Eyjólfr the Grey

Eyjolf the Grey is the chieftain hired to hunt Gísli down — the relentless pursuer who finally runs the great outlaw to ground. Engaged by Gísli's enemies and spurred by the bounty on the outlaw's head, Eyjolf leads the long search through the Westfjords, even trying to bribe Gísli's faithful wife Aud to betray her husband — only to have the silver flung in his face. At the last he brings fifteen men against Gísli's final hiding-place, and in the famous closing battle the outlaw fights them off the heights, killing and wounding many before he falls. Eyjolf is the saga's image of the hired hunter — the cold professional of the manhunt who pursues a better man for pay, stoops to bribery, and brings the numbers that strength alone cannot overcome, the instrument by which a magnificent outlaw is at last cornered and killed.