Einarr Þorbjarnarson

Einar Þorbjarnarson is the shepherd whose single act of disobedience sets the whole of Hrafnkels saga in motion — a good, ordinary young man destroyed by a great man's terrible vow. Taken on as a herdsman by the proud chieftain Hrafnkell, he is warned of one absolute prohibition: he may ride any horse but Freyfaxi, the stallion Hrafnkell has dedicated to the god Frey and sworn to kill any man who rides. One day, his own horse strayed and his sheep scattered, Einar rides Freyfaxi out of simple necessity — and Hrafnkell, bound by his oath to the god, keeps his terrible word and kills the boy for it. Einar's death is small and unjust and entirely consequential: it is the killing that brings down a lawsuit, a chieftain's fall, and a long reckoning. He is the saga's image of the ordinary man crushed between a powerful man's pride and his god — innocent, disobedient only in the smallest way, and dead for it.