Beast and ManRealism and the Occult in E^ils saga

Armann JakobssonUniversity of Iceland

As A TROLL

THE SAGAS OF ICELANDERS are frequently referred to as realisticnarratives. ' Despite this reference, their narrative realism or indeed

any sort of textual realism is not easy to pin down, not least when itconcerns a past narrative whose vocabulary remains interpretivelyobscure and often lacking a correlation with the modern language.Opinions of what is real may vary a great deal; thus realism must boildown to an uneasy contract between a text and its audience where theaudience chooses to believe in the reality of a narrative although theymay realize it is, in fact, fictional. Such a contract seems to have been inplace between the sagas of Icelanders and their original audience withthe added provision that they were likely regarded as history ratherthan fiction. History, in this sense, signifies not a potential world but

I. This evaluation was in vogue in the 1960s when Einar Ólaflir Sveinsson wrote: "I'.s.forhold til virkeligheden kan mâske karakteriseres som heroisk réalisme" ("íslendin-gasögur" 509) [the sagas' attitude towards realit)' could maybe be characterized as heroicrealism]. The evolution of the reception of the sagas from accurate sources to realisticprose narratives is a subject too broad to be discussed here at any length, but it is safe tosay that when the sagas stopped being reality itself in the late nineteenth or early twentiethcenturies they became instead realism. And yet die champions of this supposed realismwere rationalists whose attitude toward the supernatural was highly critical. The appar-ent contradiction between the realism of a saga and its supernatural elements was rathersimply whisked under the carpet and the supernatural in the sagas ignored.

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the world as it existed with historical figures and situations meant tobe understood as accurately portrayed by the saga narrative.

Even though their composition exhibits aesthetic elements com-monly associated with fiction, the sagas demand to be taken seriously asaccurate accounts of the past.^ And yet the degree to which the medievalaudience necessarily believed in the factuality of the sagas eludes us—their reaction is lost. The possibility of an attitude characterized by awilling suspension of disbelief thus remains in play. In this scenario,we have the medieval audience believe in the reality of the saga notdue to a lack of healthy skepticism, but rather through the necessity ofestablishing some version of the past accepted as truth without a naivefailure to rcaUze the uncertainty of all knowledge of the past. In otherwords, some of the past may be legendary, but it is still necessary andhas thus been accepted as true in lieu of a better authenticated version.The legend can become fact, as the cynical MaxwcU Scott expresses inJohn Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: "This is the West, sir.When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."'

In a given work of realistic fiction and to some extent in all fiction,one can argue that a certain degree of plausibility is required. It is nec-essary to keep in mind that this argument applies to fantastic fiction aswell. A magic ring may exist, but its guardian must still encounter thesame troubles any wanderer might expect when crossing a marsh orclimbing a slope. The sagas of Icelanders may be classified as containingthe same type of realism that occurs in modern fantastic fiction: whatis now referred to as the supernatural is far from excluded from thenarrative. Thus a saga may contain realistic elements in its depictionof the human world yet present a hero who sometimes appears morebeast than man. Of course, such an occurrence does not make a narrativeunrealistic in and of itself—that must depend on what is regarded asreal by its creator and by its audience. For those who believe in trolls.

2. As Proben Meulengracht S0rensen has remarked {Fortdlinß 30-2) that the sagas ofIcelanders have been cleansed of all authorial traces, moreso than other saga forms, whichhe regards as essential for the artistic allusion that they create: i.e. that they are accountsfrom the past. He also stresses that this is indeed an artistic illusion and that their oralityis highly constructed (Fortdlin^ 63-78).3. Two screenwriters are credited in this film, James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck,who worked from an original story by Dorothy M. Johnson; presumably one of the threeis responsible for this well-known line.

REALISM AKD THE OCCULT IN EGILS SAGA 31

the appearance of a troll hardly makes a narrative less realistic and theidea that the demarcation between the natural and the supernatural canbe clearly defined does not seem applicable to a medieval text such as asaga (see Ármann Jakobsson, "Histor)^" 54-56). Nowhere is this moreevident than in E¿iils saja.

