Gripla - 20.12.2014, Blaðsíða 106

GRIPLA106
an older man, he could be seen as recognising his own faults in his nephew
and wanting to prevent him from repeating his uncle’s mistakes. In fact,
shortly before their encounter, Grettir is explicitly labelled an ójafnaðar-
maðr by Barði, who witnesses his mistreatment of Auðunn, a benign and
hard-working local farmer to whom grettir had lost in another ice hockey
match.69 these two encounters take place in the period leading up to the
fight with glámr, when the narrator comments that grettir’s growing ofsi
‘arrogance’ was rendering him increasingly marginal.70
the heroes (with or without their brothers) must also deal with oppo-
nents who exhibit the same characteristics. the sagas consistently portray
the heroes’ foes as ójafnaðarmenn, i.e. men who are unjust, ruthless, arro-
gant, immoderate, relentless, irrational, overbearing, and in many cases de-
ceitful. Grettis saga’s Þorbjǫrn ǫngull famously pursues grettir for several
years and finally resorts to enlisting his foster-mother and her malevolent
magic to conquer him, an action which is universally condemned at the
next alþingi. His namesake, Þorbjǫrn ǫxnamegin, repeatedly provokes
Atli in a dispute initiated and perpetuated by the former, and he breaks
the settlement that had been arranged between them, killing Atli on his
doorstep; the narrator comments with typical understatement that ‘war
þorbiorn lijtt þockadr af þessu verke’ [Þorbjǫrn was not much liked for this
deed].71 In one of the least epic saga of the Íslendingasögur, Þórðar saga’s
eponymous hero must also deal with a villain who hounds him relentlessly
with little justification or sense of proportion. After Þórðr has killed ormr,
an unsavoury character described as strong, skilled at fighting, competitive
and ‘fullur oiafnadarr’ [full of vehemence], ormr’s uncle Özurr goes on a
mission to avenge his nephew; the family resemblance is unmistakable for
he is described as a: ‘uitdeildar madr ok eckj uar hann uinsæll mioc meire ok
sterkare enn flester menn otrur ok unnderhyggiu fullr’ [a quarrelsome man
and he was not very popular, taller and stronger than most men, disloyal
69 f. 17r; Grettis saga, 97. torfi H. tulinius argues that Grettis saga’s author uses Grettir’s
encounters with the supernatural, and not his personality traits, to explain his fate, but
the fact that other characters comment on his flaws suggest that there are more factors at
work; ‘framliðnir feður. um forneskju og frásagnarlist í Eyrbyggju, Eglu og grettlu,’ in
Heiðin minni. Greinar um fornar bókmenntir, ed. Haraldur Bessason and Baldur Hafstað
(reykjavík: Heimskringla, háskólaforlag Máls og menningar, 1999), 293.
70 f. 16v; Grettis saga, 95.
71 f. 25v; Grettis saga, 146.