Víga-Glúmr

Víga-Glúm — 'Killer-Glúm' — is the dark, ambiguous chieftain of Þverá in Eyjafjörðr, a man whose whole fortune rides on sacred tokens and the favour of the god Frey. Cunning, ruthless, and a formidable fighter, he wins and holds his power partly by force and partly by luck-objects inherited from his Norwegian grandfather — a cloak, a spear, and a gold-inlaid sword. As long as he keeps them and Frey's goodwill, he cannot be beaten. But Glúm commits a killing on land sacred to Frey and compounds it with an ambiguous oath — a masterpiece of saga double-speak that is technically true and wholly deceitful — and the god turns against him. His luck-tokens pass out of his hands, his power ebbs, and the proud chieftain ends diminished and dispossessed. The most pagan of the saga heroes: a man whose rise and fall are measured not in law or honour but in the slow withdrawal of a god's favour.