Saga heroes are generally considered to be what Northrop Fryewould have called "high mimetic" (33-5); that is, they are superhuman,extraordinary rather tlian ordinary people, men and women who invarious ways dominate their surroundings. And yet saga charactersare rarely perfect, and there is a strong element of ordinariness in thesagas: some of the issues that arise are mundane and most likely easilyrecognizable from the everyday existence of their intended audience.There are even some remarkably ordinary people in the sagas althoughmosdy in supporting roles.*

And yet there are also saga heroes who may, in fact, not be entirelyhuman. It is this dubious humanity upon which I will focus in connec-tion to E¿¡ils saja. Eßils sa¿a presents a narrative concerning a familyof magnates who are firmly rooted in the human world: they live atwell-known farmsteads and eventually become the ancestors of manywell-known thirteenth-century historical figures. However, the sagafails to determine whether its heroes are actually fully human; insteadit highlights the possibility of their otherness.

This ambiguity is expressed when Egill Skalla-Gn'msson has losthis ship at the mouth of the Humber and is forced to seek an audiencewith his sworn enemy, the ruler of York, King Eirikr (whose daunt-ing nickname is Blood-axe). Egill encounters an anonymous courtierin the king's courtyard, a somewhat comic figure who is allowed topunctuate the tension of the narrative by registering a lazy disinterestin Egill and his troubles. Egill then dispatches this man to seek hisfriend Arinbjçrn. The courtier goes and informs the latter that a manhas arrived "mikiU sem troll" (178) [big as a troll].^ By invoking thistroll imagery in connection with Egill, the courtier not only disruptsdie narrative intensity thus allowing the audience to relax in spite of

4.1 am currendy writing a book on the marginal or ordinary people in the sagas—peoplewho are really the ordinary people of every society but who are marginal characters in thesagas since these narratives tend to focus on people on the highest social level.5. All translations in this article are my own.

32 S C A N D I N A V I A N S T U D I E S

the gravity underlying the situation,* but also foregrounds an ambi-guity regarding Egill's nature: he is a man but he is like a troll.'' Thisdescription creates confusion: can any man who resembles a man alsoresemble a troll.'' Is there perhaps no clear distinction between manand troll.>

There is an intriguing complexity surrounding the Old Norse con-cept of the troll. In the Middle Ages, this word was not used solely inconnection with the large, ugly, and shaggy creatures of the wildernesswho would later usurp the name for themselves (see Ármarm Jakobs-son, "Identifying"), but also held a variety of other meanings as well.Most notably we see the term used in reference to the practitioners ofmagic, along with any creature they might awaken, possess, or imbuewith their sorcery. The word troll is thus utilized in medieval sagasin connection with an undead warrior in his mound, a crazed boarbelieved to have been conjured up by a sorcerer, a heathen deity aidingthe pagans in a battle with the Christians, a black warrior (or bldmaèr)who is defined as an ogre rather than a human, and the brunnmigi, ananti-social being of an unspecified lineage who urinates into fountainsand wells (Ármann Jakobsson, "I>orgrimr" 40-52). The rich and overlap-ping nuances found in the word troll present not only variety but alsoan unexpected congruity. Several of these consistencies are of particularinterest with regard to the strange case of Egill Skalla-Grimsson. Letus consider the following five connotations of the term:

1. A troll is a witch, a practitioner of magic, someone who can controlthe environment through a knowledge of dark arts that do not originatewith the power of God.

2. The troll is strange and foreign: it is a different species or a differentrace whose very strangeness defines it.

3. The troll is in some way bestial. While anthropoid in appearance, ithas the habits of beasts. Thus it may be a cannibal (see Ármann Jako-bsson, "Identifying" 191-2), for example, and still fully remain a troll.

6. Since the situation is very tense at this point, one might interpret this anonymous sup-porting character as "comic relieP' (on this effect in the sagas, see Sorensen, "Humour"401).

7. There may be another point to his lack of familiarity with Egill: it demonstrates tothe audience that the saga they are immersed in can be ignored by others. It must benoted, though, that Egill still stands out—even to the uninterested stranger he is notordinary.

REALISM AND THE OCCULT IN EGILS SAGA 33

A human who turns to cannibalism is generally understood as havinglost some portion of his humanity.

