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The Saga of Grettir the Strong
Composed at the end of the fourteenth century by an unknown author, The Saga of Grettir the Strong is one of the last great Icelandic sagas. It relates the tale of Grettir, an eleventh-century warrior struggling to hold on to the values of a heroic age becoming eclipsed by Christianity and a more pastoral lifestyle. Unable to settle into a community of farmers, Grettir becomes the aggressive scourge of both honest men and evil monsters - until, following a battle with the sinister ghost Glam, he is cursed to endure a life of tortured loneliness away from civilisation, fighting giants, trolls and berserks. A mesmerising combination of pagan ideals and Christian faith, this is a profoundly moving conclusion to the Golden Age of the saga writing.
267 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
May 17, 2013
As time passes, I am convinced more and more that certain of the medieval Icelandic sagas were among the greatest works from the mind of man. The best of them all are Njals Saga, Egils Saga and this one, Grettir's Saga, particularly in the translation by Jesse L. Byock of UCLA. (Never have I seen such a good introduction and such detailed notes as those provided by Byock, who has a distinguished record of publishing books about medieval Iceland and its great sagas.)
Re-reading the saga, I was reminded more and more about America's Old West, which was very much like 10th and 11th century Iceland. The main difference is that Iceland was more civilized by not having a death penalty. Grettir the Strong is initially banished from Iceland for three years for various offenses; then he is condemned to full outlawry, during which time he is forbidden to leave Iceland. In addition, no one can be punished for killing him. For almost twenty years, Grettir roams the island, from one end to the other. The second last paragraph of the saga provides a useful summary:
Grettir's Saga is much loved by the Icelanders. When I was there in 2001, I stayed in a guesthouse named Bjarg after Grettir's mother's house in the north of Iceland. The son of the owner was called Illugi, after Grettir's youngest brother.
Is Grettir's Saga a true story? To some extent it is, as many Icelanders are descended from his family. I doubt however that all the incidents in the saga occurred as described. No matter. Grettir is Iceland's Billy the Kid, the Clantons, and Jesse James all rolled into one. And the saga that tells his story is one of the greatest and most cleanly written. Well worth reading!
Re-reading the saga, I was reminded more and more about America's Old West, which was very much like 10th and 11th century Iceland. The main difference is that Iceland was more civilized by not having a death penalty. Grettir the Strong is initially banished from Iceland for three years for various offenses; then he is condemned to full outlawry, during which time he is forbidden to leave Iceland. In addition, no one can be punished for killing him. For almost twenty years, Grettir roams the island, from one end to the other. The second last paragraph of the saga provides a useful summary:
Sturla the Lawman said that, in his opinion, no other outlaw was comparable to Grettir the Strong. He based his view on three factors. First, he found that Grettir was the cleverest, as witnessed by the fact that he lived in outlawry longest of all men and was never overcome while he had his health. Second, he was the strongest man in the land among those of the same age, and he was better than others at removing the walking dead and monsters. The third was that Grettir, unlike any other Icelander, was avenged out in Constantinople. To this can be added how much Thorstein the Galleon [Grettir's half brother], the one who avenged Grettir, was a man of good luck in the latter part of his life.The statement about Grettir's handling of ghosts and trolls is particularly interesting. Earlier in the saga, he kills a revenant named Glam, who prophesies that from now on, Grettir's luck will change; and, although he will continue to be the strongest man in the land, he will lose much of his strength.
Grettir's Saga is much loved by the Icelanders. When I was there in 2001, I stayed in a guesthouse named Bjarg after Grettir's mother's house in the north of Iceland. The son of the owner was called Illugi, after Grettir's youngest brother.
Is Grettir's Saga a true story? To some extent it is, as many Icelanders are descended from his family. I doubt however that all the incidents in the saga occurred as described. No matter. Grettir is Iceland's Billy the Kid, the Clantons, and Jesse James all rolled into one. And the saga that tells his story is one of the greatest and most cleanly written. Well worth reading!
March 30, 2019
Another strange little example of the great variety of Old Norse literature, and another good starting point for anyone interesting in getting into the sagas (just like most of the famous family sagas are).
Grettis saga tells the tale of Grettir the Strong, and his decades spent as an outlaw in Medieval Iceland, living on the edge of a society that is already on the edge of Medieval society. It contains a good saga dose of absurdly graphical violence, magical swords, some courthouse drama, and ghosts (!). Somehow, it manages, like to many of these, to end in Constantinople.
And Grettir himself is pretty badass, of course.
Grettis saga tells the tale of Grettir the Strong, and his decades spent as an outlaw in Medieval Iceland, living on the edge of a society that is already on the edge of Medieval society. It contains a good saga dose of absurdly graphical violence, magical swords, some courthouse drama, and ghosts (!). Somehow, it manages, like to many of these, to end in Constantinople.
And Grettir himself is pretty badass, of course.
March 23, 2012
Grettir’s Saga is considered the last of the great Icelandic sagas. The underlying message the author seems to be conveying is that a pagan culture is rapidly being replaced by a more orderly Christian one. Maybe, but for saga lovers, not that fast. You will still find in Grettir’s Saga, the remarkable economy of language that is found generally in the sagas, as well as a great deal of extreme violence. Heads are hewed in two, and eye is gouged out, a jaw ripped off, limbs cut off, house burnings, animals tortured, monsters, etc. Interestingly, a lot of this violence occurs around various Christmas feasts.
The character, Grettir, is big and really strong. According to the author, Grettir is considered Iceland’s greatest warrior, though I wonder how he would hold against that other hulking thug, the bi-polar Egil, from Egil’s Saga. He’s also a sarcastic smart ass who’s kind of lazy. As the story unfolds, I often found myself thinking of a gunfighter or a samarai moving from town to town. He’s not totally bad (he saves women on several occasions), and his fate becomes sadder as his end approaches. Weirdly, for such a ferocious warrior, Grettir is afraid of the dark. This wasn’t always the case, but after death match (at Christmas) with a revenant, a central event in the saga, something changes in Grettir. He still cracks wise in the face of danger, but he’s haunted by a fate that closes in on him ever tighter, until in the end he’s isolated on a tiny island with some sheep. But Grettir’s ending doesn’t end the saga. The last fifteen pages or so have Grettir being avenged (naturally), but with a odd finish set in Constantinople. It’s as if another writer took over, since the tone changes. The story goes from being a saga, to a Christian fairy tale. A strange shift, but it doesn’t last very long, and it doesn’t hurt the overall saga, which is excellent.
The character, Grettir, is big and really strong. According to the author, Grettir is considered Iceland’s greatest warrior, though I wonder how he would hold against that other hulking thug, the bi-polar Egil, from Egil’s Saga. He’s also a sarcastic smart ass who’s kind of lazy. As the story unfolds, I often found myself thinking of a gunfighter or a samarai moving from town to town. He’s not totally bad (he saves women on several occasions), and his fate becomes sadder as his end approaches. Weirdly, for such a ferocious warrior, Grettir is afraid of the dark. This wasn’t always the case, but after death match (at Christmas) with a revenant, a central event in the saga, something changes in Grettir. He still cracks wise in the face of danger, but he’s haunted by a fate that closes in on him ever tighter, until in the end he’s isolated on a tiny island with some sheep. But Grettir’s ending doesn’t end the saga. The last fifteen pages or so have Grettir being avenged (naturally), but with a odd finish set in Constantinople. It’s as if another writer took over, since the tone changes. The story goes from being a saga, to a Christian fairy tale. A strange shift, but it doesn’t last very long, and it doesn’t hurt the overall saga, which is excellent.
September 4, 2025
An exploration of the limits of independence in a land famous for independent characters but also for an incredibly harsh natural environment that requires cooperation for survival. As a virtually pathologically anti-social personality, Grettir refuses to work, get along, or obey rules, and eventually commits crimes that get him outlawed (first with “lesser outlawry,” and finally with “greater outlawry,” the word for which literally means “forest-going”). As an outlaw — a liminal figure on the boundaries of society — Grettir is also the ideal candidate for battling other liminal figures. He fights trolls (beings on the border between humans and inanimate nature), ghosts (beings on the border between life and death), and berserkers (beings on the border of man and bear). One of these creatures ironically curses him with a fear of the dark so severe that Grettir begins to have trouble being alone. In the end,
August 19, 2016
3 – 3.5 stars
The Sagas of Icelanders are often considered one of the most significant literary genres to come to us from the Middle Ages for the glimpses they give to us of the lives of ‘ordinary’ people of the time as opposed to the kings, aristocrats, and legendary heroes of other genres. That being said, one is still usually not simply in the realm of the ordinary and mundane even in the Family Sagas and that can certainly be said of _Grettir’s Saga_ in which our hero is anything but ordinary and the eldritch and supernatural are seen to walk side-by-side with the more routine aspects of daily life.
