Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar

by Anonymous, Guðni Jónsson (Editor), Geirmundur Orri Sigurdsson (Editor)

Note: This is the original text of Egils Saga in the Icelandic Language

Egils saga (About this sound listen (help·info)) is an epic Icelandic saga. The oldest transcript (a fragment) dates back to 1240 AD. The saga is centered on the life of Egill Skallagrímsson, an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. It is generally referred to as "Egla" by Icelandic scholars.

The saga covers a long period of time, starting in Norway around 850 AD, with the life of Egill's grandfather Úlfr, called Kveldúlfr ("Evening Wolf") and his two sons, Þórólfr and Egill's father Skalla-Grímr. Kveldúlfr is described as bigger and stronger than anyone else gaining much land and property from viking raids. He was a very wise man, hamrammr (a shape-shifter) in battles and a shy recluse in the evenings. Extreme personal traits like these are seen in his son Skalla-Grímr and his grandson Egill as well. After Þórólfr's death, due to his broken allegiance to King Haraldr (although not Þórólfr's fault), Skalla-Grímr and his father Kveldúlfr flee Norway to settle in Iceland. Skalla-Grímr settles in peace as a farmer and blacksmith at Borg, where his sons Egill and Þórólfr (named after his uncle) grow up.

The story continues with the childhood of Egill, which foreshadows his future rebelliousness. His family's peace is again lost as the social order is threatened by Egill's dangerous attitude. He stirs up trouble with his first murder with an axe at the age of seven. The story goes on to tell the tales of Egill's voyages to Scandinavia and England and his personal vendetta against King Eric Bloodaxe. There are also vivid descriptions of his other fights and friendships, his relationship with his family (highlighted by his jealousy, as well as fondness for his older brother Þórólfr), his old age, and the fate of his own son Þorsteinn (who was baptized once Roman Catholicism came to Iceland) and his children who had many children of their own. The saga ends around the year 1000 AD and spans many generations.

The saga follows Egill through the various stages of his life, most of which are surrounded by battle and Egill virtually narrates his own life story with his frequent segments of poetry. Before Egill died he allegedly concealed his silver treasure near Mosfellsbær, giving birth to the legend of silfur Egils ("Egill's Silver").

The character of Egill is highly ambiguous. His multi-faceted nature reflects the ambivalent qualities of his family, a family of men who are either ugly or astoundingly handsome; a family with a history of "shapeshifters" who become suddenly mad, violent and cruel, though they may at other times be deliberate and wise; a family which neither submits to the will of kings, nor stands in open rebellion. His character is also reflected in the storytelling conventions of the text, a highly ambivalent tale populated by characters with similar or identical names, living out various permutations of very similar stories. The two handsome Þórólfrs die heroic deaths, while their brothers Skallagrímr and Egill both die in old age after spitefully burying their wealth in the wilderness. The descendants of Kveldúlfr find themselves involved in two complicated inheritance feuds, at one time rejecting the claims of illegitimate children of a second marriage, and at another time claiming land on behalf of another illegitimate child born to similar circumstances.

As a work of literature, Egils saga is generally considered to be amongst the best of the Icelandic sagas, along with Njáls saga and Laxdæla saga.

Genres: Classics, History, Mythology, Poetry, Medieval, Literature, Historical

199 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1240

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is probably the ass-kickingest story I have ever read.

"Egil's Saga" kicks Conan's ass from one end of some stupid fictional continent to the other.

Did Conan ever get so miffed after being given sour curds and malt liquor as a guest (instead of meat and fine ale, which were being hidden by the greedy host) that he held his host against a pillar and vomited on his host's face with such force that his host's teeth were all knocked out?

Did Conan ax another boy to death at the age of six on a ball field, leading his mother to remark, "he'll make a fine viking"?

Did Conan ever steal a bunch of food from a longhouse and then realize that the occupants wouldn't know who'd done it, so he rode back to scream his name and set the whole place on fire?

"Egil's Saga" might not have much to tell us about honor and decency, but as a crazy, kick-ass story about early Norwegians settling Iceland and getting buck-wild crazy, it's beyond awesome.

[William Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

BookTube channel with my awesome brother, Ed - The Brothers Gwynne
My personal BookTube channel - William Gwynne

Another saga on my module reading list. Papa Gwynne said this is one of his favourites, so of course I could not wait to dive in.

Egil's Saga is just fantastic. It transports us into a Norse family saga, with the main character being the titular character of Egil, who is an incredibly complex anti-hero. I love the pragmatic style to the storytelling and also in the mindsets of our characters, as we see their versions of justice and vengeance, how they deal with love and loss, loyalty and betrayal, tragedy and heroism.

Possibly my favourite text I've read for university so far!

5/5 STARS

[E. G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acknowledgements
Introduction & Notes
Further Reading
Note on the Translation

--Egil's Saga

Notes
Maps
Egil's Ancestors and Family
Chronology
Social and Political Structure
The Farm
Glossary
Index

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another hallmark text from Medieval Europe, and another portal to the Norse world. Egils saga Skallagrimssonar is one of those thoroughly enjoyable pieces of classic writing that simultaneously work splendidly as an entryway into Medieval literature for the uninitiated, and has plenty to offer seasoned veterans as well. The skilfully crafted narration is easy to follow, yet so rewarding to analyse a little deeper.

