Laxdæla saga is an Icelandic saga composed around the middle of the 13th century. Its earliest manifestation is manuscript fragments from c. 1300, but its most complete medieval manuscript is Möðruvallabók, AM 132 fol., a large vellum manuscript from the middle of the 14th century. Some manuscripts include the so-called Bolla þáttr, Bolli’s tale, a short sequel to the saga, traditionally printed separately following the saga in editions of Laxdæla saga. The saga spans around 150 years (from c. 880 to c. 1030) and takes place mainly in the west of Iceland, around Breiðafjörður and in the Dales, but occasionally the point of view shifts to Norway and the British Isles.

The saga has a reputation of appealing to women and some have even suggested it might have been written by a woman or for a female audience. Whether or not that was the case, the role of women is decidedly more pronounced in Laxdæla saga than any other saga (Cook 1992). This is apparent already at the beginning when Unnr djúpúðga (the subtle, known as Auðr in other medieval sources) moves to Iceland. She has lost her father and her son, Þorsteinn, who was the king of a part of Scotland. She subsequently sails to Iceland with the rest of her family and friends, heading for Iceland but on the way arranges marriages for her granddaughters in the Orkneys and Faroe Islands. She and the rest of her family, including two grandchildren, settle in Iceland where her brothers have already settled. Her decision to take on this journey is described in words that are representative of the role of women in Laxdæla: “people say it is hard to find another example of a woman managing to escape from such a hostile situation with as much wealth and so many followers. It shows what an exceptional woman Unn was” (p. 6).

Unnr dies in old age in Iceland but her family and descendants, including Höskuldr Dala-Kollsson, his son Ólafr pá (peacock), and his son Kjartan Ólafsson, play a leading role in the saga. These three generations of men are all portrayed as outstanding in looks and capability in Iceland in those days. Escalation is found between the generations, culminating in Kjartan who comes close to possessing all the qualities required of a king. Indeed, it has been pointed out that Laxdæla saga seems quite inclined to portray the main characters as royalty (Jakobsson, 1998). Some are certainly descendants of kings, like Unnr’s grandchildren, and Ólafr pá had royal blood on both sides because his mother, Melkorka, was bought at a slave-market but turned out to be the daughter of Mýrkjartan (Muirchertach), the king of the Irish.

The emphasis on royalty is furthermore seen in the close relationship between Kjartan and the family in general, and the Kings of Norway, but also in the saga’s great interest in fine garments and decorations. The men return from Norway dressed in the finest clothing of all and bring with them the precious items never seen in Iceland before.

While the royal interest runs through the whole saga, the core of the saga is a love-triangle between Kjartan, his foster-brother Bolli, and Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir, a pattern reminiscent of the heroic legend of Brynhildr, Guðrún and Sigurðr Fáfnisbani in Völsunga saga. Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir is considered by many the main hero of Laxdæla saga (Auerbach 1998). She is not introduced until chapter 32 but, from then on, it is decidedly her story until her death at the end of the saga. Guðrún is considered the wisest and most handsome woman in Iceland. “She was the shrewdest of women, highly articulate, and generous as well” (p. 63).

From early on it is obvious that Guðrún is the only woman worthy of Kjartan and they seem destined to wed. In fact, Guðrún ends up marrying four times, but never to Kjartan. Her marriages are all predicted in detail by the local prophet, Gestr, who interprets Guðrún’s four dreams in a memorable scene. First, she is married against her will at 17 years old but cunningly manages to divorce him. Her second marriage is happier, but that husband drowns only about two years later. Soon afterwards a close friendship begins to form between Guðrún and Kjartan. To Guðrún’s great dismay, however, Kjartan wants to see the world and travels to Norway with Bolli. Guðrún is furious for not being allowed to join them and awaits their return in Iceland.

Ólafr Tryggvason, the king of Norway, is introduced when the saga’s point of view moves with Kjartan to Norway. King Ólafr is famous throughout medieval Icelandic literature as the king who Christianised Iceland. However, as many sagas recount, including Laxdæla saga, Icelanders were reluctant to take up the new faith. One of the punishments imposed by the King was to forbid prominent Icelanders in Norway to go home. In Laxdæla saga, Kjartan becomes one of the hostages, but the hostage situation seems quite amicable as he is best friends with the King and the King’s sister, Ingibjörg. Due to these complications, Kjartan is delayed in Norway, but Bolli manages to go back to Iceland. Bolli intentionally implies to Guðrún that Kjartan is not coming home because of his fondness for the King’s sister. Disappointed, Guðrún marries Bolli, just moments before Kjartan arrives back in Iceland.

