Njals Saga

“She put her arms around his neck and kissed him and spoke: ‘If I have as much power over you as I think I have, then I cast this spell: you will not have any sexual pleasure with the woman you plan to marry in Iceland, though you’ll be able to have your will with other women. Neither of us comes out of this well, because you did not tell me the truth.’”

Gunnhild, the queen mother in Norway, establishes a model for women’s roles in dictating men’s fates in Njal’s Saga. She casts a spell on Hrut for his dishonesty, which compromises his masculinity, according to Ideals of Masculinity and Honor. This causes his marriage to Unn to eventually fail. Their divorce allows Unn to marry again and give birth to the nefarious Mord Valgardsson, who plays a prominent role in the circumstances that lead to Njal’s burning.

“Hallgerd was bountiful and high-spirited and demanded to have whatever the neighbors had and squandered everything.”

Hallgerd, who eventually marries the heroic Gunnar of Hlidarendi, is a troublesome woman who is introduced as being arrogant, vain, and greedy. These personality traits contribute to her feud with Njal’s wife, Bergthora, and the deaths of many people, including Gunnar. Moreover, Gunnar’s death leaves a power vacuum in southern Iceland and contributes to the breakdown of relationships between once-friendly families and eventually leads to Njal’s death by burning. Hallgerd is thus a notoriously evil figure.

“Njal lived at Bergthorshvol in Landeyjar. He had a second farm at Thorolfsfell. He was well off for property and handsome to look at, but there was one thing about him: no beard grew on him. He was so well versed in the law that he had no equal, and he was wise and prophetic, sound of advice and well-intentioned, and whatever course he counselled turned out well. He was modest and noble-spirited, able to see far into the future and remember far into the past, and he solved the problems of whoever turned to him.”

The saga’s narrator introduces Njal, a central protagonist whose strength of character and intelligence is unmatched by anyone else, though his foster son, Hoskuld, and Hall of Sida come close. Njal possesses second sight and many respect his wisdom and legal acumen.