We begin our journey in the company of Grettir’s great-grandfather Onund Treefoot, the one-legged warrior who initially left Norway for Iceland and became the progenitor of the clan that would ultimately lead to Grettir. Far from being simply a name dropped in a genealogy (as is often the case in the Sagas) we actually follow Onund and his descendants on several of their adventures, the most amusing and spectacular of which is perhaps the account of a battle over (and literally on top of) the carcass of a beached whale in which parts of the whale itself become weapons. In the end we come to Grettir during his childhood and see that the troubles that come to haunt him for the rest of his life had an early beginning. Not one who gets along easily with others, Grettir’s irascible nature and unnatural size and strength often get him into trouble (as does his early penchant for animal cruelty). In the end his adult life begins as he goes off into exile as part of a period of ‘minor’ outlawry.
Arriving in Norway Grettir soon begins to make his reputation as he begins what will prove to be a life-long occupation as a ‘land cleanser’, or one who is known for defeating monsters and magical creatures that plague particular districts. His first such adventure involves the destruction of a Draugr, or undead walker, plaguing the homestead at which Grettir is staying. In the end Grettir gains both a magical sword and a name as something of a hero. Further adventures that cement this reputation include battles with Berserker raiders, a wild bear hunt, and vengeance on a pompous rival. In the end Grettir returns to Iceland with a seemingly bright future ahead of him: he has already made his name as a hero and is a member of a good family. What could go wrong? Well, in many ways Grettir is his own worst enemy and it appears as though the hand of fate has something to say as well.
While continuing in the land-cleansing work that helped make his name while in Norway Grettir comes across the reanimated corpse of the shepherd Glam who has been plaguing a local farmer and enters into the battle that will ultimately determine the direction of Grettir’s life. Glam proves to be nearly a match for Grettir and, in one of the most famous scenes of saga literature, even in his moment of defeat the creature lays upon the young hero a curse that will dog him for the rest of his life. Grettir shakes off the haunting episode and continues on, returning to Norway for a short time, but in the end he cannot escape the twin plagues of his own hot-tempered nature (which has caused him to win a fair share of enemies) and the curse of Glam and ends up being sentenced to full outlawry (unjustly one could easily argue) and spends the remainder of his life living in the wilderness after family and friends are no longer able to safely shelter him.
Grettir’s actions soon come back to haunt him as his enemies place a large price on his head and even resort to attacking his family and friends. The curse of Glam also has an interesting psychological element as Grettir is forever haunted by the image of the undead eyes staring into his own and he develops an extreme fear of the dark. Living as he does as an outlaw this is an even more severe punishment than it might otherwise have been as his life as a solitary outlaw makes loneliness and darkness his only constant and reliable companions. Cast out from the society of others he cannot trust the outlaws with whom he shares the wilderness for they are as likely to kill him for the price on his head as they are to be companions in misery. Thus Grettir is dogged by the twin fears of treachery and the supernatural for the remainder of his days.
This psychological complexity of its hero adds to the interest of _Grettir’s Saga_ . Not only is he plagued by some very human fears (admittedly the result of a supernatural event), but Grettir is also not anything resembling a cookie-cutter hero (as often acting as a plague upon others, especially during his time as an outlaw, as he does as a hero to some). In many ways I was reminded of Tolkien’s character of Turin Turambar in the figure of Grettir: a man cursed by fate to ill-luck, but who is also often to blame for the tragic events that befall him due to bad choices and an even worse attitude. One can also see many similarities to the adventures of Grettir with those of Beowulf, even down to specific scenes and characteristics of several of his supernatural foes (a fact upon which many a scholar has commented). In the end I enjoyed this saga and think it a good place to start if you want to gain some insight into some of the aspects of life in medieval Iceland (especially those revolving around the legalities of outlawry) with a heaping dose of supernatural adventure.
Note: the edition I read edited and translated by Jesse Byock has an excellent introduction and copious academic apparatus to give context to many of the details of the saga and which shed great light onto medieval Icelandic society for the novice and expert alike.
The Sagas of Icelanders are often considered one of the most significant literary genres to come to us from the Middle Ages for the glimpses they give to us of the lives of ‘ordinary’ people of the time as opposed to the kings, aristocrats, and legendary heroes of other genres. That being said, one is still usually not simply in the realm of the ordinary and mundane even in the Family Sagas and that can certainly be said of _Grettir’s Saga_ in which our hero is anything but ordinary and the eldritch and supernatural are seen to walk side-by-side with the more routine aspects of daily life.
We begin our journey in the company of Grettir’s great-grandfather Onund Treefoot, the one-legged warrior who initially left Norway for Iceland and became the progenitor of the clan that would ultimately lead to Grettir. Far from being simply a name dropped in a genealogy (as is often the case in the Sagas) we actually follow Onund and his descendants on several of their adventures, the most amusing and spectacular of which is perhaps the account of a battle over (and literally on top of) the carcass of a beached whale in which parts of the whale itself become weapons. In the end we come to Grettir during his childhood and see that the troubles that come to haunt him for the rest of his life had an early beginning. Not one who gets along easily with others, Grettir’s irascible nature and unnatural size and strength often get him into trouble (as does his early penchant for animal cruelty). In the end his adult life begins as he goes off into exile as part of a period of ‘minor’ outlawry.
Arriving in Norway Grettir soon begins to make his reputation as he begins what will prove to be a life-long occupation as a ‘land cleanser’, or one who is known for defeating monsters and magical creatures that plague particular districts. His first such adventure involves the destruction of a Draugr, or undead walker, plaguing the homestead at which Grettir is staying. In the end Grettir gains both a magical sword and a name as something of a hero. Further adventures that cement this reputation include battles with Berserker raiders, a wild bear hunt, and vengeance on a pompous rival. In the end Grettir returns to Iceland with a seemingly bright future ahead of him: he has already made his name as a hero and is a member of a good family. What could go wrong? Well, in many ways Grettir is his own worst enemy and it appears as though the hand of fate has something to say as well.
While continuing in the land-cleansing work that helped make his name while in Norway Grettir comes across the reanimated corpse of the shepherd Glam who has been plaguing a local farmer and enters into the battle that will ultimately determine the direction of Grettir’s life. Glam proves to be nearly a match for Grettir and, in one of the most famous scenes of saga literature, even in his moment of defeat the creature lays upon the young hero a curse that will dog him for the rest of his life. Grettir shakes off the haunting episode and continues on, returning to Norway for a short time, but in the end he cannot escape the twin plagues of his own hot-tempered nature (which has caused him to win a fair share of enemies) and the curse of Glam and ends up being sentenced to full outlawry (unjustly one could easily argue) and spends the remainder of his life living in the wilderness after family and friends are no longer able to safely shelter him.
Grettir’s actions soon come back to haunt him as his enemies place a large price on his head and even resort to attacking his family and friends. The curse of Glam also has an interesting psychological element as Grettir is forever haunted by the image of the undead eyes staring into his own and he develops an extreme fear of the dark. Living as he does as an outlaw this is an even more severe punishment than it might otherwise have been as his life as a solitary outlaw makes loneliness and darkness his only constant and reliable companions. Cast out from the society of others he cannot trust the outlaws with whom he shares the wilderness for they are as likely to kill him for the price on his head as they are to be companions in misery. Thus Grettir is dogged by the twin fears of treachery and the supernatural for the remainder of his days.
