Jökuldalr

Jökuldalr is the valley over which Hrafnkell asserts his priesthood and his hard authority — one of the districts the proud chieftain dominates in the days of his power. From his seat he extends his sway over the valley's farmers, exacting deference and dealing harshly with any who cross him, the over-mighty goði whose dominance the saga sets up so that his fall may be the more complete. Jökuldalr is the saga's image of the country under a great man's heel — one of the eastern valleys where Hrafnkell's pride and power press on the ordinary householders, the kind of district whose resentment of an overbearing chieftain is the ground from which the lawsuit that topples him will grow.