As most sagas, it is remarkably short and concise, yet (at some risk of sounding like 'everything was better back in the day!') fits more brilliant storytelling and character development into its modest size than your average modern-day 700-page brick. The protagonist Egill himself is of course one of the most memorable characters in the saga genre. From his anti-heroism to his social maneuvering, from his jovial yet violent nature to his strained relationships with relatives and kings, his personality and its development remains intriguing throughout the text.

Not to mention that it's pretty much a fantasy novel with roots in history. A little haunting, a little shapeshifting, a little skull-splitting, and a lot of political intrigue, family drama and revenge plots.

In short, it has a little bit of everything. This means that in my eyes it lacks the enchanting effect of masterpieces such as Njáls saga or Laxdæla saga, or indeed the more historically rooted kings' sagas (which I usually work with), but there is little doubt that Egils saga is a wondrous tale.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 – 4.5 stars

I am still something of a newcomer to the Icelandic Sagas, having only read a handful so far, but I would be surprised if Egil’s Saga was not the best of them. It’s certainly my favourite thus far, eclipsing even the fantastic Njal's Saga.

This saga makes central to its story what was perhaps the primary catalyst in the formation of Icelandic culture: the tensions between Iceland and Norway which led to the creation of the younger nation. These tensions were ultimately embodied in one man: Harald Fairhair, who rose to supreme power over a united Norway in the ninth century. Those who fought against his rise to power, or who found themselves unwilling to bend the knee and live under the authority of a single despot, and who managed to avoid being killed for their troubles, found themselves driven from their homes. Many of these refugees ended up being the founding families of the newly settled Iceland. Amongst these families was the one headed by Skallagrim Kveldulfsson, the father of our titular hero Egil.

As with most sagas this one begins a generation or two prior to the main action and we are introduced to the powerful landowner Kveldulf and his two sons Thorolf and Grim (soon to become ‘Skallagrim’ or ‘Bald Grim’ due to early becoming follicly challenged). Kveldulf and Grim both want nothing to do with the rising power of Harald Fairhair and do their best to retain their independence in Norway while neither taking sides for or against the newly minted king. Thorolf, on the other hand, sees an opportunity for fortune and glory and becomes a stalwart partisan of the new king. Thorolf proves to be an effective vassal, perhaps a bit too effective, as he gains his own following and becomes very rich…rich enough to make a king jealous and be willing to bend an ear to those who would speak ill of Thorolf. In the end ill-will prevails and Thorolf finds himself on the wrong end of a sword from Harald, earning Thorolf his death and Harald the undying enmity of Kveldulf and Skallagrim.

Skipping ahead somewhat Skallagrim becomes one of the founding fathers of Iceland, owning huge tracts of land which he partially parcels out to his bondsmen and family. Skallagrim has two sons, Egil and Thorolf, who both maintain a tenuous hold on some properties in Norway when they are not raiding the north as vikings. Thorolf, apparently not having learned from his namesake uncle, attaches himself to Harald’s son (and the new King of Norway) Eric Bloodaxe. Egil instead allies himself to the English King Athelstane. Many adventures ensue in which we see Egil’s misanthropic character display itself. He is definitely not a typical heroic figure: dour, avaricious, and prone to bouts of temper, he is also a pre-eminent skaldic poet and brave warrior. In the end his brother Thorolf dies in battle and Egil manages to become a favourite of King Athelstane at the same time that he earns the undying enmity of King Eric (and his perhaps even more dangerous queen Gunnhild).

The saga follows the adventures of Egil as he traverses the North: whether fighting for his family rights in Norway and walking a knife’s edge with the various Kings there; harrying the islands and coastal regions and carrying off “great fee” in treasure; fighting in England for the king (or trying to avoid the newly placed under-king Eric Bloodaxe of Northumbria, formerly King of Norway); or seeing to his rights and family holdings in Iceland. As readers we are granted a front row seat to pivotal events in the foundation of Iceland, as well as the development of the Kingdoms of both Norway and England. We also get to witness the life of perhaps one of the most interesting figures in the sagas (a literature chock-full of intriguing personalities, many of whom we come across in cameos in this saga) in the form of Egil Skallagrimsson. As noted above he is hardly a typical hero, though this is of course what makes him so interesting. Egil is definitely a hard man whom you would not want to meet on the wrong side of a battle (or a lawsuit) who is usually looking out for his own best interests, though we do see the glimmers of loyalty and more personable human feeling in his devotion to his lifelong friend Arinbiorn, his heart-felt lament for the sons whom he loses early, and his fierce loyalty towards his family. In the end the picture of Egil’s life is fascinating and we see him grow from a precocious (though somewhat ill-starred) boy, through being a fierce and high-handed man, to his ultimate decline and old age, lamenting the lost years and loved ones of the past.

