandic law, kept by the Law Speaker - would've been repeated orally until being written down sometime in the 14th century. It is unknown how much the contemporary times influenced the content of the sagas once written down. Another challenge was that the text might've been garnered from numerous extant manuscripts. There is a world of history in the study of the Icelandic Sagas but one thing that cannot be disputed is their value as timeless entertainment.

I started this project on a bit of a whim, first wanting to illustrate what was to me a bizarre incident from the saga, a horse fight that erupts into fighting. But as the days of January 2021 passed I found myself more endeared to the characters and the story and kept studying the text and drawing scenes. I learned several things throughout the project, foremost of which was the inaccuracies with which I depicted Icelandic Vikings which could've been remedied through more careful research. For instance leg wraps while popular at the time were uncommon in Iceland. One source I read on historical Viking garb said belts were of silver - I now suspect the buckle was silver and the straps were leather but here I have them banded in literal belts of silver. I could only guess what Gunnar's hallberd looked like as there is much discourse on how the words for weapons translated and what those weapons in that millieu would've looked like, and I'm certain I'm depicting Skarphedin's axe (dubbed "Battle Hag") as much smaller than it was. Another - there are no ships depicted. While Njal's Saga does have some extraordinary sea battles in Norway, Ireland, and Scotland, for the narrative I was depicting here, the majority of the action takes place over land in Iceland. Maybe some famous scenes will need to be forthcoming.

Lastly I'm entirely indebted to the translator of the book I studied for this, extensively quoted in most of the text in these images. I claim almost no originality in the text and dialogue in the images themselves. It is from the Penguin Classics edition of Njal's Saga, translated by Robert Cook. I have read more than one translation of this story and this is by far the easiest to read. It is my hope that you might one day read the same edition I have studied, which comes with family trees, maps, breakdowns of the structure of the saga and extensive footnotes. You can find it on Amazon and Thriftbooks, maybe your local library, or direct from the publisher at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/350514/njals-saga-by-anonymous-translated-and-edited-with-an-introduction-and-notes-by-robert-cook/

Gunnar Hamundarson of Hlidarendi had gone abroad and earned some renown. He met Hallgerd Long-legs at the Althing and despite her faults married her. While Gunnar and Njal were the best of friends and often visited each other's houses, there was no love lost between their wives. One day Hallgerd was asked to move from her place at the table and that started off her rivalry with Bergthora. Hallgerd sent a slave to kill Bergthora's slave, who sent another slave to kill him, and so on, escalating until the foster father of Njal's sons, Thord Freed-man's son, was murdered with Thrain Sigfusson looking on. In all cases Gunnar and Njal awarded one another self-judgment and accepted the other's terms.

Things were quiet until a famine hit and Gunnar tried to buy supplies from his neighbor Otkel, who upon Skammkel's advice, refused him. Hallgerd had other plans.

When at last all was settled legally concerning Hallgerd's theft from Otkel, using Otkel's former slave Melkolf to rob him of cheese and milk and burn his storehouse, Gunnar was out sowing in his field when Otkel's horse rode out of control, the result of which Otkel ran Gunnar down and inflicted, accidentally, a bloody wound on Gunnar's cheek with his spur. Otkel's friend, the loathsome Skammkel, who'd already caused enough trouble during the legal proceedings through his poor counsel and misrepresentation of the legal advice Gizur the White and Geir the Godi had to offer Otkel, mocked Gunnar and proceeded to tell people in the district that Gunnar cried when he was run down. The bloody wound - a legal offense, coupled with the slander was enough to set Gunnar on revenge if he was to keep his standing in the community.

With Njal's expert legal advice, Gunnar was able to reach a settlement at the Althing for the death of Otkel, which offset his bloody wound. For the killing of the others in Otkel's party, weights of silver were paid.

Some men in the district began a rumor that Gunnar had a splendid stallion that was a great fighter and Gunnar was challenged to a horse fight by Starkad. Thorgeir Starkadarson and Kol Egilsson, two local rowdies, decided to cheat.

For the blow to Thorgeir at the horsefight, Starkad, his sons and the sons of Egil Kolsson wanted blood. Gunnar and his friends fought Starkad and his men and killed Starkad and several of his men, and under Njal's counsel, Gunnar declared the dead outlaws, for such offenses as illegally cutting trees on Njal's land, seduction of a kinswoman of Njal, and the attempt on Gunnar's life (in which they were in turn killed). A lawsuit for the killing was started against Gunnar on the advice of the greedy and treacherous Mord Valgardsson, who always was jealous of Gunnar, but luckily settlement was reached at the next Althing.

However, Mord told Thorgeir Starkadarson to befriend Thorgeir Otkelson - the son of Otkel who Gunnar also slew - and cause Thorgeir Otkelsson to be killed by Gunnar, satisfying Njal's prophecy against Gunnar killing twice in the same bloodline. They made plans to attack Gunnar. On the first attempt Njal spotted them and convinced them to turn back and legally arbitrated the attempt on Gunnar's life, much to Mord's chagrin. But the second time the Thorgeirs attacked, Thorgeir Otkelsson was killed. Gunnar ran him through with his Hallberd, threw himi into the Ranga river and his body floated downriver and got snagged on a boulder. Gunnar and his brother Kolskegg were sentenced to lesser outlawry - they must go abroad for 3 years or face full outlawry, meaning no one was to help them and they could be killed legally by anyone, by any means.