4. The troll is hostile and disruptive. It exists against the natural orderof the world and thus it can never be a positive force. There are nogood trolls in the Middle Ages.*

5. A troll is hard to pin down. In addition to the noun "troll," we havethe verbal forms "trylla" and "tryllask" (Ármann Jakobsson, "torgn'mr"49-50). Thus a troll does not seem to be a permanent state of beingbut rather one of becoming and change. One could thus argue thatpeople are "troUable"—especially in the case of those who have becomeuncontrollable.

It is uncertain whether these five characteristics apply to every trollindividually, but they do encapsulate the essence of die medieval con-ception of a troll. They are certainly significant for the case of Egill andhis family, whom some regard as trolls.

GOING BERSERK

The bestiality and the mobile state of the troll are both characteristicscommon to the berserkr, a creature, like many others, referred to as atroll in Old Norse texts. These texts ofben refer to the same creature asboth a loathsome troll and as a bewitched berserkr (Ármann Jakobsson,"I>orgrimr" 48-9). Eßils saga initially introduces the concept of theberserkr at the beginning of the text (3); later on in chapter nine, thetext mentions the twelve royal berserkir and their ability to withstandall weapons (22-3). There has never been any scholarly consensus as tothe meaning of the concept of the berserkr {ste the brief but nuancedsummary by Liberman). Some regard them as warriors so confident intheir own invulnerability that they fought without armor (thus "barein their serks"); another possibility is that their exceptional abilities

8. Whereas some have been conjured up by the tourist industry and rebellious authorsin the last thirty to forty years. Before that, any notion that a troll could have positivecharacteristics would have been foreign to Icelanders. In Ibsen's Peer Gynt (1867), thefigure of the troll is far more nuanced and complex. The answer to the question: "Whatis the difference between troll and man.'" seems to suggest that egoism is a fundamentaltrait of the troll, which shows that, although Ibsen's troll are probably mostly inspiredby die trolls of post-medieval folklore, he is also somewhat in tune with the medievalunderstanding of the troll.

34 SCANDINAVIAJsr STUDIES

marked them as exotic, bestial, and perhaps even as shape shifters. Attimes berserkir are also referred to as úlfloebnar (Guôni Jónsson, Grettissaga 5; Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, Vatnsdœla saga 24), which recalls thepossible interpretation of the Old Norse word ber-serkr as "in the skinof a bear" (thus bear, not bare). This bearskin might simply be a pieceof clothing (as Vatnsdœla saga indicates) rather than an entirely newhide. Most sources do not indicate an actual metamorphosis from manto beast, but rather metaphorically denote a change of temperamentinto a half-crazed state.

Perhaps scholars ask too much in seeking the original meaning of theterm, or even a specific medieval meaning. The occult is, by definition,difficult to pinpoint. It refers to elements that are vague, unknown,eerie, and dangerous. Defining and understanding an occult object inany comprehensive manner lessens its power to evoke both fear andthe unknown and thus detracts from its primary signifying function torepresent the strange and the terrifying.

The lack of scholarly consensus on the nature of the berserkir mightalso reflect a lack of consensus in the Middle Ages as to what thesesomewhat frightening creatures actually were. We should not excludethe possibility that there may have been some in Egils saga's originalaudience who believed the berserkir were ordinary humans enraged inbattle to the point of madness. On the other end of the interpretivespectrum, others might have believed them to be shape shifters whometamorphosed into beasts in the midst of battle.

Unfortunately, we also must remain uncertain in our understandingof the process of shape shifting. Does a human literally change into abear? What does it mean for a human literally to be transformed into ananimal 1' To what degree does this transformation involve the separationof mind and body.-' And what becomes bestial, tbe body, the mind, orperhaps both?' These questions concern the essence of humanity: it isdifficiilt to explain how a man might change into a beast without firstknowing what a man is and whether his humanity is defined by his mindor his body. The ambiguity surrounding shape shifting, whether as aberserkr or as something else, is certainly significant for any interpreta-tion of the specific nature of Egill and his family.

