Barði Guðmundarson

Bardi Guðmundarson is the reluctant hero of Heiðarvíga saga — a measured, dutiful man pushed into a vengeance he does not relish by the relentless planning of his hard old fosterer, Thorarin. When Bardi's brother is killed by the Southern men, it is Thorarin who spends years grooming and goading him toward the reprisal, schooling him in patience and timing until the moment is exactly right. Bardi carries it out — the famous raid and the running battle on the heath that gives the saga its name — competently and without relish, a man doing the duty honour lays on him rather than a man hungry for blood. He is the saga's study of vengeance as obligation rather than passion: the decent son who would rather not, carried to the killing by the iron will of the old man who raised him, and left to live with what was required of him.