Gripla - 20.12.2017, Side 115

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turr [war fetters]54 that come over him before he is killed, represent his way
of crossing into the realm of the paranormal.
Moreover, both Grettir and Hörðr encounter malevolent undead crea-
tures before their social, criminal transgression, and neither of them es-
capes from these encounters unscathed. Glámr’s curse seems to have a
contagious effect on Grettir: ‘heðan af munu falla til þín sekðir ok vígaferli,
en flest ǫll verk þín snúask þér til ógæfu ok hamingjuleysis. Þú munt verða útlægr
gǫrr’ [“from now on, outlawry and manslaughter will happen to you, and
almost all your deeds will turn to ill luck for you. You will be made an
outlaw”].55 the – for Grettir – visible manifestation of this infection is
Glámr’s eyes which haunt him to his death, making him so afraid of the
dark that he cannot be alone. Hörðr seems to be similarly affected by the
mound-dwelling Sóti’s curse, although he is not its direct object. However,
it is only after his fight with Sóti that Hörðr performs what is later referred
to as an ódæmaverk,56 an unparalleled, outrageous, potentially monstrous ac-
tion, when he kills auðr and burns down his farm. It could therefore be
argued that Hörðr has been infected by Sóti’s contagious monstrosity dur-
ing his fight. a further example of this parallel between Grettir and Hörðr
is the fact that, during or after their respective monster fights, they both
come in contact with something hellish. Grettir is said to lie í milli heims ok
heljar [between the world and hel]57 when he looks into Glámr’s eyes, and of
Hörðr and his foster brother Geirr it is said after the encounter with Sóti
that it seemed that they had been ór helju heimt [brought back from hel].58
this clearly shows that both Grettir – who is later twice referred to as a
heljarmaðr [hellish man]59 – and Hörðr become associated with potentially
disruptive paranormal forces; they have crossed the boundary of ordinary
human experience.
their status as social outsiders also facilitates the economic disruption
that Grettir and Hörðr cause during their outlawry, and this aspect of their
interaction with the communities on whose margins they move strongly
impacts their relationship with society and thus the way society perceives
54 Harðar saga, 87.
55 Grettis saga, 121.
56 Harðar saga, 56.
57 Grettis saga, 121.
58 Harðar saga, 43.
59 Grettis saga, 192 and 247.
“HE HaS LonG forfEItED aLL KInSHIP tIES”