9. This has been a preoccupation of those interested in shape shifting and magic for along time; see Strömbäck 160-90.

REALISM AND THE OCCULT IN EGILS SAGA 35

The first berserkr ment ioned in the saga is Berôlu-Kari, Skalla-Grímr'smaternal grandfather. H e is said t o be "inn mcsti afreksmaôr at afii okarîEÔi" (3) [excelling in strength and courage] as well as a berserkr bu tthere are no further references t o his berserkr nature. H i s sons, EyvindrIambi and Qlvir hniifa, in fact, seem less bestial than their in-law Úlfrand nephew Skalla-Gri'mr, al though one of them does have an animalnick-name ("lamb"). However, in spite of the apparcntiy normal physi-cality of Kári and his sons, the berserkir are separated from ordinaryhumans cvcrï m Egils saga (23), where the emphasis on their othernessis relatively light. The berserkr nature enters decisively into the familyof Kveld-Ulfr with his marriage to Salbjçrg Káradóttir. O f course, thepossibility remains that this otherness may have already been presentin Ulfr himself and his ancestors, w h o may have been even less humanthan the family of Kári.

CREATURE OE THE NIGHT

Kveld-Ulfr Bjálfason is the first character mentioned in Egils saga. Hisparents are also introduced: Bjálfi and Hallbera, sister of Hallbjçrn thehalf-troll (3). Thus the troll element is linked to the family from theoutset of the saga. Given the ambiguity surrounding the word troll,it is not easy to determine the extent of HaUbjçrn's troll-like nature.The Ketils saga hangs indicates that Hallbjçrn and his family are ofa different race, perhaps closer to the bestial than the human (seeCiklamini; Ármann Jakobsson, "Identifying" 194). The identificationof other races and ethnicities with the animal kingdom is a well-knownphenomenon. In the Nordic region, both magic and bestiality wereeasily transferred to the Sámi inhabitants, who—to the Norsemen—represented the exotic.'"

Thus Hallbjçrn might have been half-Finnish with its troll-likeconnotations of the strange, foreign, magical, hostile, disruptive, andbestial. In this social context, he retains a degree of otherness—he is notquite human, not unlike the giants of the Old Norse mythological nar-ratives. However, whether he is subsequentiy regarded as super-human

10. See Hermann Pálsson (14-27) who tends in this study to regard all giants and trolls asrepresentations of the Sámi (cf. Sverrir Jakobsson 246-76). Although his single-mindednessin pursuing this idea sometimes leads him to neglect other possible solutions, many ofhis conclusions are quite intriguing and useful.

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or sub-human is by no means certain." That he himself regards trollsas sub-human is clearly suggested in Ketils saja hanjs, where he usesthe word troll as an insult, something that seems somewhat conflictedgiven his own half-troll state (Rafn II123).

Thus the troll is present in Ejils saja from its inception, althoughonly in the wings—Hallbjçrn never makes an actual appearance—andonly partially as he is a half-troll. The troll-like characteristics are notspecified at this stage. The first thing we learn about our protagonistUlfr is that he is "svá mikill ok sterkr, at eigi váru hans jafningjar" (3)[so big and strong that none was his equal]. Big and strong does notnecessarily indicate superhuman abilities. However, a short while laterwe learn that he was "forvitri" (4) [had the gift of prophecy] and thusholds a privileged relationship with the unknown and the occult. Theprescience of Ulfr might well identify him as a practitioner of magic and,according to Old Norse texts, a magician is a troll (Ármann Jakobsson,"I>orgrimr" 41-5).

Next we are introduced to Kveld-Úlfr's most notable troll-like behav-ior, which only occurs in the evening: "En dag hvern, er at kveldi leiô,|)á gerôisk harm styggr, svá at fair menn máttu orôum vio harm koma;var harm kveldsvxfr. I>at var mal manna, at harm va:ri mjgk hamrammr;harm var kallaôr Kveld-Úlfr" (4) [But every day, when night approached,he became so hostile tliat few men could speak to him; he retired earlyto sleep. People said that he was a shape shifter; he was called Kveld-Úlfr (Night-Wolf)].