My translation of Egil’s Saga was the one done in the 1930’s by E. R. Eddison, a man perhaps better known (though even then fairly obscurely) as the author of the fantasy works The Worm Ouroboros and the ‘Zimiamvian’ series. These works are perhaps most famous for their archaic diction, complex philosophical foundations, and ultimately ‘difficult’ nature. I for one am a big fan of them and knew through them that Eddison had a great love for the myths and stories of the North. What I didn’t know until picking up this volume was how extensive his learning was in this area. Far from being simply a dilettante or dabbling aficionado, Eddison appears to have been very learned in the field. His translation was very enjoyable and while it does contain its fair share of archaisms it is nowhere near as ‘flowery’ in its diction as his fantasy works and in his essay on his principles of translation he goes a long way in defending this choice. Eddison also provides copious notes throughout the text (in addition to mini-essays devoted to specific topics of interest to readers of the sagas such as berserkers, shape-changing, and skaldic poetry) that display his deep love for, and learning in, the culture and geography of Iceland as well as its myths, sagas, and poetry. In this latter area Eddison goes so far as to translate the skaldic verse attributed to Egil which copiously peppers the text into English verse (as opposed to giving a more prosaic direct tranlsation), an endeavour fraught with peril. Luckily, given the complex and even opaque nature of skaldic verse, he provides copious notes on the original text and the meanings of the various kennings that make up the poems and while any poetic translation is generally dubious at best, it at least gives an outsider something of a view into the rarefied world of skaldic verse. I’ll be curious on my next reading of the saga to try a more modern translation to see how it differs, but I was certainly happy with my choice in Eddison as my first guide through this saga. Perhaps I should tackle Eddison’s re-imagining of a saga in his novel Styrbiorn The Strong soon. I certainly have confidence that he will have done his material justice based on this text.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poets, Viking ones at least, could be genuine bad asses. Egil Skallagrimsson, the subject of this saga, is Exhibit A. At the age of 7 (or 6), while playing a game of Viking ball (whatever that is), Egil gets knocked aside by a 12 year old. Egil then goes home, gets a battle axe, returns to the game, and then buries that axe in the offending 12 year old's head. (Kind of like coming in off the sidelines to make a tackle -- Viking style.) A Viking scrum of sorts erupts, with bodies, blood, etc. But after things settle down, Mom sees that her son has real potential as a Viking!

Actually I jumped ahead a bit. Egil's Saga spans the years 850 - 1000 AD. Egil himself doesn't show up until about a third of the way (or more) into the story. What precedes Egil arrival is a complicated story about Harald the Fair-hair's conquest of Norway, and the resulting fall out that leads to various dissidents establishing themselves in Iceland. At times this can be hard to follow, as endless Thorfinns, Thorwolfs, Thorwhatevers, come and go. That can be a drag on your reading, but only if you let it. I'm sure there are all kinds of depths to be explored in the tangled relationships, but for the non-specialist, there is more than enough action to satisfy blood & guts enthusiasts. Murder, revenge, house burnings, heads chopped, eyes ripped out. It's like Deadwood with broad swords. Jacking things up considerably is the compressed, laconic prose. There is more going on in these brief chapters than sometimes happens in novels. Personally, I find the sagas to be some of the most demanding -- but also rewarding reading out there. And Egil's Saga is considered to be among the very best of the sagas.

Egil himself is a paradox. When you first meet him, you have to wonder if he's insane (see above). From early on (age 3) he's tagged as a poet (a good thing in Viking culture). He's often prone to deep depressions, so deep that it had me wondering if he wasn't bi-polar. As it turns out, he's not insane (though he does have a temper). He's well liked by many. He's also huge, a bear of a man, and ugly as hell. Honor is a big deal for Egil, especially when it comes to property disputes. On that Egil often will place himself in great personal danger in order to argue his case before the King (who has branded him an outlaw). You never feel Egil is greedy in these legal wranglings. He simply feels he's been wronged (which, when it comes to these disputes, is true). Egil can also be extremely cruel, killing a host for not being forthcoming with his ale, and later a child of the King.

And then there's the poetry. I thought most of it pretty good, with feasting ravens and wolves and swords singing (it's easy to see why Ted Hughes liked the sagas so much). One of my favorites was while(!!!) Egil was dispatching a big bully. After he finished the bully off, he sang about how he chopped off his leg. More seriously, as Egil gets older, he loses two sons in a short period of time. I found his poem to mark these losses to be very moving, and timeless in its appeal. I think this poem could have a place in any quality anthology. Overall Egil's Saga is a great read, just don't get bogged down too much with the names. The general "thrust(s)" of the story should be apparent.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kids, do you want to know how badass the Vikings really were? DO YOU?

Here's the story of a warrior and poet who once had someone BREAK AN AX ON HIS SKULL, and he just shook it off.

Of course, later it was discovered that he had some weird genetic disorder that made his bones keep getting denser. His skull, exhumed, is hard as a rock, far thicker than it should be, and shows the imprint of his brain on the inside, which means that there was not only terrible, painful pressure on his head his entire life, but that he should have died long before he did.

But he's Egil, and he's not about to lie down and die!

Reread 2019: That Egil! What a character! And now that I've seen the Last Kingdom, I understand the bits with Athelstan in England much better!

[Yules · Rating 4 out of 5]

We know that honor was a powerful concept in pre-Christian Norse societies (Christianity went on to oppose and weaken this cultural phenomenon). However, there were many different kinds and interpretations of honor. Egil Skallagrimsson’s interpretations were very extreme, overriding virtually any other value. The saga often attests to his physical ugliness, so maybe that played a role in his sensitivity to disrespect and thus a need to prove himself. But he was also, in my opinion, a maniacal, self-centered, anti-social bastard, which is partly what makes this saga so highly entertaining. He is somewhat redeemed through his incredible poetry, which he composed from the age of 3 into his late years.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the Sagas of Icelanders, Egil's Saga, reputedly by Snorri Sturluson, differs from the others I have read in two respects. First of all, it shows one reason why Iceland was settled: Many Norse were fed up with the high-handed rule of King Harold Fine-Hair. Egil Skallagrimsson, his father Skallagrim Kvedulfsen, and his father Kvedulf all ran afoul of the king who, with his reliance on lies told by informants, outlawed them.