It so happened that Thrain Sigfusson went abraod and found himself in Earl Hakon, King of Norway's favor. Two of Njal's sons, Helgi and Grim also went abroad but were attacked by vikings in the Orkney Islands. It was here that Kari Solmundarson lent them aid and introduced them first to the Earl of Orkney and later Earl Hakon himself. However the Njalssons and Kari fell afoul of Earl Hakon, angry that his follower Thrain Sigfusson had hidden an outlaw, Killer-Hrapp, from him on his ship as he set off to return to Iceland. The Njalssons and Kari were nearly killed because of this incident.

Once Thrain was back in Iceland he fell in with Hallgerd and began repeating that brutal slander of Njal and his sons "Old Beardless" and "Dung Beardlings". This was most unforgiveable after Thrain's antics in Norway.

Njal offered to foster Thrain's son, Hoskuld Thrainsson. He'd wanted to arrange a marriage between Hoskuld and Hildigunn Starkadardottir, the niece of a man named Flosi, son of Thord Frey's-Godi. While she liked the idea she refused to marry Hoskuld until he had a godord (chieftainship) of his own. However no godi was willing to sell his godord. That summer at the Althing, clever Njal did not give the best advice he could and the suits in the quarter courts (Iceland was divided into four quarters and each had their court at the Althing) were becoming locked up and unresolvable. Njal, master of legal procedure, floated the idea of a Fifth Court, for resolving matters that could not be resolved in the Quarter Courts and for prosecuting violations of Althing procedure. Of course that Fifth Court needed a godi and he had just the man. Hoskuld became known as Hoskuld the Godi of Hvitanes and he married Hildigunn Starkadardottir.

At this time Olaf Trygvasson became King of Norway and set about converting that country to Christianity. He sent a missionary, a Saxon named Thangbrand to preach the faith in Iceland. There Thangbrand and his bodyguard Gudlief encountered several supernatural challenges. On one occasion heathens paid a sorcerer to perform a great sacrifice that Thangbrand and his posse would be killed. A most marvelous thing happened.

By the time the Althing rolled around that summer, heathens and Christians were at each other's throats. The Law Speaker lay covered by a cloak and deliberated for an entire day before declaring that Iceland should adopt the new faith and abandon its old gods. That was in the year 1000.

Shortly thereafter Mord Valgardsson's father, Valgard the Grey came back to Iceland from abroad and chided his son that Hoskuld's new godard had drawn away the allegiance of many of Mord's thingmen, diminishing his influence in the district. He suggested that Mord get the Njalssons to kill Hoskuld, which would be political suicide for them and lead to their eventual deaths. He also told Mord to forsake the new religion. Shortly after this exchange he sickened and died but that did not deter Mord.

Mord Valgardsson himself inflicted a blow upon Hoskuld but proceeded to misdeclare the killing, naming the inflicter of every blow struck except for the wound he struck, knowing this should invalidate the case. Still, though few trusted him, neither did they suspect him. The Njalssons and Kari would need support at the Althing and visited several booths looking for help but few wanted any part. Skarphedin proved to be wily in these situations.

Once Gudmund the Powerful heard about Skarphedin's interaction with Thorkel Bully, he changed his tune and offered his support.

A settlement arbitration was attempted at the Althing - all those who supported Njal put up their own money to assist but when Njal adds a colorful cloak to the collection but would not claim contributing it, that was too much of an insult for Flosi to bear. He uttered the infamous slander against Njal and his sons and refused a settlement entirely. Everyone went home from the Althing.

Flosi arrived with his men, numbering 100. Njal and sons were waiting in the yard to fight them but Njal, having seen portents of his death and knowing the odds against them, suggested they go inside. Flosi knew he'd have hard go facing Skarphedin, Grim, and Helgi Njalsson and Kari Solmundarson, not to mention the other members of the large household who were in fighting form, so when this happened the men acted quickly. Despite the odds the Njalssons and Kari made a violent stand defending the house, wounding and killing many men and Flosi found that many on his side were not fighting as hard as they had talked. Fire was his solution.

As the house burned Kari Solmundarson escaped, though his hair and clothes were burned off, and he went immediately to gather support, including from Gizur the White who happened to be Mord Valgardsson's father-in-law. Mord, in addition to being greedy and duplicitous was also good at law and was now called to prosecute the burners at the Althing. Also at work on the case was Thorhall Asgrimsson, another of Njal's foster-sons, whom Njal had taught the law to such a degree that Thorhall was one of Iceland's top three lawyers. The complication was that Thorhall had an infection in his leg and had to rest in his booth while the proceedings carried on. Each time it seemed the defense was about to prevail, a runner would be sent to Thorhall who would give such great advice that everything thought the prosecution would come out on top. This continued for some time, with everyone on tenterhooks until a suit was brought in the Fifth Court alleging that Flosi had changed his residence and should've been tried in a different quarter. The defense tricked Mord into making a legal slip in his choosing of jurists and the suit failed.

The Althing erupted into bedlam with fighting breaking out all over.

The next day, a settlement was reached with Flosi. He and many of his men, including some of the burners outfitted a ship and went abroad. However, Kari Solmundarson still wanted vengeance and pursued the burners as far as the Orkney Islands and killed sevearl of them there, including the maimed Gunnar Lambason. At last Flosi and Kari were able to reach a reconciliation back in Iceland. Flosi was last seen as an old man, boarding a derelict ship that sailed out and disappeared. Kari had many sons with Flosi's daughter Hildigunn, the widow of Hoskuld the Godi of Hvitanes.