Gripla - 2020, Qupperneq 277

GRIPLA276
Seeing ocularcentrism
As mentioned previously, much of Þorsteins saga concerns the younger
Þorsteinn fagri’s journey abroad to Norway, his partnership with Einarr
Þórisson, Einarr’s betrayal and Þorsteinn’s vengeance, and the latter’s
exile from and eventual return to Iceland. Amid these events, the elder
Þorsteinn hvíti’s son Þorgils, who had previously allied with Einarr at the
behest of the malicious Hrani gullhǫttr [gold hood], is killed by Þorsteinn
fagri’s brothers, who also lose their lives in the conflict. Interestingly, the
trouble between the two men begins with an illness – skyrbjúgr (scurvy) –
that Þorsteinn fagri contracts while journeying abroad, which leads to him
becoming eigi liðfœrr (incapacitated) for some time. At Einarr’s prompting,
Þorsteinn becomes an object of ridicule among all those onboard on ac-
count of the illness and, once in Norway, Einarr has mocking verses made
about his unwell partner. Later still, upon his return to Iceland, he ar-
ranges for the false news of Þorsteinn’s death to spread in the community,
which allows him to arrange a marriage with Helga Krákadóttir who had
previously been betrothed to Þorsteinn. Þorgils Þorsteinsson, as a friend
of Einarr’s, helps to make the marriage arrangement and, thus, becomes
embroiled in the feud that eventually results in his own death.30 The elder
Þorsteinn is hardly mentioned during this part of the saga, but he is pre-
dictably distraught when Hrani informs him of Þorgils’s death, remarking
“Fjándliga segir þú frá tíðendum. Illt hefir jafnan af þér hlotizk ok þínum
ráðum” [You relate the news fiendishly. Evil has always proceeded from
you and your counsels].31 There is no subsequent explanation for how
Þorsteinn hvíti gets along without his son, who had previously taken over
management of the farmstead at Hof. It is said, however, that Þorgils’s
son Helgi, who was three years old when his father was killed, now shared
ownership of the farm. Neither Þorgils’s wife Ásvǫr nor their daughter
Guðrún are ever mentioned again in the narrative, though the saga’s me-
dieval audience may have taken for granted their roles in maintaining the
farm and Ásvǫr’s role in raising Helgi. Yet, their absence from the narra-
30 Þorsteins saga hvíta, 8–11.
31 Þorsteins saga hvíta, 16. The elder Þorsteinn’s remarks about Hrani allude to the fact that
Þorgils’s involvement in the feud between Þorsteinn fagri and Einarr was largely at Hrani’s
urging; see Þorsteins saga hvíta, 10.