This psychological complexity of its hero adds to the interest of _Grettir’s Saga_ . Not only is he plagued by some very human fears (admittedly the result of a supernatural event), but Grettir is also not anything resembling a cookie-cutter hero (as often acting as a plague upon others, especially during his time as an outlaw, as he does as a hero to some). In many ways I was reminded of Tolkien’s character of Turin Turambar in the figure of Grettir: a man cursed by fate to ill-luck, but who is also often to blame for the tragic events that befall him due to bad choices and an even worse attitude. One can also see many similarities to the adventures of Grettir with those of Beowulf, even down to specific scenes and characteristics of several of his supernatural foes (a fact upon which many a scholar has commented). In the end I enjoyed this saga and think it a good place to start if you want to gain some insight into some of the aspects of life in medieval Iceland (especially those revolving around the legalities of outlawry) with a heaping dose of supernatural adventure.
Note: the edition I read edited and translated by Jesse Byock has an excellent introduction and copious academic apparatus to give context to many of the details of the saga and which shed great light onto medieval Icelandic society for the novice and expert alike.
May 27, 2014
Story of an outsider. It has to be one of the greats of outsider fiction although maybe it doesn’t occur in The Outsider. With the terse psychology of sagas we watch Grettir alienate his fellow man from the start, and then watch him slip through the social pavement. He also earns devotion from a few. That few includes me.
This saga, a late one, is just glorious: harsh realities, eerie atmospherics, high heroics, lows of homelessness in Iceland. This is my saga of choice. It has genuinely freaky trolls along with what might be either mental illness or maleficent visions. It has stolen bits from Beowulf and from Tristan & Isolde. It has interesting women and unemployed berserks.
RIP Grettir. I know that is only ironic for you.
This saga, a late one, is just glorious: harsh realities, eerie atmospherics, high heroics, lows of homelessness in Iceland. This is my saga of choice. It has genuinely freaky trolls along with what might be either mental illness or maleficent visions. It has stolen bits from Beowulf and from Tristan & Isolde. It has interesting women and unemployed berserks.
RIP Grettir. I know that is only ironic for you.
May 3, 2014
"Bare is the back of a brotherless man."
As far as sagas go this one deserves five stars, it's the best written one I've read yet, the other ones do not compare. It feels like a complete book and not just a list of things that happened with some dialogue thrown in.
It follows Grettir, a mischievous man, not necessarily evil, just unlucky and hot tempered. As a result, he gets into trouble and fights throughout his journeys, eventually all his deeds catch up with him and he is branded an outlaw, he has to constantly flee from place to place, men always after him trying to kill him. Full of violence, kennings, trolls and draugrs, this saga was great!
As far as sagas go this one deserves five stars, it's the best written one I've read yet, the other ones do not compare. It feels like a complete book and not just a list of things that happened with some dialogue thrown in.
It follows Grettir, a mischievous man, not necessarily evil, just unlucky and hot tempered. As a result, he gets into trouble and fights throughout his journeys, eventually all his deeds catch up with him and he is branded an outlaw, he has to constantly flee from place to place, men always after him trying to kill him. Full of violence, kennings, trolls and draugrs, this saga was great!
May 15, 2025
Fullkomin skáldsaga. Hlæ, græt, skelfist, fullkomið, fullkomið.
July 18, 2009
Could it be more delightful? This is a one-book answer to the question, "Why medieval literature?" We get: a one-legged warrior who uses to disability to vanquish his enemies in a sea-battle; the famous fight against the revenant Glam; Ivar Horse-Cock; making love to troll-daughters in a glacier; snappy poetic comebacks; travel and hijinks from Iceland to Byzantium; and, my favourite bit, the serving woman who marvels at how poorly endowed the big man really is.
Want to read
October 3, 2014http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/347
By Unknown Author
Written in Icelandic, sometime in the early 14th Century.
Opening: There was a man named Onund, the son of Ofeig Clumsyfoot, who was the son of Ivar Horsetail. Onund was the brother of Gudbjorg, the mother of Gudbrand Knob, the father of Asta, the mother of King Olaf the Saint. His mother came from the Upplands, while his father's relations were mostly in Rogaland and Hordland. He was a great viking and used to harry away in the West over the sea. He was accompanied on these expeditions by one Balki, the son of Blaeing from Sotanes, and by Orm the Wealthy. Another comrade of theirs was named Hallvard. They had five ships, all well equipped. They plundered the Hebrides, reaching the Barra Isles, where there ruled a king named Kjarval, who also had five ships. These they attacked; there was a fierce battle between them, in which Onund's men fought with the utmost bravery. After many had fallen on both sides, the battle ended with the king taking to flight with a single ship; the rest were captured by Onund's force, along with much booty. They stayed there for the winter, and spent the succeeding three summers harrying the coasts of Ireland and Scotland, after which they returned to Norway.
By Unknown Author
Written in Icelandic, sometime in the early 14th Century.
Opening: There was a man named Onund, the son of Ofeig Clumsyfoot, who was the son of Ivar Horsetail. Onund was the brother of Gudbjorg, the mother of Gudbrand Knob, the father of Asta, the mother of King Olaf the Saint. His mother came from the Upplands, while his father's relations were mostly in Rogaland and Hordland. He was a great viking and used to harry away in the West over the sea. He was accompanied on these expeditions by one Balki, the son of Blaeing from Sotanes, and by Orm the Wealthy. Another comrade of theirs was named Hallvard. They had five ships, all well equipped. They plundered the Hebrides, reaching the Barra Isles, where there ruled a king named Kjarval, who also had five ships. These they attacked; there was a fierce battle between them, in which Onund's men fought with the utmost bravery. After many had fallen on both sides, the battle ended with the king taking to flight with a single ship; the rest were captured by Onund's force, along with much booty. They stayed there for the winter, and spent the succeeding three summers harrying the coasts of Ireland and Scotland, after which they returned to Norway.
February 8, 2025
I enjoyed parts of this saga quite a bit—it is a saga, after all—but measured against my favorite sagas, Grettir didn't stand up.
I would describe the story as a series of (more or less) excellent episodes with a lot of tedium in between. After every episode during his 19+ years of outlawry, Grettir roams around Iceland looking for a place to stay, sometimes for months, sometimes for years. So faithfully does the author chronicle his perambulations that whole chapters are devoted to them. These chapters made me feel that the story was repeatedly grinding to a halt; when it picked up again, the action might be arresting, or it might not.
The monster fights, especially when Joseph walked us through the Beowulfian analogues, are quite fascinating. But though monster fights might fascinate, they don't enchant me, and they can't make up for other deficiencies.
Most disappointing to me, this saga doesn't focus on the kind of saga elements I relish: farms and farmers, work and leisure, things and customs, halls and feasts, foreign kings and treasure. I also missed the presence of women; although women take part from time to time in the episodes, only Grettir's mother is a longstanding character, and she rarely appears.
Grettir is an outcast, so by definition his story takes place on the fringes. But the fringes of medieval Icelandic society are not, to me, as cool as the center of medieval Icelandic society. Nor has the writer much interest in describing the details of how he survived on the fringes—which would also be interesting. But a bare mention of catching fish or slaughtering sheep or running out of driftwood is all we get.
In short, I found it hard to get over the lack of hominess, of "thinginess," and the female side of things in this saga. Grettir himself is a pretty-great character—though not as great as Egil, of course—but his charisma didn't atone for these limitations.
I would describe the story as a series of (more or less) excellent episodes with a lot of tedium in between. After every episode during his 19+ years of outlawry, Grettir roams around Iceland looking for a place to stay, sometimes for months, sometimes for years. So faithfully does the author chronicle his perambulations that whole chapters are devoted to them. These chapters made me feel that the story was repeatedly grinding to a halt; when it picked up again, the action might be arresting, or it might not.
The monster fights, especially when Joseph walked us through the Beowulfian analogues, are quite fascinating. But though monster fights might fascinate, they don't enchant me, and they can't make up for other deficiencies.
Most disappointing to me, this saga doesn't focus on the kind of saga elements I relish: farms and farmers, work and leisure, things and customs, halls and feasts, foreign kings and treasure. I also missed the presence of women; although women take part from time to time in the episodes, only Grettir's mother is a longstanding character, and she rarely appears.
Grettir is an outcast, so by definition his story takes place on the fringes. But the fringes of medieval Icelandic society are not, to me, as cool as the center of medieval Icelandic society. Nor has the writer much interest in describing the details of how he survived on the fringes—which would also be interesting. But a bare mention of catching fish or slaughtering sheep or running out of driftwood is all we get.