Kveld-Úlfr likes to retire early, much like Proust, but in his casethis habit is not an indication of a peaceful and thoughtful nature,but rather of his wolfish tendencies.'^ His name is not just a name:

11. In Margaret Clunies Ross's analysis of the social world of the Old Norse myths, thegiants are clearly established as inferior to the gods (Clunies Ross 48-56). In much thesame way, the giants and trolls of the Old Norse legendary sagas are palpably subhumanrather than superhuman (Ärmann Jakobsson, "Identifying" 184-5). It is on the otherhand uncertain how the men of Hrafnista and Egill's ancestors fit into this hierarchy.In Norway they are clearly regarded as nobility, perhaps in spite of their bestiality, andin Iceland Skalla-Grimr establishes himself as a major aristocrat within the frameworkof the commonwealth, which was in no way an egalitarian society even though it hadno ultimate ruler.12. The wolfish nature of the main family oiEßiksaßa was somewhat neglected by scholarsfor most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries perhaps because their interpretationswere framed by the notion that the sagas are realistic which lead to their magical ele-ments being largely ignored. In the last few years, the wolf has again entered into thediscussion of the saga, mainly in the work of Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir (76-81) but alsoTorfi H. Tulinius (103-6).

R E A L I S M A N D T H E O C C U L T I N EGILS SAGA 37

Ulfr means "wolf" and the word hamrammr indicates shape shiftingalthough, as so often is the case with such occult phenomena, thespecifics are not explained.

In the case of berserkir, the hammremmi take the shape of a bearunless they are ulßjeönar, in which case die term indicates that theyadopt the shape of a wolf In Kveld-Úlfr's case, his name seems to bea clear indication in combination with his tendency to retire early of atransformation into a wolf The moon here is not mentioned, but inthe folklore surrounding the werewolf the relationship between shapeshifting and moonlight is fairly well established (Summers). Thus thereason why Kveld-Ulfr is styggr might be that he changes into a wolf atfull moon, something moreover indicated by the word hamrammr.

Is this change literal or metaphorical .> The saga does not provideus with the answer, but rather the text opens these various possibili-ties to the interpretive judgment of its readers. Those who believe inwerewolves hardly need more evidence to establish that Kveld-Ulfris literally transformed into a wolf Those who do not may interprethis wolfish behavior in terms of a human transformation of temperor character. Man, too, can behave in a wolfish way, in this case byproving unsociable and growling at anyone who tries to approachhim, behavior that temporarily removes him from the normalizedcircles of human society.

In spite of this introduction, the wolfish nature of Kveld-Ulfr does notfigure prominendy in the story until after the death of his son Pórólfr,at which point Kveld-Ulfr and Skalla-Grimr are forced to flee Norwayto escape the wrath of King Haraldr. As a final gesture of defiance, theyattack the ship of the king's minions Hallvarôr and Sigtryggr, who areescorting the king's young cousins. Kveld-Ulfr is carrying a weaponcalled "bryntrçll" (68) [an armed troll], and when he attacks the ship,something occurs: "oksváersagt, at{)áhamaoiskhann, okfleiri varujseirfçrunautar hans, er |)á hçmuôusk" (69) [and it is said that he changedshape and more of his followers then changed shape]. "Svá er sagt" isan interesting phrase; the narrator seems to want to distance himselffrom this paranormal event. Later the text refers to this shape changingas both "hamrammir" and "berserksgangr" (70)—the audience is giventwo options from which to choose. The consequences of this shiftingare so strong that Kveld-Ulfr retires to his bed and eventually dies. Butwhat happened? Did Hallvarôr meet an actual wolf in batde.^ Was tbetroll in Kveld-Úlfr's hands itself carried by a troll .> We are not told. The

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saga simply states that Kveld-Úlfr "hamaôisk" and leaves it to its audi-ence to interpret the significance of "hamremmi." Thus the audience isfree to choose their own version of what happened in accordance withtheir own attitude toward the occult.

WOLF MOOD

Apart from Kveld-Úlfr, Skalla-Grímr has various farmhands andneighbors who form his entourage when he goes to see the king afterhis brother's death. This group is described in terms significant to ourdiscussion: "Tólf váru J eir til fararinnar, ok allir inir sterkustu mennok margir hamrammir" (62) [they were twelve to go and all of themvery strong men and many shape shifters]. These are the very same menwho are on the ship with Kveld-Úlfr and Skalla-Grímr in the battle withHallvarôr and Sigtryggr.

