Illugi Grettisson

Illugi is Grettir's devoted young brother — the boy who shares the great outlaw's last refuge and dies at his side. When Grettir, the strongest and most hunted man in Iceland, holes up on the sheer island of Drangey in his final years, it is the young Illugi who goes with him, faithful and fearless, sharing the bleak rock and the endless watch. When Grettir is brought down at last by sorcery and his enemies storm the island, Illugi fights over his dying brother with such ferocity that they can only take him by promising quarter — and then break the promise and kill him too, the boy refusing to the end to buy his life by disowning Grettir. Illugi is the saga's image of brotherly devotion at its purest — the young man who chose to share an outlaw's doom rather than live safe without him, and died defending a brother already dead.