In short, I found it hard to get over the lack of hominess, of "thinginess," and the female side of things in this saga. Grettir himself is a pretty-great character—though not as great as Egil, of course—but his charisma didn't atone for these limitations.
May 8, 2020
2.5 stars. Some parts were pretty enjoyable, other parts were rather boring, mainly I just wanted to smack some sense into Grettir. The ending was pretty good though! It almost made me forget how much I had to trudge through certain parts...
June 29, 2021
I enjoyed this book both for the glimpse it provides into the mind of the Norse people in the era of the Vikings and also as a fun adventure story. It is a story filled with struggles with supernatural entities and stupendous acts of physical power. Grettir is an interesting character. He's deeply flawed, lazy, and sometimes brutal, but he can also be courageous and a good friend. His main characteristic is, of course, his strength, and it is pathetic to watch that strength dwindle towards the end of the the story as he becomes a cursed and hunted outlaw who cannot bear to live alone because he is desperately afraid of the dark.
This story also shows why the medieval practice of outlawry was such a disaster for everyone involved. At the time being outlawed was a terrible punishment for serious crimes (Grettir is outlawed for burning down a house full of people, maybe on accident, maybe not). It meant that you forfeited all legal rights. Anyone could rob or kill you without legal consequence. But as a punishment it left a lot to be desired because everyone who was outlawed had no choice but to lead a life of crime thereafter, as Grettir does.
I've read a handful of the Icelandic Sagas in the past month, and so far this one is my favorite.
This story also shows why the medieval practice of outlawry was such a disaster for everyone involved. At the time being outlawed was a terrible punishment for serious crimes (Grettir is outlawed for burning down a house full of people, maybe on accident, maybe not). It meant that you forfeited all legal rights. Anyone could rob or kill you without legal consequence. But as a punishment it left a lot to be desired because everyone who was outlawed had no choice but to lead a life of crime thereafter, as Grettir does.
I've read a handful of the Icelandic Sagas in the past month, and so far this one is my favorite.
March 16, 2021
curse this old timey translator for leaving out the verse detailing grettir's sexual potency!
October 6, 2024
3.5. Don’t mess with Grettir.
August 10, 2025
Grettir's Saga is a great work. It has the wonderful quality of laying out the protagonist's character in a matter-of-fact way. It gives me a sense of the man's underlying nature and his woes as it comes up against society. This is quite an achievement considering that the anonymous writer of the early 1300s was working with material, probably largely oral, regarding events that occurred in the 1000s, shortly after the Althing of Iceland decided for Christianity in an astute compromise that provided for a long range and gradual conversion.
As to Grettir's character, we see a young and contrary man who refuses to perform according to cultural expectations. For example, he does not help his father at the farm; he does not help the crew bail on his first journey east to Norway. For these societal failings, he provokes anger and ill will and loses any warmth with his father. We might loosely call this unyielding self-regard a kind of narcissism. Because of it, Grettir comes to the reader ready-made as an outsider. There are many who admire his prowess and strength. But he has no friends and no place at home or in society. His father does not even gift him a weapon on his first forced departure from Iceland when he undergoes a three-year period of outlawry.
Grettir's character slowly works against him. Grettir, for the first time seeks a place in society, when he offers service to King Olaf of Norway. But his history makes the king refuse the offer. Grettir thereafter remains essentially a loner. When he returns to Iceland, he learns his father is dead and his brother Atli, hard working and peaceful, has been murdered. Before any more can happen, Grettir is sentenced to a more severe outlawry of 20 years for the accidental deaths of two men. This longer outlawry legally prohibits his departure from Iceland. Accordingly, he becomes a wanderer, always on the run and subject to death at the hands of whoever can kill him. At this point, Grettir often has to beg for a home or place from someone who will offer hospitality. He is refused every time. From the position of rejecting others, he is rejected. Grettir never marries or has children, a first expectation for his society. His character has locked him out.
Grettir, through defiance, but more through necessity, becomes a robber of livestock in order to support himself. Robbing livestock, or rustling, is one of the most awful deeds in a society that has a slim margin between living and dying. He also kills the people who come to kill him. Finally, he is totally isolated on an island on which he squats and on whose livestock he feeds. One brother comes from the home farm to be with him, with the permission of his and Grettir's mother who at least feels a loyalty to Grettir and at most love, albeit helpless to do more.
The curse of the defiant outlaw is loneliness, wariness, and fear. In Grettir's case, this is all exemplified by his fear of being alone (!) or of the dark. This is a powerful symbol of the depths he has fallen into and of the dark of his mind. It is a symbol of how he has become more helpless and it gives sadness to Grettir's need to be "taken in" somewhere and the refusals of shelter. There is an underlying theme in the saga that is perhaps so common to the foundations of society as to be unspoken. That is, there is a covenant of connection in society that gives responsibilities, right behavior, rights, and psychological security. There is therefore an element of tragedy in the saga -- a strong young man with a socially bad attitude comes eventually to helplessness. The saga ends, but I will avoid spoilers.
Reading this saga led me to an attempt to understand the basic underpinnings of the society. Iceland was a country with essentially no government. The Althing met (yearly, I believe) and rendered judgments. There is a body of law. There is a lot of killing and there is a lot of revenge for the deaths. How the Althing and society deal with homicide is a puzzle. Our society has very complicated laws that define punishable homicides; we look to the kind of killing, the intent of the killer, the manner of the killing. We have a concern for society's peace and for the fair treatment of the killer. I cannot quite find the legal or legal/cultural categorization of killing in this saga. It seems that the mere killing requires both revenge and consideration of society's interests. For example, the accidental deaths of two brothers are the cause of Grettir's long outlawry. But Grettir did not mean these deaths, it is not even clear that he is the proximate cause of the deaths. It seems that the facts of the deaths alone bring into play the entire mechanism of the Althing to impose compensation or the equivalent of a death penalty, that is, outlawry. Perhaps, like the conversion of Iceland, this system is a compromise between the revenge killing of the classic "Viking age" and the creation of a peaceful, orderly society.
Part of this problem may be kinship loyalty which still takes high precedence in the saga. Grettir's mother, as I think, actually loves him and her other children. But her relationship to Grettir is expressed in the language of loyalty. That is, she calls him "kinsman" and not "son". Possibly in a society in transition, injury to the kin group requires action by the group. Really, this is how people survived. But the Althing is groping towards something else.
This is an excellent and clear translation. The introduction is well written and informative. The notes and appendices are very helpful. Bravi!
As to Grettir's character, we see a young and contrary man who refuses to perform according to cultural expectations. For example, he does not help his father at the farm; he does not help the crew bail on his first journey east to Norway. For these societal failings, he provokes anger and ill will and loses any warmth with his father. We might loosely call this unyielding self-regard a kind of narcissism. Because of it, Grettir comes to the reader ready-made as an outsider. There are many who admire his prowess and strength. But he has no friends and no place at home or in society. His father does not even gift him a weapon on his first forced departure from Iceland when he undergoes a three-year period of outlawry.
Grettir's character slowly works against him. Grettir, for the first time seeks a place in society, when he offers service to King Olaf of Norway. But his history makes the king refuse the offer. Grettir thereafter remains essentially a loner. When he returns to Iceland, he learns his father is dead and his brother Atli, hard working and peaceful, has been murdered. Before any more can happen, Grettir is sentenced to a more severe outlawry of 20 years for the accidental deaths of two men. This longer outlawry legally prohibits his departure from Iceland. Accordingly, he becomes a wanderer, always on the run and subject to death at the hands of whoever can kill him. At this point, Grettir often has to beg for a home or place from someone who will offer hospitality. He is refused every time. From the position of rejecting others, he is rejected. Grettir never marries or has children, a first expectation for his society. His character has locked him out.
Grettir, through defiance, but more through necessity, becomes a robber of livestock in order to support himself. Robbing livestock, or rustling, is one of the most awful deeds in a society that has a slim margin between living and dying. He also kills the people who come to kill him. Finally, he is totally isolated on an island on which he squats and on whose livestock he feeds. One brother comes from the home farm to be with him, with the permission of his and Grettir's mother who at least feels a loyalty to Grettir and at most love, albeit helpless to do more.
