Of the Sagas
Flosi Þórðarson
Flosi Þórðarson is the reluctant villain of Njáls saga — a decent, honourable chieftain goaded step by step into the blackest deed in the sagas. Drawn into the feud by kinship and a stinging insult (a gift of clothes thrown at him as a taunt to his manhood), and unable to get justice at law when Njáll's side breaks the settlement, he leads the burning of Bergþórshváll against his own better judgement — and knows even as he does it that he is damning himself. 'We have two choices,' he says at the door, 'and neither is good.' Flosi is no monster; he is a good man trapped by honour into an act he will spend the rest of the saga atoning for, going on pilgrimage to Rome for absolution and at the last being reconciled with Kári, the avenger who hunted his men across the world. The saga's deepest study of how decent men do terrible things.
Kin
Feud
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3 key events
2 themes
the saga’s own words
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The Vengeanceunlock The Burning of Njállunlock Clontarf — Brian's Battle & the Weaving of the Doomunlock The Coming of the Faith — How Iceland Became ChristianunlockFind Flosi Þórðarson on the map
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