Gripla - 20.12.2012, Blaðsíða 193

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namely the final battle between good and evil, is comparable to that of
Þiðranda þáttr, which is concerned with Christianity overcoming heathen-
dom, and in this sense the þáttr may present a forerunner to the motif
employed in Draumkvæde.
Draumkvæde refers overtly to st Michael and Michaels saga ch. 3 im-
plies a connection between the archangel and the vision of demonic and
angelic forces by including it in the saga about him. Þiðranda þáttr makes
no direct link to Michael but the resemblances are so strong, and the arch-
angel enters the stage so soon after Þiðrandi’s death, that it only seems
reasonable to consider him a very important, although understated, part of
the backdrop to the þáttr.
Þiðranda þáttr is the only version of the story where the black forces kill
the protagonist; in all other cases, the white forces are victorious.45 this
is no coincidence since the tale serves as a piece of Christian propaganda,
a cautionary tale about the tragic loss of a “noble heathen” which could
easily have been avoided had he been Christian in name and not merely in
spirit (cf. kaplan 2000, 385). the strongly moralistic overtones cannot be
disregarded.
Ljótur
A different story about Hallur losing a son occurs in Njáls saga ch. 145
where it is intertwined with descriptions of attempts to reach a settlement
following the burning of njáll and his sons, and the fighting that breaks
out at the Alþingi in connection with this (íf 12, 402–415). Here, Hallur
also loses his favourite son — not Þiðrandi but Ljótur, and in a rather dif-
ferent context — not before but after his (and Iceland’s) conversion. It is
noteworthy that this story, as found in Njáls saga, betrays no knowledge of
Þiðrandi and does not mention him at all, just as the story about Þiðrandi
in Óláfs saga does not mention Ljótur at all.46 the battle at the Alþingi
took place in 1012 (Cochrane 2010, 218), some thirteen or fourteen years
after the death of Þiðrandi.
45 It is at least the only version known to me at present that features such a victory.
46 Njáls saga ch. 96 lists the sons of síðu-Hallur and mentions both Ljótur and Þiðrandi,
adding about the latter: þann er sagt er, at dísir vægi (íf 12, 239), “whom, it is said, the dísir
killed” (CSI 3, 115), so the story involving Þiðrandi and the dísir was known, although it is
not recounted in Njáls saga itself.
st MICHAeL AnD tHe sons of síÐu-HALLuR