The curse of the defiant outlaw is loneliness, wariness, and fear. In Grettir's case, this is all exemplified by his fear of being alone (!) or of the dark. This is a powerful symbol of the depths he has fallen into and of the dark of his mind. It is a symbol of how he has become more helpless and it gives sadness to Grettir's need to be "taken in" somewhere and the refusals of shelter. There is an underlying theme in the saga that is perhaps so common to the foundations of society as to be unspoken. That is, there is a covenant of connection in society that gives responsibilities, right behavior, rights, and psychological security. There is therefore an element of tragedy in the saga -- a strong young man with a socially bad attitude comes eventually to helplessness. The saga ends, but I will avoid spoilers.
Reading this saga led me to an attempt to understand the basic underpinnings of the society. Iceland was a country with essentially no government. The Althing met (yearly, I believe) and rendered judgments. There is a body of law. There is a lot of killing and there is a lot of revenge for the deaths. How the Althing and society deal with homicide is a puzzle. Our society has very complicated laws that define punishable homicides; we look to the kind of killing, the intent of the killer, the manner of the killing. We have a concern for society's peace and for the fair treatment of the killer. I cannot quite find the legal or legal/cultural categorization of killing in this saga. It seems that the mere killing requires both revenge and consideration of society's interests. For example, the accidental deaths of two brothers are the cause of Grettir's long outlawry. But Grettir did not mean these deaths, it is not even clear that he is the proximate cause of the deaths. It seems that the facts of the deaths alone bring into play the entire mechanism of the Althing to impose compensation or the equivalent of a death penalty, that is, outlawry. Perhaps, like the conversion of Iceland, this system is a compromise between the revenge killing of the classic "Viking age" and the creation of a peaceful, orderly society.
Part of this problem may be kinship loyalty which still takes high precedence in the saga. Grettir's mother, as I think, actually loves him and her other children. But her relationship to Grettir is expressed in the language of loyalty. That is, she calls him "kinsman" and not "son". Possibly in a society in transition, injury to the kin group requires action by the group. Really, this is how people survived. But the Althing is groping towards something else.
This is an excellent and clear translation. The introduction is well written and informative. The notes and appendices are very helpful. Bravi!
November 11, 2023
Perhaps the latest of the Icelandic Sagas, focused on the strongest man in Iceland who is capable of fighting ghosts and giants, but is banished as an outlaw for his violent ways. There is more of a christian undertone to this saga than the others I have read, particularly in the ending involving Grettir’s brother Thorstein, and it feels like Grettir was the last of the pagan heroes of Iceland.
November 30, 2023
Actually rating this one because I read the WHOLE thing AND I liked it. This was my favorite saga I read for this class and I don’t really know why. Maybe it was the supernatural stuff, maybe it’s because it actually had a straightforward plot that didn’t have a million detours. It’s not a super strong 4 star rating*, but it was good 👍
*changed to 3.5 cuz I rated Frankenstein 4 stars and this is definitely not on the same level
*changed to 3.5 cuz I rated Frankenstein 4 stars and this is definitely not on the same level
April 4, 2024
The saga of Maya the Strong-ly interested in reading every ancient national epic continues
June 18, 2023
We laughed, we cried, our jaws hit the floor in pure shock--Grettir Asmundson, the greatest outlaw of all time.
January 26, 2022
Grettir Ásmundripoja saaga jutustab loo Islandi ühest tuntumast vägimehest Grettirist, kelle vastu ei saa ükski mees. Noor Grettir, kellele ei sobi teha talutöösid, otsustab panna mängu oma tugevuse: vapruse ja rammu. Kuna islandi rahvas on väga kokkuhoidev ning samas kättemaksuhimuline, satub Grettir sageli ühe või teise mehega pahuksisse ning muutub nii mõnegi tuntud taluniku või sõduri poolt tagaotsitavaks juba enne altingil lindpriiks kuulutamist. Grettiri saaga on tema iseloomule omaselt võimas.
Minus valmistab aukartust see, et väljaanne, mida käes hoidsin, pärines 80ndatest aastatest ning harjumuspäraste kõvakaaneliste raamatute asemel oli see üpris habras - nagu vihik. Raamatul oli kaasas lugejakaart, kuhu oli märgitud nelja laenutuse kuupäevad: aastad '82, '83, '92 ja '93- kõik need aastad on enne minu sündi.
Mind üllatab, et Grettir Asmundripoja saagal pole eesti keeles ilmunud kordustrükki, sest lugu on põnevusi ja õpetusi täis. Olgugi, et suur osa loost võib olla kõigest romantiseeritud rahvaluule, on Grettiri saagas mainitud kohad tänaseni olemas (palju mainitakse ka Norrat ning Fääri saari). Kui millalgi uuesti Islandile lähen, siis tahaksin näiteks külastada ka tema puhkepaika Rahnusaart (tänapäevane Drangey saar, kus vahvaid lunne vaatlemas käiakse).
Minus valmistab aukartust see, et väljaanne, mida käes hoidsin, pärines 80ndatest aastatest ning harjumuspäraste kõvakaaneliste raamatute asemel oli see üpris habras - nagu vihik. Raamatul oli kaasas lugejakaart, kuhu oli märgitud nelja laenutuse kuupäevad: aastad '82, '83, '92 ja '93- kõik need aastad on enne minu sündi.
Mind üllatab, et Grettir Asmundripoja saagal pole eesti keeles ilmunud kordustrükki, sest lugu on põnevusi ja õpetusi täis. Olgugi, et suur osa loost võib olla kõigest romantiseeritud rahvaluule, on Grettiri saagas mainitud kohad tänaseni olemas (palju mainitakse ka Norrat ning Fääri saari). Kui millalgi uuesti Islandile lähen, siis tahaksin näiteks külastada ka tema puhkepaika Rahnusaart (tänapäevane Drangey saar, kus vahvaid lunne vaatlemas käiakse).
November 7, 2016
I read this in junior year in high school, and revisiting it after 15 years, I can definitely appreciate the story much better (and understand why the teacher assigned it to a bunch of teenage boys). It's also surprising how much you forget. The only thing I vaguely remember was the desolate scene of Grettir on Drangey and not much else. Though like epics the saga lacks any interiority whatsoever and focuses ruthlessly on action, it does have its own magic, of motion and something else that happens to fit the desolate landscape in which the saga is set. The upshot was that I did feel sad when Grettir, dying from a self-inflicted wound, is killed at the hand of a rather unworthy enemy.
May 13, 2020
Á köflum skemmtisaga, öðrum draugasaga og aftur ævisaga. Það er bæði skemmtilegt að sjá hvernig höfundur leiðist út í ævintýri og skrítið að fylgjast með á köflum skringilegum sviptingum í takti sögunnar. Sérstaklega er síðasti hluti bókarinnar mjög furðulegur en sjálfsagt tilkominn vegna þarfar til að klukka út með kristilegum tón.
Grettir er stórskemmtilegur karakter en sagan sjálf mætti vera aðeins knappari og halda sér betur við efnið.
Grettir er stórskemmtilegur karakter en sagan sjálf mætti vera aðeins knappari og halda sér betur við efnið.
June 18, 2018
Grettir er klikkaður. Alveg rosalega. Miklu verri en Egill. Hann veður um drepandi og stelandi. En hann er líka áhugaverð persóna. Myrkfælnin sérstaklega.
September 15, 2025
The Giant with a Cursed Fate
Admittedly, Grettir’s youth includes brutal incidents when he’s rebelling against his father. Because he’s been asked to do chores he doesn’t want to do, he spitefully maims geese and viciously flays the skin from the back of his father’s favorite mare. Then to add insult to injury, he rebukes his father saying: “It’s a bad thing to goad the obstinate” (chap 8). His adolescent behavior is marked by refusal to do any farm work, while lampooning those who do his tasks, but once he’s sent abroad for three years, after being sentenced to “lesser outlawry,” he decides to be helpful when a pretty woman shows him some attention. He begins to bail out the ship, which he had previously refused to do, and wins praise because he can bail much faster than the others.
