Eiríkr Hákonarson

Eric Hakonson, Earl of Lade, is the Norwegian who helps bring down his own countryman at Svolder and then rules in his place. Son of the great Earl Hakon, he is one of the three chiefs — with the kings of Denmark and Sweden — who lie in wait to ambush Olaf Tryggvason on his voyage home from Wendland. In the great sea-battle, fighting from behind a wall of shields, it is Eric's ship that finally boards and clears the Long Serpent after Olaf's other vessels are taken, and by the victory Eric wins the famous ship for his own and the rule of much of Norway. He governs ably and is remembered as a capable lord. Eric is the saga's image of the countryman among the enemies — the Norwegian earl who helped foreign kings destroy a Norwegian king at sea, took the prize, and ruled the land after, the practical victor of the North's most famous battle.