Secondly, the hero of the saga, Egil Skallagrimsson, spends most of his time in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England, Friesland, and Ireland. Only a small fraction of the tale takes place around Egil's farm at Borg i Myrum in Borgarfjord, and that mostly at the end, when the tale moves from Egil to his son Thorstein, who has a feud with Steinar, who decides to allow his livestock to feed on the former's land.

Like many of the figures in the Sagas of Icelanders, Egil Skallagrimsson was a historical person, a poet and a warrior who frequently butted heads with the kings of Norway, and who escaped numerous attempts to kill him. At one point, he fights a Swedish berserker named Ljot and kills him. Then, being the poet he is, he memorializes his own deed:

Let's strike with a sword-flash
To shatter the shield;
To batter the blade
Till the enemy bleeds;
Play with the pale man [Ljot],
Then pitch him to earth;
Stop his mouth with steel,
And serve him up as carrion.

In general, Egil's poems in this edition are far more readable than other Viking poems that are full of kennings, those annoying (to me, anyway) circumlocutions for such simple words as "man," "woman," and "ship" that tend to predominate. After one battle in England, when Egil fought alongside King Athelstan, he ends one of his verses with the grim line: "No ravens went hungry."

Perhaps the most touching chapter is the one about Egil's old age, stumbling about the farm, blind, and being razzed by the old women of his family. It's odd to see a warrior die of old age in any Icelandic saga.

This is one of the five essential sagas that are critical for an understanding of the genre. The others are, in descending order of excellence, Njals Saga (perhaps the best of them all), Grettir's Saga, Laxdaela Saga, and Eyrbyggja Saga. All are available in Penguin editions and deserve a read.

[Edward Gwynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this saga so much. Dozens of iconic moments and details that the Norse tone really suits. Fantastic characters told in that matter-of-fact, blunt style.

[Adam McPhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viking, warrior, farmer, poet.

As a boy, Egil plays a ball game where one of the older boys picks on him. Egil goes home, grabs an axe, comes back and drives it into the boy's head. A battle ensues and seven people die. Egil's father is unimpressed, but his mother thinks it a sure sign that he'll become a great viking.

As an adult, Egil spends his time settling pillaging Europe, settling Iceland, fighting for the english, duelling and finding reasons to cause trouble for the king of Norway.

The viking pillaging is pretty amazing. Maybe the platonic ideal of a viking raid. He also kills a berserker in a duel by dropping his weapons and biting the guy in the throat. And does rune magic. And so many other amazing things. He is a bit of a dickhead though. Wouldn't want to meet him in real life.

Even in his old age, he's a baddass: he wants to go the Althing and throw his silver into the crowd and cause a riot. His children forbid him, so instead he hides it in a fjord. He leaves behind a long line of ugly children. Years later a priest finds his skeleton while building a church and is unable to split his skull, proving how tough he was in life.

The sagas are full of amazing names, and this one might be the best. First there's Skallagrim's party to go meet the king. It is worth quoting in full, as it puts the Fellowship of the Ring to shame:

Skallagrim prepared for this journey and chose the strongest and boldest of his men and neighbors to go with him. There was a man named Ani, a wealthy farmer; another called Grani, and Grimolf and his brother Grim, who lived on Skallagrim's farm, and the brothers Thorbjorn Hunchback and Thord Hobbler. They were known as Thorarna's sons -- she lived near Skallagrim and was a sorceress. Hobbler was a coal-biter. Other men in the band were Thorir the Giant and his brother Thorgeir Earth-long, a hermit called Odd and a freeman called Gris.

In all there were twelve men in the party, all outstandingly powerful men, and many of them were shapeshifters.

In the rest of the book there appears: Ulf the Fearless; Hallbjorn Half-troll; Kveldulf (aka NIGHTWOLF); the brothers Hallstein, Holmstein and Herstein; King Harald Tangle-hair (King Harald Fair-hair after unifying Norway); Halfdan the Black; Solvi Chopper; poets Audun the Uninspired, Thorbjorn Raven, Olvir Hump and Bard the White (aka Bard the Strong); King Thorir Long-chin; Sigtrygg Travel-quick and Hallvard Travel-hard (dickhead brothers who work for King Harald); Grim and Bera; Skallagrim; Finn the Squinter, Eyvind the Plagiarist, Sighvat the Red; Baug; Orm the Strong, Son of Storolf; Thorlaug; Jorund the Godi; Guttorm; Ragnar and Raghild and Aslaug; Ketil Keel-farer; Grim the Halogalander; Onund Keen-sighted; Grimar; Tungu-Odd; Thordis Stick; Olaf Feilan; Thord Bellower; King Eirik Bloodaxe; Thorir Hroaldsson the Hersir; Thora of the Embroidered Hand; Gunnhild, daughter of Ozur Snout; Thorgeir Thorn-foot; Atli the Short; Bjorn the Landowner; brothers Thorvald the Overbearing and Thorfinn the Strong; Eyvind Braggart; King Olaf the Red of Scotland; Alf Aksmann; Ragnar Shaggy-breeches; Bersi the godless; Ketil the Slayer; Beard-Thorir; Grim Hairy-cheeks, son of Ketil Haeng; Eirik the All-Wise; Ljot the Pale; Harald Grey-cloak; Olaf wood-carver; Skafti the Lawspeaker; King Myrkjartan of Ireland; Bjarni the Stout; Earl Hakon the Powerful.