Obviously he’s a giant with the strength to match, and being Icelandic, testing his strength against other men or even large rocks becomes his way of amusing and satisfying himself. However, after his initial misbehavior on his father’s farm, his subsequent actions are mainly done either in defense of himself or to aid those he’s living with, aside from the pilfering he has to do to live while being outlawed. (Makes one wonder what mindset thought the best solution for a troublemaker is to outlaw him and force him to scrounge off the land becoming even more dangerous as he tries to survive.) In his youth Grettir’s main problem seems to be lack of self-control, and men constantly warn him that if he doesn’t discipline himself, his future will not be happy. Being a stoic Icelander, Grettir opines that the future will be what it will and doesn’t seem to think there’s much he can do about it. In fact, his later behavior shows that he does become thoughtful, especially noteworthy when he’s attacked by Snorri the Godi’s son, who is trying to win back his father’s affection by killing an outlaw, and refuses to easily kill Snorri’s son because he’s more afraid of Snorri, a man renowned for getting vengeance for the smallest thing. Snorri remarks to his son, “Many a man is blind to his own faults and this shows the great difference between the two of you. You struck blows at him and he could have done anything he wanted with you. But Grettir acted wisely by not killing you, because I would not have put up with your remaining unavenged. For my part, I will help him if I am present when his affairs are discussed” (68).
From the period of Grettir’s first outlawry to Norway, most of his fights are done to help the men he meets who are challenged by beserks, vikings, trolls, and giants, forms of evil doers. He enters a burial mound and battles the mound-dweller, taking out the treasure (18); cleverly defends a landowner’s estate and family against two notorious beserks and six Vikings by seeming to be on their side, getting them drunk, then trapping them in a storeroom and killing them (19); wrestles a savage bear and restrains himself when he’s mocked by a relative of the man who’s sheltering him, although later they fight because Grettir never tolerates “malicious tricks” played on him nor had he ever “accepted compensation” to avoid a fight (22). Even though Bjorn had originally wronged Grettir so that his killing is “justified,” Bjorn had a powerful ally in Earl Svein, as well as two brothers who want revenge; ultimately each separately attacks Grettir, and he kills the brothers, so again in spite of Grettir having to defend himself, the irascible earl says he won’t allow Grettir to live. Fortunately, Grettir’s important friends and a powerful brother distantly related to the king declare they’ll also face death with Grettir, which finally forces the earl to be a bit reasonable, accept compensation for the deaths, and let Grettir leave Norway.
After returning to Iceland, Grettir begins his ghost-busting activities. Thorhall’s farm is so haunted he can’t keep a shepherd, and the Lawspeaker at the Althing suggests he take on a Swedish shepherd named Glam, who has a bad temper and is “very strange-looking, with wide blue eyes and wolf-grey hair” (32). Importantly, he’s not afraid of ghouls, which make this job “more interesting” to him. However, he scorns a Christian fast as superstition, and that night he disappears. Next day they find his body “dead, black as hell and bloated to the size of a bull.” But worse is to come because the troll Glam now haunts the farm, sitting on the roof at night, killing sheep, and terrorizing the valley’s inhabitants. Despite a warning about fighting evil creatures, Grettir sees a challenge; even though his horse is killed with every bone broken, after a terrible fight he’s successful. But before dying Glam, “endowed with more evil force than most other ghosts” (35), curses Grettir that his strength will never grow stronger. From now on he’ll face outlawry and killings, and “your deeds will bring you misfortune and improvidence…my eyes will always be before your sight and this will make you find it difficult to be alone…this will lead to your death” (35). After this experience Grettir’s “afraid of the dark” and didn’t go alone after nightfall. Trolls operate at night and usually drag outside and kill anyone who resists them. No explanation for them is offered in the saga, how such damage could have been done especially in the several fights involving Grettir when the house is almost destroyed. They seem to be just another part of Icelandic life at that period, which was when Christianity had just been accepted but pagan beliefs and customs had not yet died out. Interestingly, “Grettir himself has said” that seeing Glam glaring at him “was the only sight that ever unnerved him,” perhaps a direct quote from him that seems to verify the physical existence of such a creature.
Despite this bad experience, Grettir can’t help offering the widow Steinvor similar help after her husband is killed and their farm terrorized (64). While she’s away overnight at mass, Grettir prepares for the troll, which is female and drags him down to the river where they fight all night before she loses her balance. Because the priest doubts this story, Grettir returns with him to dive below the waterfall into a cave where her hideous lover lives. It’s a tale very reminiscent of Grendel’s mother in Beowulf, Grettir slays the male troll and retrieves the bones of men previously killed, then spends the winter with the woman, who at the end of summer gives birth to a boy named Skeggi, who is the strongest person in north Iceland, presumably Grettir’s son, but the boy died at sixteen (67).
A new Norwegian king arouses Grettir’s hopes of winning honor by returning there. Thorir has similar hopes for his sons, and one fateful winter night Grettir swims an icy channel to get some fire from the brothers, who thinks he’s a troll in his icy garments and throw burning logs at him, which ignite the house and burn everyone to death. People accuse Grettir of setting the fire, and he hopes to pass an ordeal to prove his innocence but loses his temper in church when an ugly boy mocks him, and the king cancels the ordeal and warns about his impetuousness. “Rashness always breeds trouble” (39). Grettir rids another farmer of marauding beserks and spends time with his brother in Norway. Meanwhile his brother in Iceland is killed by men who know Grettir isn’t around, and Thorir from Gard gets Grettir declared an outlaw at the Althing for burning his sons. When Grettir returns to Iceland he learns all the bad news at once and soon gets vengeance on the man who killed his brother and earns his mother’s praise before he sets off to become an outlaw (48).
From now on powerful men hesitate to take him in. Thorir from Gard’s desire for vengeance for his sons demands such a high price to clear Grettir of the guilt that his kinsmen can’t pay it; in addition he offers a large reward for Grettir’s capture. Meanwhile, Grettir wanders about Iceland, pillaging villagers to get food, weapons, horses and other necessities, while performing various feats of strength (he carries an ox, 50). On one occasion when a large group of farmers capture him, no one wants to try to hold him captive, so they’re about to hang him when a wise woman Thorbjorg reminds them of Grettir’s royal family connections and fame; she takes him home after he promises not to bother this area again (52). On his travels he meets Loft, a man as strong as he is, then he’s refused shelter by a relative who warns him not to trust strangers, which Grettir immediately disobeys and takes in an outlaw Grim (55), whose secret intent is to kill him for a reward. Fortunately, Grettir avoids this calamity, and a second one when Thorir Redbeard (56) lives with Grettir for two years before trying to kill him and being defeated. However, Grettir’s death will result from a similar failure to heed the warning about strangers. When Thorir from Gard sends eighty men to kill Grettir, amazingly he is helped by a powerful stranger Hallmund, who is Loft. Grettir lives with Hallmund periodically, and creates the Lay of Hallmund (62), which includes many of Grettir’s deeds, to celebrate Hallmund’s death. Later Grettir’s attacked by Gisli, eager for the reward but himself a coward, who flees Grettir dropping his clothes as he runs.
Aside from the obligatory anecdotes about Grettir’s feats, a few unusual anecdotes about his travels are included, such as his brief stay in a troll’s valley hidden in the glaciers, with hot springs and lush vegetation. Here the sheep are fatter than elsewhere, and Grettir decides to snack on a young lamb; thereafter its mother stands by his hut at night bleating and disturbing his sleep, so that he regrets killing the lamb. Interestingly, the explanation is simply annoyance at the bleating, excluding the possibility that he might have felt sympathy for the animal. Similarly, any sexual episodes with Grettir are passed over mainly in silence; for example, he “had some fun” with the troll’s daughters (61).
