Egil's Saga Ch.49-90

The last half of Egil's Saga was as entertaining as the first. In this last half I developed a fondness for Egil and even admired him for his great accomplishments and attributes. In chapter 50, Thorolf and Egil joined the forces of the king of England, King Athelstan, in a war against King Olaf of Scotland. With the brute force of Thorolf and Egil, King Athelstan won the war, but Thorolf's life was taken. Before the war began, Egil said that he didn't want to be separated from Thorolf in battle and said the arrangement already made Egil would live to regret. This prophecy came true when his brother Thorolf was killed. King Athelstan then pledged his friendship to Egil and thanked him for his help with a gold bracelet and promised him wealth and high stature if he stayed with him. Egil's amazing strength and cleverness allowed him to help many people out like this, and he gained many friends.

Egil continues to anger King Eirik and Gunnhild when he kills Eyvind and then later kills their son. A weird twist occurs when King Eirik loses control over Norway to his brother, King Hakon. King Eirik then moves to England where King Athelstan lets him control Northumbria. Then, the unaware Egil becomes shipwrecked on his way to visit King Athelstan and ends up in the realm of King Eirik and Gunnhild, where he would surely be killed. In this predicament, he turns to his long time friend Arinbjorn, also the friend of King Eirik, for help where he is advised to compose a drapa for the king to save his life. Arinbjorn risks his status with the king in helping Egil, and only strengthens his friendship with Egil. Arinbjorn and Egil such good friends that Egil helped out Arinbjorn's family by killing a berserkish man in a duel that Arinbjorn's kinsman should have fought in. Egil later recited a long drapa in honor of Arinbjorn for all that Arinbjorn sacrificed and did for Egil. I really admired their relationship.

I thought it was interesting that when Egil's father, his brother, and sons died he became depressed and he showed great sorrow for them and even wrote poems for some of their deaths. But when his wife died, nothing was noted about him even being sad. He definitely had an unforgettable character, imposing his will on others a lot of the time, which he could get away with due to his great strength and ability to kill 11 men all by himself. I also thought it was really kind of him to help out his son Thorstein, who he wasn't very fond of, by showing up at the Althing with a group of 80 men for support of Thorstein. A lot of Egil's character was also shown in his poetry, like his deep sorrow for the loss of family, the great bond of friendship he shared with Arinbjorn, and his love for and desire to marry Asgerd. It was also interesting that even though Egil had always disrespected the kings of Norway, he was very friendly and respectful with King Athelstan. He even took the sign of the cross because it was the king's request. Another part to his personality was that he may have been selfish, atleast with his father, when he never shared the chests of silver that King Athelstand gave him with his father.

I thought it was interesting that they had skis and sleighs in the saga. I also had a few questions like how long is an "ell" that is referred to in the saga? I am also curious as to what a "coat of mail" is and what a "standard" is. These were both mentioned in the battle between the English and Scottish. My last comment is that between the marriage of Egil and Asgerd, both Arinbjorn and Bjorn, Asgerd's father, left it up to Asgerd whether she would marry Egil or not. So she actually had a say as to who she married. I really like Egil's saga because there is so much going on and it is so entertaining and fun to read about all of Egil's accomplishments. For my stanza to present in class, I chose one by Egil in his poem about his friendship with Arinbjorn.