In line with love-stories such as those found in heroic legends and medieval romances, the consequences are disastrous. A gradual escalation of hostilities between Kjartan’s and Guðrún’s families takes place, and a tragic outcome unfolds, leaving Guðrún a widow once more. In this part of the saga Guðrún is portrayed as an inciter who encourages her brothers and husband to act against Kjartan. The female inciter is a common theme in sagas, where it is obvious that women cannot take active part in violence and revenge, making use of words and social pressure instead (Jochens 1996:174–203). One of the methods is to compare men to women as Guðrún does when she tells her brothers that they would “have made some farmer a good group of daughters, fit to do no one any good or any harm” (112).

Following these tumultuous years, Guðrún leaves her home district and exchanges farms with her good friend Snorri goði, a prominent figure in other sagas such as Njáls saga and Eyrbyggja saga. She has two sons with Bolli and, once they reach adolescence, the duty to revenge continues. Guðrún is instrumental in encouraging her sons to revenge their father’s death, which they indeed carry out at the tender ages of 12 and 16 years respectively.

The revenges and plotting of Laxdæla saga are often highly complicated and political, shedding light on a society characterised by family ties and the importance of allies. At the same time, it reveals the futility that accompanies the duty and pressure to revenge. Fine men are killed young, and those who are left are driven by the thirst for revenge. The tragic aspect of the love-triangle is just one of the results of society's malfunctioning that Laxdæla saga highlights.

Towards the end, Guðrún marries for the fourth time Þorkell, a great chieftain, but he drowns some years later. Thus, the prophecy based on her dreams made earlier in the saga has come true. Using dreams as prophecies and foreshadowing is a well-known structural device in sagas but hardly any saga contains such an elaborate foreshadowing as Laxdæla, where Guðrún’s whole life is described when her dreams are interpreted. Understandably, people might ask whether that ruins the plot for the reader, knowing how her story will unravel, but, on the contrary, it works as a suspension tool. Finding out whether the predictions come true, and perhaps hoping some will not, causes great suspense.

Laxdæla saga furthermore includes several known themes and narratological devices known in the corpus of Icelandic sagas. This includes short digressions about local feuding or other incidents where minor characters step on the scene for a short while. Usually, these scenes have a purpose in the main plot but seem often to be included because of their entertainment value. The saga also includes paranormal or unexplained events, such as evil ghosts, relentless haunting and visions of things that are yet to happen. All this, combined with the plot of the love-triangle, makes Laxdæla saga one of the most entertaining and enjoyable saga of the saga corpus, which explain its popularity throughout the centuries.

One of the saga’s most famous scene happens right at the end when all is quiet around Guðrún. In old age, Guðrún is depicted as a devoted Christian, reading the psalter, and is said to become the first nun in Iceland. Bolli the younger enjoys visiting his mother and they have long conversations. We are not told what they talk about, with one exception, when he asks her which of her husbands she loved the most. She is reluctant to answer and instead talks about their qualities. He pushes her for an answer and then she says: “Þeim var ek verst, er ek unna mest” (Though I treated him worst, I loved him best, p. 174). This has since become one of the most famous phrases of any Icelandic saga and gained its own life outside the saga. It has also been the cause for an everlasting debate. Some say it is obvious she is talking about Kjartan, while others have thought it might have been Bolli. It may also be possible she is referring to more than one man since the form þeim is masc. dat. of both singular and plural, an ambiguity that is not apparent in the translation. The fact of the matter is that she does not answer the question, deliberately leaving it open for the audience to interpret. Such unresolved topics is precisely what has drawn listeners and readers to sagas such as Laxdæla for 700 years or so. Their appeal lies not only in what is recounted in the sagas, but in the way of not explaining everything, trusting the audience to reach their own conclusions.

Works Cited

Auerbach, Loren. “Female experience and authorial intention in Laxdæla saga.” Saga-Book 25 (1998): 30–52.
Cook, Robert. “Women and Men in Laxdæla saga.” Skáldskaparmál 2 (1992): 34–59.
Jakobsson, Ármann. “Konungasagan Laxdæla.” Skírnir 172 (1998): 357–83.
Jochens, Jenny. Old Norse Images of Women. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.
Kunz, Keneva and Bergljót S. Kristjánsdóttir, trans. and ed. The Saga of the People of Laxardal. London: Penguin, 2008.
Sveinsson, Einar Ól., ed. Laxdæla saga. Íslenzk fornrit 5. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1934.

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Citation: Jóhannesdóttir, Þórdís Edda. "Laxdæla saga". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 October 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40781, accessed 12 July 2025.]