Best lines:

1. When Kveldulf heard about the death of his son Thorolf, he was so saddened by the news that he took to his bed, overcome by grief and old age.
Skallagrim went to see him regularaly and tried to talk him round. He told him to take heart, saying that nothing was less becoming to him than to be bedridden.
'A more suitable course would be for us to take vengeance for Thorolf.'

2. In each province King Harald took over all the estates and all the land, habited or uninhabited, and even the sea and lakes. All the farmers were made his tenants, and everyone who worked the forests and dried salt, or hunted on land or at sea, was made to pay tribute to him."

3. After that he intended to go north and take on to Naumdal and take on the brothers Herlaug and Hrollaug, who were kings there, but when they heard that he was on the way, Herlaug and eleven of his men went into the mound the had spend the last three years building, and had it closed upon them.

4. Then the King said, 'Such a shame that Thorolf seems to be disloyal and to want to kill me.'

5. 'Many of the crew threw themselves into the water, but Skallagrim's crew took the boat they had come on and rowed over to them, killing everyone in the water.'

6. It is said that people who could take on the character of animals, or went berserk, became so strong in this state that no one was a match for them, but also that just after it wore off they were left weaker than usual. Kveldulf was the same, so that when the frenzy wore off he felt exhausted by the effort he had made, and was rendered completely powerless and had to lie down and rest.

7. Skallagrim and Bera had many children, but the first ones all died. Then they had a son who was sprinkled with water and given the name Thorolf.

8. 'You're not going,' said Skallagrim, 'because you don't know how to behave where there's heavy drinking. You're enough trouble when you're sober.'

9. 'Let us go back to the farm and acquit ourselves like true warriors: kill everyone we can catch and take all the valuables we can carry.'

10. Not everyone agreed that he was not a shapeshifter.

11. In the woods, Egil stopped and said, 'This is a poor and cowardly raid. We have stolen all the farmer's wealth without his knowing. Such shame will never befall us. Let's go back to the farm and let people know what has happened.' Everyone tried to dissuade him, saying that they wanted to go to the ship.

12. (Egil is at a feast and there's a man assigned to keep his horn full of ale. He is drinking for himself and for his companions who have started to pass out.)
Egil started to feel like he would not be able to go on like this. He stood up and walked across the floor to where Armod was sitting, seized him by the shoulders and thrust him up against a wall-post. Then Egil spewed a torrent of vomit that gushed all over Armod's face, filling his eyes and nostrils and mouth and pouring down his beard and chest. Armod was close to choking, and when he managed to let out his breath, a jet of vomit gushed out with it. All Armod's men who were there said Egil had done a base and despicable deed by not going outside when he needed to vomit, but had made a spectacle of himself in the drinking-room instead.

Egil said, 'don't blame me for following the master of the house's example. He's spewing his guts up just as much as I am.'

Then Egil went over to his place, sat down and asked for a drink. ... Armod leapt to his feet and ran out, but Egil asked for more to drink.

(The next day Egil breaks into Armod's room and confronts him in front of his wife and daughter, because Armod had originally served Egil curds and hadn't let on that there was ale until late into the night. He gouges out Armod's eyes using his finger, leaving it hanging. He also cuts off Armod's beard.)

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this one. It's the first one I read. I can remember being really excited when the Hvítá (White River) comes in because I'd just got back from Iceland and I'd been in that river.
Egil's is one of the funniest sagas, in my opinion. I love the bit when Egil kills one of his father's servants (when he's about 8) and his father doesn't say anything, 'but relations between the two were a little strained' or something like that. Plenty of viking-style hijinks (vomiting in people's faces, murdering people, writing poetry to save your life). Egil's a really interesting character as well; he's an amazing poet (we're told; the translated examples probably don't do him justice) capable of great loyalty and generosity but he's also incredibly bad tempered and violent. In some ways he's the pre-Christian ideal, just as Njal is the post-conversion ideal.

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Icelandic sagas have much in common with the legends of the American West, albeit with different props. Instead of horses and wagon trains you have longships; instead of Lakotas and Apaches you have “Lapps” (Sámi) and “Skraelings” (a term applied to both the proto-Inuit of Greenland and the inhabitants of Vinland/Newfoundland); instead of the closing of the frontier and the taming of the West, you have Christianization and the consolidation of royal power. Both genres are concerned with the dialectic between authority and the romantic freedom of outlawry, the pursuit of honor and justice in a place where the commission of crimes and the punishment thereof are nearly indistinguishable, and the yearning for new lands where one can live without the interference of politicians and businessmen from back east. Both involve interminable family feuds, dangerous levels of alcohol consumption, gratuitous violence, and plenty of facial hair.

Egil’s Saga begins not with the life of the eponymous Egil Skallagrimsson, but with that of his grandfather, Ulf Bjalfason, nicknamed “Kveld-Ulf” (“Evening Wolf”) on account of his tendency to become temperamental in the evening, which led some to speculate that he was a shape-changer. Kveldulf marries Salbjorg, the daughter of his best friend and Viking companion Berle-Kari, and settles down on his Norwegian farm. While Kveldulf is ugly, brutish, miserly, and unyielding, Salbjorg is exceptionally beautiful, open-hearted, and likeable. Their union initiates among their progeny a kind of dichotomy between “light” and “darkness”; between the attractive, lawful, magnanimous descendants who take after Salbjorg’s side of the family, who gravitate toward the service of the Norse kings after Harald Fair-Hair becomes ruler of a more-or-less unified Norway, and the homely, misanthropic, and fiercely independent offspring who take after Kveldulf and make bitter enemies of the ruling house.

