Hólmgöngu-Bersi (Bersi)

Bersi is the seasoned duel-champion who first wins the woman Kormák loves — and so becomes the love-poet's rival and pursuer. A formidable, experienced fighter (the sagas call him Holmgöngu-Bersi, 'Dueling-Bersi', for his skill on the dueling-island), he marries Steingerð while the hesitant Kormák, twice failing to come to his own wedding, lets her slip away. Kormák will not accept it: he chases the couple, challenges Bersi, and the two fight — but Bersi is the better swordsman, and Kormák cannot win her back by the blade any more than he could keep her by his hesitation. Bersi is the saga's image of the practical man who simply takes what the dreamer cannot bring himself to seize — the hard, capable duelist who wins the woman not by loving her best but by being there, and by being deadly when the lovesick poet comes for her.