Orð og tunga - 2023, Page 16

Ármann Jakobsson: Cursing with trolls in Njáls saga 7
On the contrary, there are plenty. One of the very first characters in­
troduced in the saga is Hallgerðr’s maternal uncle Svanr, who lives in
the Westfjords and who is a magician. Shortly thereafter he begins to
perform a magical ritual to aid Hallgerðr’s fugitive servant Þjóstólfr
and in this way is able to create actual fog to throw his enemies off
Þjóstólfr’s scent (Brennu­Njáls saga 1954:36–39). The paranormal fog is
a good example of what may happen if trolls are summoned. Magi­
cians are among those referred to as trolls in the Sagas of Icelanders;
indeed, it could be said that the two main species of medieval Icelan­
dic troll are the witch and the ghost.8 Thus we have a foul troll on the
prowl from the very beginning of the saga, and the audience knows
that trolls are not to be trifled with.
Svanr is dead (and has gone into the mountains) by the time
Hallgerðr marries Gunnarr and begins to make mischief in the
Rangárvellir region, but it is possibly no coincidence that the niece of
a magician should invoke trolls in her curse. If magicians and other
trolls are feared, that means that there is reason to fear her as well,
since who knows what her powers might be? With her mention of
trolls, Hallgerðr is reminding Gunnarr of her habitus as someone
with links to the old culture,9 someone who a short while ago might
actually have summoned a working magician to do her bidding. Such
links are important in a story world that is replete with trolls and
monsters.
3
Wicked uncle Svanr is far from the only troll of Njáls saga. There are
also ghosts in Njáls saga, one of them Gunnarr of Hlíðarendi himself
after his death; this noble and kind man is surprisingly seen as a ghost
in his mound (Brennu­Njáls saga 1954:192–194). Later in the saga,
we may find demonic ravens, chanting valkyries, sinister figures in
dreams, a black fire­starting apparition; one character running from
battle even has a vision of demons from hell coming to try to drag
him down to that accursed place. He manages to invoke the Apostle
Peter, and then the demons release him (Brennu­Njáls saga 1954:452).
There are even more examples of trolls in the saga, but it serves no
8 This is discussed at length in Ármann Jakobsson (2017:61–67 and 77–80).
9 On the complicated relationship between the netherworld, witchcraft, paganism
and the past, see Ármann Jakobsson (2021).
tunga25.indb 7 08.06.2023 15:47:14