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the Íslendingasögur, the main research interest of dis/ability-oriented pub-
lications has been in the analysis of injured and impaired saga characters19
and less on the narratological function of and saga society’s reaction to dis/
ability. In the following discussion, I explore how saga society deals with
dis/ability and suggest some analytical tools, i.e. narrative prosthesis and
trauma theory, that may prove effective for moving beyond the silence of
non-verbalised and potentially traumatising experiences of dis/ability.
3. The Case of the Þorbrandssynir
Chapter 45 of Eyrbyggja saga presents an account of a battle and its af-
termath, told in a superficially humorous way. Shortly before Yule, the
now-rival groups of the Þorbrandssynir and the Þorlákssynir unexpect-
edly encounter each other at a cliff of the ice­covered Vigrafjǫrðr on the
Snæfellsnes peninsula, where they immediately begin to exchange blows.
The fight is the climax of long-simmering animosities between these two
groups, who were once relatively closely acquainted and are already con-
nected by marriage. Tensions first arose when Þorleifr kimbi Þorbrandsson
has his request to marry the sister of the Þorlákssynir denied on the alleged
grounds that Þorleifr is unmanly and has not avenged insulting statements
and actions against him in the past. Several men become wounded in the
fight and the Þorbrandssynir retreat to the farm of their foster-brother
Snorri goði at Helgafell.
Snorri goði accommodates the men and takes care of their wounds. The
saga mentions Þóroddr Þorbrandsson’s large neck-wound first (‘hafði svá
mikit sár aptan á hálsinn,’20 [(he) had such a big wound at the back of his
neck]), then turns to a second wound of his that seems to be discovered
only by accident. As the men at Helgafell assist Þóroddr with taking off
his blood-soaked leggings, they comment that it is difficult to remove his
19 For studies on impaired saga characters, see, for example: Bragg, “Disfigurement”, “Im-
paired and Inspired,” and Oedipus Borealis; Ármann Jakobsson, “The Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly: Bárðar saga and its Giants,” Mediaeval scandinavia 15 (2005): 1–15, “Svipmyndir,”
and the troll Inside You: Paranormal Activity in the Medieval north (New York: Punctum
Books, 2017); and Sexton, “Difference and Disability.”
20 Eyrbyggja saga, ed. by Einar ól. Sveinsson and Matthías Þórðarson, íslenzk fornrit 4
(Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag 1935, repr. 1985), 129. All English translations from
Old Norse sources are my own.
THE SILENCED TRAUMA IN THE Í sLEnDInGAsÖGUR