It is by no means clear which side of the family ultimately fares better. Kveldulf has two sons: Thorolf (light) and Skallagrim (dark). Thorolf enters the service of King Harald against his father’s advice; and while he becomes fabulously wealthy and powerful, his nobility of character ultimately leads to his downfall, attracting jealousy, slander, and the paranoia of the King, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy that comes to fruition when Thorolf is ambushed and struck down by Fair-Hair’s own hand. When Skallagrim, like his father, rebuffs the King and refuses to serve him, Harald endeavors to have him killed, but Skallagrim and Kveldulf slaughter the King’s enforcer Hallvard and his men and make for Iceland. When Kveldulf dies along the way, his body is placed in a coffin and thrown overboard. Skallagrim arrives in Iceland to find the coffin washed ashore and decides to build his farm nearby, becoming one of the first people to settle on the island.

The same duality repeats itself among Skallagrim’s sons, Thorolf (who is named after his uncle and has similar qualities) and Egil: a gigantic, feral, irascible man, but also resourceful, gifted in poetry and rune magic, and occasionally—perhaps owing to the residual “light” part of his ancestry—tender-hearted and honorable. But only occasionally.

Thorolf befriends Eirik Bloodaxe, Harald’s son and heir, and tries to bring about a reconciliation between the two families, but Egil becomes such a nuisance to Eirik, and to most other people, that this becomes impossible. At the age of six, Egil kills another boy with an axe during a ball-game. At the age of twelve, innocent horseplay turns deadly when Skallagrim slams Egil’s friend Thord on the ground so hard that he kills him; an act for which Egil takes revenge by casually killing his father’s steward before sitting down for family dinner. As a young man, Egil crashes a party at which Eirik is present, gets uproariously drunk, and kills one of the King's closest friends, making him an outlaw and earning his entire family the enmity of the Norwegian court. Eirik’s wife Gunnhild sends an assassin to kill the brothers, but they are warned of the threat beforehand and kill him first.

Egil and Thorolf become an inseparable pair, going on Viking expeditions in the Baltic and Denmark. During one Baltic raid, Egil is captured and imprisoned on a local estate. At night he escapes from his bonds, freeing the rest of his party along with other captives. While the group makes their escape with a great deal of loot, Egil worries that he is being dishonorable for sneaking off, so he returns to the estate by himself, sets it on fire, and kills everyone who tries to flee before reuniting with Thorolf. Unable to return to Norway, the pair travels to England and fights for King Athelstan against the Scots and their Welsh allies. The English prevail, but Thorolf falls in battle. Athelstan gifts Egil two chests of silver: one for Egil, and the other for Skallagrim as payment for the life of his son. Egil never shares the silver with his father, and near the end of his life he buries the chests in a secret place, killing the slaves who accompany him so that the whereabouts of the treasure would never be disclosed.

Egil marries Thorolf’s widow Asgerd, and in the process of securing an inheritance he believes is being wrongfully denied to her (and thus to him) he kills two of her relatives—one of whom he fells in a duel by biting through his throat—and Eirik’s son Rognvald. Despite his truculent ways, Egil lives to an ignominious old age, and when we last see him he is in such a pitiful state—blind, feeble, and being ordered about by his housemaids—that one wonders whether it would have been more fitting for his life to have ended earlier but on more glorious terms. The saga ends when Egil’s remains are discovered under an old church soon after Iceland has become officially Christian, and his skull is found to be so thick that the local priest makes a sport of trying to split it apart with the blunt side of his axe—to no avail.

Egil makes for an interesting antihero. Most of his problems are self-created, and he needlessly sows discord, death, and destruction wherever he goes. But at the same time one comes to appreciate his independent spirit and his ability to outlast his enemies. And at times we get intriguing glimpses of another side of him: when he remakes rune carvings to heal a young girl who has been hexed by a spurned suitor; when he defends a family from a Swedish berserker named Ljot by hacking him to pieces in a duel; when he comes to grips with his grief over the deaths of his sons Bodvar and Gunnar through the composition of his greatest poem. One gets the sense that through him the family dialectic has begun slowly working toward a resolution.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a memorable character is Egil Skallagrimsson, hero of Icelandic saga, Egil’s Saga of the Viking age. Spanning Norway, Iceland and England and written in approximately 1230, Egil’s Saga is an epic family drama, full of feuds, vengeance, killings, love, hatred, friendship interspersed with beautiful descriptive poetry. It’s an insight into the historical drama of the Arctic Scandinavian North and has been an awesome and invigorating first read of 2026 for me.

In the introduction to the Penguin’s Classics edition of the sage, Egil Skallagrimsson is described as ‘an ugly, recalcitrant child…. a killer and poet… ruthless… ingenious lawyer and raging drunk…. settled farmer and enemy of kings.” And having read the saga, alleged to have been recorded by Snorri Sturluson, I can concur that Egil is all of these characteristics and more. He’s a rogue and not someone I would want to cross or mess with. What other 6 year old drives an axe through the head of an 11 year old in the context of a ball game because you’ve been roughhoused during play? Not the kind of child’s play that I remember! I’ve got new respect for the Vikings of the time. At times, when I was reading I really felt like I was immersed in a Vikings TV episode!