This is no common entourage, and the (yet again nameless) personwho meets them in the king's yard and tells Qlvir hnúfa of their arrivalstresses their ambiguous humanity by calling thcmpursar and doubt-ing their humanity: "Menn eru her komnir úti, tólf saman, ef mennskal kalla; en likari eru fieir Jjursum at vexti ok at syn en mennskummçnnum" (63) [Men have arrived here outside, twelve of them, ifyou can call them men; they are more likepursar in build and appear-ance than humans]. Thus Skalla-Grímr, much like his father, is notquite human in the eyes of the anonymous courtier in the yard. Wecan refer to him as a man, but his human nature is problematic as hemore closely resembles zpurs.

The nature oixhcpurs is by no means certain, but 2Lpurs can be safelycategorized as a type of troll given the connotative overlap between thetwo terms. Purs is essentially a negative word: a wry is a magical beingwho is anthropoid and yet bestial, hostile, and in some way subhuman(Schulz 43; Armann Jakobsson, "The Good"; Ármann Jakobsson,"Identifying" 187).'' The word is prominent in the Prose Edda wherejgtnar andpursar (usually hrtmpursar or "frost giants") are more or lesssynonymous (Ármann Jakobsson, "The Good" 3-4).

13. As Schulz has shown (39), the word is rare outside Snmra-Edda, the legendary sagas,znà Barbar saga.

REALISM A N D T H E O C C U L T I N EGILS SAGA 39

Skalla-Grimr's audience with the king does not end amiably, butthe king himself does not refer to Skalla-Gn'mr and his companions aseither trolls orpursar. Instead, after Skalla-Grimr leaves, he says to hismen: "I>at sé ek á skalla Ipdm inum mikla, at hann er fullr upp liifiioar"(65) [I can see on that great bald head that he is full of wolf mood].The word ulßö simply means "hostility" in modern Icelandic althoughit is difficult to escape completely the inflection of the literal meaningof the word, which is clearly understood from its constniction. Ülf-uÖmust mean "wolf mood."

The word is clearly used to denote hostility: wolves are identifiedas hostile and the word wolf (both ulfr and vargr) itself is also used asa word for a criminal or outlaw (see Turville-Petrc 777). But its appear-ance cannot be explained in terms of a simple metaphor when thehostile person in question is the son of Kveld-Úlfr. While the name isa common male name in Iceland, it also retains underlying traces of theoriginal meaning. This Ulfr is not merely a man called Ulfr, he is alsoa shape shifter, someone to avoid at night. He is not just compared toa wolf, but rather perhaps is—at least in part—a wolf And the "wolfmood" of his son may not be normal human hostility either: perhapsit also retains traces of the wolfish nature integral to this family.

In spite of his wolf mood, Skalla-Grimr is not said to have hamaskon the ship when Kveld-Úlfr and some of tlieir entourage go berserk;when he arrives in Iceland, he is neither bellicose nor aggressive towardhis neighbors. He merely appropriates a great deal of land like any self-respecting bully of a magnate would: his setdement becomes one ofthe largest in Iceland. Up to this point, there is no sign of his bestiality.Iceland is a peacefial country without kings and armies and the strengthof Skalla-Grimr is such that he need not fear anyone.

After his arrival in Iceland his supernatural powers are mentioned atonly one point: when he dives into the sea to find a large stone for usein his smithy. Returning to the water's surface holding a giant stoneis not a feat readily accomplished with normal human strength, andthis stone is said to be so big that four men cannot lift it (74-5). Thecompletion of this task hints that the normal standards for a man'sstrength should not be applied to Skalla-Grimr. The nameless personat King Haraldr's court previously suggested that Skalla-Gn'mr is moregiant than man. In this respect, he resembles both his ancestors as wellas his troll-sized son Egill.