Grettir’s options for living steadily decrease until the powerful Gudmund suggests an island, Drangey, which can be easily defended with its sheer cliffs. Again he is cautioned, “never have greater faith in anyone other than yourself. Many people are not all that they seem” (67). At this point Grettir’s fifteen-year-old brother Illugi decides to become his trusted companion, and their mother wishes them off while prophesying their deaths and warning about sorcery. Needless to say, Grettir soon agrees to take along Glaum, a boastful vagrant who doesn’t like to work but whose clever tricks amuse Grettir. Using the money given him by his mother, he hires a boat from a farmer, securing his goodwill that will help later. Only birds and sheep put there by neighboring farmers inhabit the island, which is jointly owned by the farmers; once Grettir claims the island, he refuses to give them their sheep. Problems arise when Grettir goes to the mainland, notices an assembly and stops by. The violent and brutal Thorbjorn Hook sees him and wants to see him wrestle, but Grettir wisely says only if he’s given safe passage back to his home afterwards. They agree and a lofty, formal speech (72) is made by Haf, but when Grettir strips down to wrestle, they recognize him and regret their pledge. Nonetheless, Grettir wrestles two men and is allowed to go home. By this time, most farmers assume they’ll never get their sheep and sell their shares to Hook. Grettir is plagued by Glaum, who hates working for the brothers and even lets the fire go out, so that Grettir has to swim to the mainland, goes to the farmer, recovers from his icy swim in his hot pool, spends the night, allowing the farmer’s maid-servant to joke about the small size of what’s between his legs, whereupon Grettir rapes her, and “she did not taunt him again” (75), an ambiguous statement that could mean she was satisfied.
People start to press Hook to remove Grettir from the island or give back their land, so he consults his foster-mother Thurid, who “had been well versed in magic and knew many secret arts when she was young and people were heathen” (78). While the law still permitted her to practice black magic in private, doing so in public would result in lesser outlawry. She decides to curse Grettir for not accepting her son’s offers, and this unsettles Grettir, so he throws a rock and breaks her thigh. Now she’s determined to have revenge, finds a driftwood tree and carves runes into its roots, smearing blood and reciting spells. When the tree is set adrift, it moves against the current toward the island. When Grettir or his brother find the tree, they realize it’s evil, but when lazy Glaum sees it, he takes it home. Grettir doesn’t notice, strikes it with his ax, which rebounds and cuts his thigh to the bone. After three days the leg had changed color, obviously due to gangrene, but for Grettir it’s proof of sorcery. With Grettir ill, Glaum slacks off even more and doesn’t see a party of men led by Hook who climb the ladder. Of course, Grettir, unable to get to his feet, still fights fiercely, as does his brother before both are killed.
Gloating, Hook cuts off Grettir’s head, so he can prove his deed and get the reward, but killing a sick man and using sorcery to do it bring only dishonor. Furthermore, he’s prevented from claiming Grettir’s property, which remains with his mother, who is well-liked. ...While Grettir never comes “alive” as a character in a great novel would, nonetheless one ends by feeling compassion for a man, hunted like an animal, but still wanting to help people whenever his strength might be of aid. Because Icelandic sagas are mainly focused on fights and evidence of bravery, not many incidents that stray from this focus are included, but these few make Grettir seem almost human, such as the brief period he spent in an idyllic hot-spring valley amid the glaciers, or an incident when he lies naked in a house and is spotted by women who mock the size of his penis, until he demonstrates his ability (78).
Admittedly, Grettir’s youth includes brutal incidents when he’s rebelling against his father. Because he’s been asked to do chores he doesn’t want to do, he spitefully maims geese and viciously flays the skin from the back of his father’s favorite mare. Then to add insult to injury, he rebukes his father saying: “It’s a bad thing to goad the obstinate” (chap 8). His adolescent behavior is marked by refusal to do any farm work, while lampooning those who do his tasks, but once he’s sent abroad for three years, after being sentenced to “lesser outlawry,” he decides to be helpful when a pretty woman shows him some attention. He begins to bail out the ship, which he had previously refused to do, and wins praise because he can bail much faster than the others.
Obviously he’s a giant with the strength to match, and being Icelandic, testing his strength against other men or even large rocks becomes his way of amusing and satisfying himself. However, after his initial misbehavior on his father’s farm, his subsequent actions are mainly done either in defense of himself or to aid those he’s living with, aside from the pilfering he has to do to live while being outlawed. (Makes one wonder what mindset thought the best solution for a troublemaker is to outlaw him and force him to scrounge off the land becoming even more dangerous as he tries to survive.) In his youth Grettir’s main problem seems to be lack of self-control, and men constantly warn him that if he doesn’t discipline himself, his future will not be happy. Being a stoic Icelander, Grettir opines that the future will be what it will and doesn’t seem to think there’s much he can do about it. In fact, his later behavior shows that he does become thoughtful, especially noteworthy when he’s attacked by Snorri the Godi’s son, who is trying to win back his father’s affection by killing an outlaw, and refuses to easily kill Snorri’s son because he’s more afraid of Snorri, a man renowned for getting vengeance for the smallest thing. Snorri remarks to his son, “Many a man is blind to his own faults and this shows the great difference between the two of you. You struck blows at him and he could have done anything he wanted with you. But Grettir acted wisely by not killing you, because I would not have put up with your remaining unavenged. For my part, I will help him if I am present when his affairs are discussed” (68).
From the period of Grettir’s first outlawry to Norway, most of his fights are done to help the men he meets who are challenged by beserks, vikings, trolls, and giants, forms of evil doers. He enters a burial mound and battles the mound-dweller, taking out the treasure (18); cleverly defends a landowner’s estate and family against two notorious beserks and six Vikings by seeming to be on their side, getting them drunk, then trapping them in a storeroom and killing them (19); wrestles a savage bear and restrains himself when he’s mocked by a relative of the man who’s sheltering him, although later they fight because Grettir never tolerates “malicious tricks” played on him nor had he ever “accepted compensation” to avoid a fight (22). Even though Bjorn had originally wronged Grettir so that his killing is “justified,” Bjorn had a powerful ally in Earl Svein, as well as two brothers who want revenge; ultimately each separately attacks Grettir, and he kills the brothers, so again in spite of Grettir having to defend himself, the irascible earl says he won’t allow Grettir to live. Fortunately, Grettir’s important friends and a powerful brother distantly related to the king declare they’ll also face death with Grettir, which finally forces the earl to be a bit reasonable, accept compensation for the deaths, and let Grettir leave Norway.
After returning to Iceland, Grettir begins his ghost-busting activities. Thorhall’s farm is so haunted he can’t keep a shepherd, and the Lawspeaker at the Althing suggests he take on a Swedish shepherd named Glam, who has a bad temper and is “very strange-looking, with wide blue eyes and wolf-grey hair” (32). Importantly, he’s not afraid of ghouls, which make this job “more interesting” to him. However, he scorns a Christian fast as superstition, and that night he disappears. Next day they find his body “dead, black as hell and bloated to the size of a bull.” But worse is to come because the troll Glam now haunts the farm, sitting on the roof at night, killing sheep, and terrorizing the valley’s inhabitants. Despite a warning about fighting evil creatures, Grettir sees a challenge; even though his horse is killed with every bone broken, after a terrible fight he’s successful. But before dying Glam, “endowed with more evil force than most other ghosts” (35), curses Grettir that his strength will never grow stronger. From now on he’ll face outlawry and killings, and “your deeds will bring you misfortune and improvidence…my eyes will always be before your sight and this will make you find it difficult to be alone…this will lead to your death” (35). After this experience Grettir’s “afraid of the dark” and didn’t go alone after nightfall. Trolls operate at night and usually drag outside and kill anyone who resists them. No explanation for them is offered in the saga, how such damage could have been done especially in the several fights involving Grettir when the house is almost destroyed. They seem to be just another part of Icelandic life at that period, which was when Christianity had just been accepted but pagan beliefs and customs had not yet died out. Interestingly, “Grettir himself has said” that seeing Glam glaring at him “was the only sight that ever unnerved him,” perhaps a direct quote from him that seems to verify the physical existence of such a creature.
Despite this bad experience, Grettir can’t help offering the widow Steinvor similar help after her husband is killed and their farm terrorized (64). While she’s away overnight at mass, Grettir prepares for the troll, which is female and drags him down to the river where they fight all night before she loses her balance. Because the priest doubts this story, Grettir returns with him to dive below the waterfall into a cave where her hideous lover lives. It’s a tale very reminiscent of Grendel’s mother in Beowulf, Grettir slays the male troll and retrieves the bones of men previously killed, then spends the winter with the woman, who at the end of summer gives birth to a boy named Skeggi, who is the strongest person in north Iceland, presumably Grettir’s son, but the boy died at sixteen (67).
