Hjarðarholt (Herdholt)

Herdholt is Olaf the Peacock's great estate in the Dales — splendid, prosperous, and the seat where the golden Kjartan is raised. The magnificent Olaf, grandson of an Irish king, builds here a hall famous for its carved and painted timbers, and raises both his own son Kjartan and his fostered nephew Bolli, the two young men loved almost equally whose friendship the saga's tragedy will destroy. Herdholt is the saga's image of the splendid family seat — the rich estate of the Dales where the finest of his generation grows up in comfort and promise, the bright household from which Kjartan rides out toward love, betrayal, and an early death. The magnificent home that raised the golden man the saga loves and loses.