I loved the historical narratives intertwined throughout this saga. Kings of Norway, the Alþingi in Iceland, battles in England and Scotland. It all comes together to paint a picture of the times and I’m now hankering to read more of these, study the maps and read more of the history. Fascinating stuff and very very raw and real. 5 star start to the year.

[Jade Heslin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the oldest and most boring thing I have ever read. Reading Egil’s Saga was like sitting next to a really annoying mithering person on the train – but it’s an 8 hour journey and they are the king of never missing a detail and never getting to the point. Every chapter begins with a completely unnecessary family history. The very first sentence of the book is a great indicator of what you have in store: “There was a man named Ulf, son of Bjalf, and Hallbera, daughter of Ulf the fearless; she was sister of Hallbjorn Half-giant in Hrafnista, and he the father of Kettle Hæing.”

So you try to remember these alien Icelandic names, figuring that these characters are probably going to be important. You store about 100 different names, 40-odd of them being Thor-something: Thorgild, Thorolf, Thorsson, Thort-your-fucking-life-out-mate - and the majority of them never reappear!

The reviews I had seen prior to reading this made me think it was going to be a good story. Egil sounded really bad-ass. He doesn’t arrive 'til page 50 though and by that point I was too mind-numbingly jaded to take even the slightest bit of interest in him. I understand that the story of Egil was first written in the 13th Century, and god knows how many years the tale had been told by word-of-mouth, before this, but surely that gave storytellers the perfect opportunity to jazz it up a bit. Get rid of all the crap names and dally with the truth a little bit.

Nothing actually happens of any note. The back of the book suggested that there would be friction between two brothers who loved the same woman. This wasn’t really the case. Egil married his brother’s bride after his death. That might be some scandalous Jeremy Kyle shit these days, but 800 years ago it was just the done thing, especially in a small Icelandic community.

I got absolutely nothing from reading this. Usually if I find a book dull, I will have at least picked up a few nuggets of knowledge along the way. All this has taught me is to never go near an Icelandic saga again.

[LaCitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un racconto che ne contiene quattro: c'è la cornice con Egil e Asmundr (a tutti gli effetti coprotagonista anche se non citato nel titolo) che, dopo aver stretto un legame di sangue decidono di salvare due bellissime principesse rapite dai giganti; c'è la storia di Egil e di come ha perso la sua mano, ci sono le avventure di Asmundr in giro per il mondo e c'è il racconto della gigantessa Arinnefja e delle sue vicissitudini per conquistare tre oggetti preziosi che le avrebbero garantito libertà.
E poi c'è il grande Nord, il freddo, le nebbie improvvise, i troll, i giganti, le navi, le battaglie.
Una narrazione un po' frammentaria, resa forse più complessa da un cospicuo apparato di note che, se da una parte aiutano ad approfondire, dall'altra spezzano il ritmo della lettura, ma molto affascinante.

[alekim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Rey czemu mi kazałaś to czytać jak tam przez 35 rozdziałów nawet Egila nie było
polecam streszczenie na necie bo tyle samo można wynieść

[Isabella Leake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has ranked in my Top 10 since I read it as a college sophomore. Truly, I thought it was right up there with Augustine's Confessions, The Consolation of Philosophy, Pride and Prejudice, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and it's a big part of the reason I became a medievalist.

I wondered if it would hold up, now that I've read many more sagas, taken an entire seminar on Norse Literature, and married an expert on Old Norse.

It absolutely holds up!

Egil's Saga has all the virtues of a really lively biography with the added intrigue that it was written 800 years ago. Not only do you get an in-depth look at someone's life (fascinating in any era), but also an incredibly clear window into a society that existed so very long ago. I can't think of any parallel body of literature that presents such a full picture of a time so distant as the sagas do.

The narration is at times as dry and humorous as anything: this is true of sagas in general but particularly true of Egil. It's just fun to read and as a whole beautifully constructed. Egil's Saga is literary enough and fine enough to make me feel like I discovered a Jane Austen writing in thirteenth-century Iceland. And because the real Egil was an acclaimed poet, the book also features much of his poetry. I love when a book weaves poetry and prose together (a big part of the reason I love Boethius, Shakespeare, Job, and Jonah).

Still in my Top 10!

[Fiona Altschuler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The perfect Icelandic saga, complete with several different Thorolfs, three generations of warriors, some pretty foolish kings, lots of murder and blood and beer, and all the stark beauty I've come to expect. SUCH fun!

[Ingólfur Halldórsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Þetta er önnur íslendingasagan sem ég les eftir að ég byrjaði að lesa meira á síðasta ári, en í fyrra hóf ég leik með Gísla sögu. Þótt þessar bókmenntir eigi náttúrulega margt sameiginlegt þá er augljós munur á þeirri sögu og sögu Egils. Í fyrsta lagi ber að nefna að á meðan Gísla saga fjallar um Gísla Súrsson nær einvörðungu þá er Egils saga í raun saga ættar Mýramanna allt frá Kveld-Úlfi og sonum hans, þótt kveðskapur Egils og hans ævi séu langstærsti hlutinn. Egill kemur ekki inn á sögusviðið fyrr en eftir að fjórðungur bókar er búinn og verður ekki að eiginlegri persónu fyrr en að þriðjungi loknum. Þetta gerir það að verkum að sagan tekur á sig samfélagslegri blæ og gefur lesandanum betri tilfinningu fyrir því hvaðan Egill á að sækja persónuleika sinn og hverju hann skilar áfram til niðja sinna. Í raun fannst mér meginþráðurinn í bókinni snúast um arfgengi og örlög, hvernig við skilum af okkur bæði því besta og versta af okkur sjálfum til barna okkar og hvernig þau eru að sama skapi dæmd til að endurtaka mistök feðranna.

