Gripla - 20.12.2010, Page 207

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Similarly, inherent in worship of one’s dead ancestors is the idea that they
may have an influence on the present, hence the idea of the luck of the
ancestor being passed to someone at the moment of death. The author of
Þiðranda þáttr uses the terms fylgjur and dísir interchangeably suggesting
for this author (and, I suspect, for many Icelanders of the saga-age and
saga-writing-age) the concepts had become indistinct. These women
resemble the fylgjur which Hallr’s ancestor Rǫgnvaldr predicted were
linked inextricably with Iceland. Thus, in the nocturnal vision, the ances-
tral spirits which have accompanied Hallr’s family to Iceland are replaced
or at least transformed into a more appropriately Christian model, thereby
supporting the view that the tradition of Hallr and his family contained a
common element referring to family good fortune perhaps personified in
female form.
The story of Þiðrandi’s death can therefore be read symbolically, antici-
pating and predicting the arrival of Christianity in Iceland which will occur
a few years later and in which his father will play a pivotal role. In both
Flateyjarbók and Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta the þáttr precedes the
description of the conversion. While Kristni saga, Njáls saga and Íslend-
ingabók stress Hallr’s role as an early Christian convert, in Þiðranda þáttr
we see at least implicitly his role prior to this as heathen goði and host.
Hallr holds one last pagan feast with disastrous consequences. The feast
represents the ushering out of the old era, with its reliance on figures such
as the spámaðr Þórhallr for advice and protection14 and the heralding of the
new era, though not without cost as the most promising son of the chief-
tain is taken as an unwilling sacrifice. The end of this short text tells of a
dream that Þórhallr has, where he sees the hills and mounds in Iceland
opening up and all sorts of creatures large and small departing prior to the
arrival of Christianity (ÍF XV, 125). Þórhallr’s dream resembles in minia-
ture the story told in the þáttr as a whole, whereby Hallr’s spirits (and
perhaps those of his ancestor Hrollaugr, with their similarity to land-spir-
its) are replaced by sanctioned Christian spirits.
Thus within the chronology of our story, associations between Hallr
14 One might even wonder whether the character of Þórhallr (who is not known from other
sources) should also be read as an allegorical figure. His name, Þórhallr, Þórr + Hallr, may
represent the pagan aspects of Hallr’s character that are about to be given up. Yet a further
comparison might be made between the symbolic sacrifice of Þiðrandi in the þáttr and
Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac on God’s command in Genesis 22.
SÍÐU-HALLS SAGA OK SONA HANS