A new Norwegian king arouses Grettir’s hopes of winning honor by returning there. Thorir has similar hopes for his sons, and one fateful winter night Grettir swims an icy channel to get some fire from the brothers, who thinks he’s a troll in his icy garments and throw burning logs at him, which ignite the house and burn everyone to death. People accuse Grettir of setting the fire, and he hopes to pass an ordeal to prove his innocence but loses his temper in church when an ugly boy mocks him, and the king cancels the ordeal and warns about his impetuousness. “Rashness always breeds trouble” (39). Grettir rids another farmer of marauding beserks and spends time with his brother in Norway. Meanwhile his brother in Iceland is killed by men who know Grettir isn’t around, and Thorir from Gard gets Grettir declared an outlaw at the Althing for burning his sons. When Grettir returns to Iceland he learns all the bad news at once and soon gets vengeance on the man who killed his brother and earns his mother’s praise before he sets off to become an outlaw (48).
From now on powerful men hesitate to take him in. Thorir from Gard’s desire for vengeance for his sons demands such a high price to clear Grettir of the guilt that his kinsmen can’t pay it; in addition he offers a large reward for Grettir’s capture. Meanwhile, Grettir wanders about Iceland, pillaging villagers to get food, weapons, horses and other necessities, while performing various feats of strength (he carries an ox, 50). On one occasion when a large group of farmers capture him, no one wants to try to hold him captive, so they’re about to hang him when a wise woman Thorbjorg reminds them of Grettir’s royal family connections and fame; she takes him home after he promises not to bother this area again (52). On his travels he meets Loft, a man as strong as he is, then he’s refused shelter by a relative who warns him not to trust strangers, which Grettir immediately disobeys and takes in an outlaw Grim (55), whose secret intent is to kill him for a reward. Fortunately, Grettir avoids this calamity, and a second one when Thorir Redbeard (56) lives with Grettir for two years before trying to kill him and being defeated. However, Grettir’s death will result from a similar failure to heed the warning about strangers. When Thorir from Gard sends eighty men to kill Grettir, amazingly he is helped by a powerful stranger Hallmund, who is Loft. Grettir lives with Hallmund periodically, and creates the Lay of Hallmund (62), which includes many of Grettir’s deeds, to celebrate Hallmund’s death. Later Grettir’s attacked by Gisli, eager for the reward but himself a coward, who flees Grettir dropping his clothes as he runs.
Aside from the obligatory anecdotes about Grettir’s feats, a few unusual anecdotes about his travels are included, such as his brief stay in a troll’s valley hidden in the glaciers, with hot springs and lush vegetation. Here the sheep are fatter than elsewhere, and Grettir decides to snack on a young lamb; thereafter its mother stands by his hut at night bleating and disturbing his sleep, so that he regrets killing the lamb. Interestingly, the explanation is simply annoyance at the bleating, excluding the possibility that he might have felt sympathy for the animal. Similarly, any sexual episodes with Grettir are passed over mainly in silence; for example, he “had some fun” with the troll’s daughters (61).
Grettir’s options for living steadily decrease until the powerful Gudmund suggests an island, Drangey, which can be easily defended with its sheer cliffs. Again he is cautioned, “never have greater faith in anyone other than yourself. Many people are not all that they seem” (67). At this point Grettir’s fifteen-year-old brother Illugi decides to become his trusted companion, and their mother wishes them off while prophesying their deaths and warning about sorcery. Needless to say, Grettir soon agrees to take along Glaum, a boastful vagrant who doesn’t like to work but whose clever tricks amuse Grettir. Using the money given him by his mother, he hires a boat from a farmer, securing his goodwill that will help later. Only birds and sheep put there by neighboring farmers inhabit the island, which is jointly owned by the farmers; once Grettir claims the island, he refuses to give them their sheep. Problems arise when Grettir goes to the mainland, notices an assembly and stops by. The violent and brutal Thorbjorn Hook sees him and wants to see him wrestle, but Grettir wisely says only if he’s given safe passage back to his home afterwards. They agree and a lofty, formal speech (72) is made by Haf, but when Grettir strips down to wrestle, they recognize him and regret their pledge. Nonetheless, Grettir wrestles two men and is allowed to go home. By this time, most farmers assume they’ll never get their sheep and sell their shares to Hook. Grettir is plagued by Glaum, who hates working for the brothers and even lets the fire go out, so that Grettir has to swim to the mainland, goes to the farmer, recovers from his icy swim in his hot pool, spends the night, allowing the farmer’s maid-servant to joke about the small size of what’s between his legs, whereupon Grettir rapes her, and “she did not taunt him again” (75), an ambiguous statement that could mean she was satisfied.
People start to press Hook to remove Grettir from the island or give back their land, so he consults his foster-mother Thurid, who “had been well versed in magic and knew many secret arts when she was young and people were heathen” (78). While the law still permitted her to practice black magic in private, doing so in public would result in lesser outlawry. She decides to curse Grettir for not accepting her son’s offers, and this unsettles Grettir, so he throws a rock and breaks her thigh. Now she’s determined to have revenge, finds a driftwood tree and carves runes into its roots, smearing blood and reciting spells. When the tree is set adrift, it moves against the current toward the island. When Grettir or his brother find the tree, they realize it’s evil, but when lazy Glaum sees it, he takes it home. Grettir doesn’t notice, strikes it with his ax, which rebounds and cuts his thigh to the bone. After three days the leg had changed color, obviously due to gangrene, but for Grettir it’s proof of sorcery. With Grettir ill, Glaum slacks off even more and doesn’t see a party of men led by Hook who climb the ladder. Of course, Grettir, unable to get to his feet, still fights fiercely, as does his brother before both are killed.
Gloating, Hook cuts off Grettir’s head, so he can prove his deed and get the reward, but killing a sick man and using sorcery to do it bring only dishonor. Furthermore, he’s prevented from claiming Grettir’s property, which remains with his mother, who is well-liked. ...While Grettir never comes “alive” as a character in a great novel would, nonetheless one ends by feeling compassion for a man, hunted like an animal, but still wanting to help people whenever his strength might be of aid. Because Icelandic sagas are mainly focused on fights and evidence of bravery, not many incidents that stray from this focus are included, but these few make Grettir seem almost human, such as the brief period he spent in an idyllic hot-spring valley amid the glaciers, or an incident when he lies naked in a house and is spotted by women who mock the size of his penis, until he demonstrates his ability (78).
September 15, 2023
What a journey this saga was. I saw a lot of parallels with the great Egil Skallagrimson but Grettir The Strong is a special hero in his own right, 19 years as an outlaw but still renowned is quite something! This saga was interesting for it's looks at Christianity and Paganism in a shifting landscape where great heroes were starting to be dismissed and not considered proper by Christian ideals. Grettir's assassination by nefarious means was quite emotional to read, seeing his enemies resort to malicious tactics instead of facing him head on. Towards the end are similarities to King Harald Sigurdsson's saga but the way Thorstein avenged his brother Grettir's death by venturing all the way to Constantinople to burry a sword in Thorbjorn Hook's head was pretty awesome. Grettir's saga may be lesser known alongside Egil and Njal's saga but its a brilliant example of saga writing that moves you whilst giving you plenty of action.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2018
Grettir's Saga is one of the most famous Icelandic sagas, so I regret how long it's taken me to get to it. I seem to have read the obscure ones first! I enjoyed every minute of this tale, which blends a standard outlaw narrative with elements of the supernatural. Byock's translation flowed beautifully, though I regretted the loss of the proper Icelandic spellings of names and places. The notes in this edition were also excellent. In particular, I appreciated the maps and genealogy charts. If you are new to the Icelandic sagas, this would probably be a good one with which to start since it's a fun and feisty narrative and the familial relationships don't get too complicated.
March 6, 2020
this is the second of the icelandic sagas that i'm reading for my university course on the sagas. i liked this tale more than egil's saga. there aren't any lengthy tiring court cases and there is also the supernatural element, which plays a bigger role and i found that much interesting. grettir is a very controversial figure. he is cruel and rightfully an outlaw most of his life. but he is also the strongest man of his time, a heroic figure who also did good deeds. his end seems pretty fitting and i especially enjoyed the last pages of the saga. now on to my last saga that i have to read for my studies!
November 8, 2018
booooring
April 26, 2021
A very adventurous saga, I love how much movement there is!
My summary of this saga is available here.
My summary of this saga is available here.
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