Þar fyrir utan er bókin einnig stórskemmtileg saga af morðum og svívirðu, ástum og áflogum. Hún tekur að dragast örlítið í seinasta þriðjungi en heldur sér samt vel. Kveðskapurinn er síðan sérstök skemmtun ef maður kemst í góðar orðskýringar með.

Frábær bók, mæli með og hlakka til að lesa Njálu á næsta ári.

[Esmay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh...

[Rex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very bloody and highly entertaining.

[Tómas van Oosterhout · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kannski svona 6/10 skemmtun en þess virði að lesa því Sonatorrek er sorglegasta rugl sem hefur verið skrifað.

[Anna Bryndis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prime Egilssaga var i hvert einasta skipti sem Arinbjörn hersir kom við sögu. Væri ekki hissa ef eg myndi skira framtiðar son minn eftir honum🙂‍↕️😝 #smash🌝😁😍♥️🥰

[Duane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable Norse saga, based on an actual person and events -- Egil, a sort of human monster/poet . . . or poet/monster, if you will. Warrior, con-man, poet, cynical devil in human form. Weaves history from five generations of Norse and Icelandic families, rivalries, and wars. Great stuff! Good book for the winter.

From The Pulp Rack: http://pulprack.blogspot.com/2012/05/...

<<
Roughly covering the years 858 to 990, the saga follows Egil's adventures until his old age and death. Living in his son's house, Egil's last act is to hide two chests of treasure before killing the two slaves who helped him. Then, Egil dies. Later, his bones are found after the church holding them is demolished:

"Skapti Thorarinsson the Priest, a man of great intelligence, was there at the time. He picked up Egil's skull and placed it on the fence of the churchyard. The skull was an exceptionally large one and its weight was even more remarkable. It was ridged all over like a scallop shell, and Skapti wanted to find out just how thick it was, so he picked up a heavy axe, swung it in one hand and struck as hard as he was able with the reverse side of the axe, trying to break the skull. But the skull neither broke nor dented on impact, it simply turned white, and from that anybody could guess that the skull wouldn't be easily cracked by small fry while it still had skin and flesh on it."

Well, meeting a priest who treats the dead with that sort of respect gives you an idea of the sort of toughness running through the folks who fill these pages.
>>

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first third of this saga is a long, dull account of various petty squabbles among families and King Harald. Although it tells of the settling of Iceland, the narrative is bland exposition. Once we get to Egil, I just didn’t care much about him or his adventures. While there are some interesting/funny anecdotes scattered throughout the second half, they are buried in long, rambling accounts of family histories that were of no interest to me. It’s a shame because Egil’s poetry is so compelling. By the time I reached that point, I was just continuing to turn pages to reach the verse sections.

I happened to be reading a collection of skaldic verse at the same time as this saga -- The Skalds: A Selection of Their Poems, edited by Lee Hollander -- which gives a nice summary of Egil’s life, including select passages from this saga, as context for his poetry. I could have just read that 50-page profile instead of this rambling saga.

[Maggie]

Tolkein stole the part where there's an ambush in the forrest and the two paths, one safe but slow, the other fast but dangerous. It took away some of Tolkein's magic for me. But at the same time, I wanted to yell, Gandalf! Look out! Oh wait, he's not in this one.

I liked the idea of the Norse people without kings being the ones who would stand up to the foreign kings. They were sort of rebels against the king'ed countries around them. But they were also always getting in trouble with the kings and their favors and thier rules. Kept getting banded from a place for annoying the wrong king.

It was also enjoyable when Egil recieted a eulogy when called upon to praise a living king against his will.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a whole lot of time and dedication to get into this and the reason was that Egil, as a kid, was a total little shit. I rather wished someone would strangle him and I knew they wouldn't.

Like many real life humans he improved as an adult, and when I got past the early parts of Egil it was great.

By the end I was pretty much in awe of the fact this saga spanned the lifetime of a single hero, the amount of information that came through on the times, kings, battles, trading and raiding voyages.

It is an incredibly information rich book and the information is enhanced by the notes and indexes I especially valued the unravelling of the poems and the kennings in them.

[Aniek Verheul · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I read through this pretty quickly, but it feels like it took forever for me to finish this. I’m honestly impressed by how boring I found it. There is so much going on, but it’s told in such a straightforward, almost clinical way, that I wasn’t invested in any of it, even the parts that were objectively funny or exciting. Some of the poetry was beautiful, but apart from that, I can’t say I really enjoyed reading this. A shame, cause I do really like the course I read this for!

[Rambling Raconteur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters 1-22: https://youtu.be/h4OojBYdl7Q

The first quarter could almost be a self-contained short story or tragedy as we see the rise and fall of Thorolf during King Harald’s violent unification of Norway.