4O S C A N D I N A V I A N S T U D I E S

While the wolf is not mentioned again in connection withSkalla-Grímr, the night is. By this point in the narrative, he is mucholder—almost sixty—and competing with his son and the lattcr's bestfriend I>óror in some type of ballgamc. As the game continues, Skalla-Grímr starts to get weary as expected given his age. But then, nightfalls: "En um kvcldit eptir solarfall, |)á tók pám Agli verr at ganga;gcrôisk Grímr J>á svá stcrkr, at hann greip ^órd upp ok keyrôi niôr sváhart, at hann lamôisk allr, ok fekk hann [)egar bana; siôan greip hanntil Egils" (ioi) [But at night after sunset, Egill and Porôr started to doworse; Grímr then became so strong that he lifted Póror up and thenhurled him to the ground with such force that he was all battered anddied immediately. Then he grasped at Egill]. The setting of the sunincreases Skalla-Grímr's strength considerably. In addition to this newstrength, he also seems to lose control, and possibly even his humanityas he becomes a threat to the life of his own son (indicating a possiblechange into something other, something unknown). Egill is saved onlyat the intervention of his somewhat troll-like nanny, I>orgerôr brák,who explains what is happening: "Hamask ]pú nú, Skalla-Grímr, at syni[jínum" (IOI) [YOU now savage your son, Skalla-Grímr].

The tcrmHamask is ambiguous. It has survived into modern Icelan-dic with the sense of "working tirelessly," but its only other appearancein Egils saga occurs in the aforementioned Kveld-Ulfr scene where itrefers to shape shifting (although this connection is never clearly alignedwith cither metaphor or reality). The same uncertainty seems to arisehere as well. Skalla-Grímr's strength comes from mctamorphozinginto something strange and unknown, but there is nothing in the scenethat suggests a literal change into a wolf. Again, the specific mechanicsregarding such a transformation are left undefined as is the question ofwhether the wolfish mind or the wolfish body contains the essence ofthe wolf. His frenzy is akin to that of the berserkir and is likewise neverexplained in the saga.

The supernatural is presented in Egils saga such that the saga remainsopen to a supernatural or a metaphorical interpretation. This vaguenessis likely an intentional compositional inclusion as such openness andresistance to closed definition is required when dealing with the occult.Nevertheless the incident regarding Skalla-Grímr's increased strengthand frenzy during the night firmly places Skalla-Grímr in the samecategory as Kveld-Ulfr. The king appears correct in his assessment thatthe son is just as fiill of "wolf mood" as the father. In the moonlight.

REALISM AND THE OCCULT IN EGILS SAGA 41

he gains added strength and metamorphoses {hamask) into somethingincomprehensible, other, and threatening. Its exact identity remainsuncertain, but the openness inherent to the category of troll aptlyencompasses die various possibilities. In tliis new guise, Skalla-Grimris configured as some type of troll. He is thus easily comprehensibleprovided one understands the nuances of the troll as category.

As mentioned above, one type of troll is found in undead beings.When Skalla-Grfmr dies at an extremely old age, his death seems uncanny.He is foimd sitting rather than laying down and he is so stiff that hecannot be placed into a horizontal position. Egill must be fetched;only he is able to move the deceased Skalla-Grimr (174-5). There isan underlying hint in this scene that specific rituals connected withundead beings are observed. This connective kernel brings up the pos-sibility that the dead Skalla-Grimr changes into an undead being. Egillapproaches his father's corpse from behind in an endeavor, perhaps, toavoid die well-known "evil eye" of magicians and troll-like beings inmedieval Iceland (see Einar Olaflir Sveinsson, Laxdœla saja 107, fn. 2;cf. Dundes). Additionally, Skalla-Grimr is removed through the wallof the house rather than the door, suggesting again an undead identity.He is not known, however, to walk again or to cause any trouble afterhis death, and he is present in his mound when Egill later inters his sonBçôvarr aldiough this action could also be interpreted as an effort toappease Skalla-Grimr (243).'''

