Gripla - 20.12.2010, Page 216

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Christian country. Hallr’s role in these events is pivotal. He realises the
danger for Iceland and sees the danger to his own position. The most
important single action of Hallr’s life is one of both sacrifice and cunning.
Hallr is not remarkable in that he was elected as Law-Speaker by the
assembled Christians, but that he saw fit to give that honour up and it is in
this way he is remembered in the texts.
Of Hallr’s descendants
Hallr’s role in Njáls saga is not quite done. He has one further act of
benevolence. In addition to Þiðrandi, this saga has already mentioned a
further son of Hallr, not mentioned in Landnámabók, Ljótr (ÍF XII, 239).
Regarding Ljótr it is said that if he can ride to the Alþingi three times and
return unscathed he will become the greatest chieftain and the longest-
lived of all his kinsmen (ÍF XII, 287). This prophecy reminds one of
Hallr’s success as a chieftain and perhaps even Rǫgnvaldr’s prophecy
regarding the family. In chapter 145 fighting breaks out at the Alþingi fol-
lowing the failure to reach a settlement over the burning of the Njálssons.
The scuffles quickly turn into a full-scale battle. Hallr realises the enormity
of this social breakdown and goes to get sufficient forces to separate the
combatants, telling his son Ljótr to wait for him, to which Ljótr only par-
tially agrees: saying that he will wait, but if he feels his kinsman Flosi
needs his aid he will assist him (IF XII, 405). As Hallr and his son try to
intervene, a spear flies from the melee and strikes Ljótr. The text makes it
clear that it is never revealed who threw the spear. Ljótr is not one of the
burners, nor is he drawn into the conflict through avarice (unlike Eyjólfr
the greedy lawyer). He is an innocent killed as a result of the imminent
social disintegration. Hallr does eventually separate the forces, but not in
time to save his son. After he has stopped the fighting at the Alþingi, Hallr
makes a speech where he urges Snorri goði and other good men to settle
their differences and by example demands no compensation for the death
of Ljótr. Hallr’s benevolence is rewarded in that everyone freely contrib-
utes to his compensation and Ljótr’s death is paid for with some eight (or
according to one manuscript tradition twelve) hundreds of silver (ÍF XII,
414). This episode is told only in summary and Ljótr’s death is somewhat
passed over within the text, but there is circumstantial evidence to suggest