Saga Response #10 --Egil's Saga pt. 2

The second half of Egil’s saga completes this tale of familial conflict, as well as gives us the readers the full insight into Egil’s character. Egil comes off as a brash, ready-for-action fighter, while at the same time composes poetry in praise and admiration, grieves the loss of his son, has a weakness in his heart for his wife, and gives his friends/those he trusts the utmost loyalty. He is extremely long-lived, especially considering the amount of killing in this saga. I don’t know the average life span of a Viking at that time, but I’m sure that living to be 80 was an extraordinary feat.

One thing I did notice, present in prior sagas but I never really gave thought to, was the passage of time. This saga seemed to go on and on, but unlike stories today that would give at least yearly references, the time is only marked by the generations of the family within it and the handing down of kingships.

Women are much more prevalent in this saga and play important roles. Gunnhild, King Harald’s wife, is very much a factor in all Harald’s rulings against Egil.

One thing I was confused about at the end was why Steinar thought he had such a claim on Thorstein’s land. Maybe I missed it (it was a long saga, after all J ), but I didn’t really see any reason why he would have the privilege of grazing his cattle on what both he and Thorstein recognized as Thorstein’s land.