THE TRUTH IS Otrr THERE

The gradual decline of the wolfish nature within the family is attested byEgill. Whereas Kveld-Úlfr is "mjçk hamrammr" (4) and Skalla-Grimrhamask once after sunset, there is no mention of Egill ever assuming anew shape in either the night or day. And yet the anonymous courtierin York deftly compares him to a troll. Arinbjçrn's immediate reac-tion validates the comparison—he knows instantly who the troll-likefigure must be. Egill himself knows before going to see him that he

14. Torfi H. Tulinius (95) has drawn attention to the possibility that the ghost of Skalla-Gri'mr has caused the drowning of Bçôvarr. If the text indicates this possibilit)', it does sover)' subtly. But, as is so often the case with the occult, ultimately nobody can be certain.Perhaps Egill is as much in die dark as Esik saga's audience and puts his son in Skalla-Grimr's mound just in case, without knowing whether there is a ghost there or not.

42 SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES

will be "auôkenndr" (178) in this region and thus acknowledges hisextraordinary nature without referring to himself as a troll. The trollis always the other.

It is not impossible that Egill knows that he is perceived by many asa troll, that his ancestry is fairly exotic, and that he himself is not aboveexhibiting troll-like behavior. One of the foreign behaviors of the trollin the sagas is cannibalism (Ármarm Jakobsson, "Identifying" 192). Forexample, Soria saga sterka gives us the phrase "ef ek bit J)ik á barkann,sem troll gjöra" (Rafn III 450) [if I came at your throat like a troll].Biting people in the throat is clearly associated with the troll. WhenEgill famously kills his opponent Adi the Short in a duel, he displayscannibalistic and troll-like tendencies by biting Adi in the throat andfinishing him off (210).'

Egill might also be considered a troll in that he seems to possess magi-cal powers. He uses runes to cure a daughter of I>orfinnr in Eioaskógrwho is "hamstoli" (229) [out of her wits or (literally) out of her skin],and he infamously erects a m'Ô post with runes and a horse's head ontop to curse the Norwegian king and his family (171). When the kingis later exiled to York, it is possible to interpret the curse as successfuland, depending on the audience's attitude toward the occult, believethat Egill works powerful magic.

If we view Egill in the context of characteristics associated with trollslisted above, we find that Egill possibly practices magic that does notoriginate with the Christian God (such arts are sometimes referred tonsfomeskja [ancient lore] in the sagas). He is also configured as otherin that he descends from werewolves, berserkir, and half-troUs. He isdifferent enough that he cannot hide at the court of King Eirikr inYork: he is "auôkenndr" (178) there and everywhere else. The bestialnature of EgiU is perhaps not as pronounced as it is in his father andgrandfather, but he does show his cannibalistic tendencies in finishingoff his opponent in a troll-like manner by biting his throat. Finally, Egillis certainly disruptive at the court of the king of Norway, although at

15. As I have drawn attention to elsewhere (Ármann Jakobsson, "Empathy" 7 fn. 4), Egillkills several people abroad during his adulthood, but none in Iceland until he kills two ofhis defaao son-in-law's slaves in his extreme old age (297). After he grows up, Egill thusdoes not kill anyone in Iceland whose death might result in a lawsuit or feud.

REALISM AND THE OCCULT IN EGILS SAGA 43

home he behaves much like any other Icelandic magnate, presumablyhighly respected for his wealth and as a descendant of Skalla-Grímr.He does not create much disturbance in the local community, and hispresence seems far removed from any eerie or inhuman element.

To the Norwegian king, Egill must appear distinct from ordinaryadversaries as an unruly troll-like figure from the past whose magicand potential instability should be feared. Their struggle is indeed apolitical struggle as has been higlilighted by many excellent politicalinterpretations (Andersson 102-18), but the political aspect of thisnarrative is but one of many contained within the saga. The troll ele-ments underlying the nuances of the struggle between Egill and theking should not be ignored.

Egill is both troll and not troll. We do not know that he ever shapeshifts. He is never referred to as a troll apart from this one ambiguousinstance in York. His ancestors may or may not have been shape shifters.Ultimately, Egill's own troll nature remains obscured by a lack of concreteevidence. Radier, Egill exhibits a troll potentiality that opens the text todie possibility of the occult. Egiksaga is deliberately ambiguous and dieultimate truth regarding its hero's troU-like nature is never completelyrevealed. The occult must remain both unknown and unknowable.

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