Episode 41a - Viga-Glum's Saga (chapters 1-5)

We’re thrilled to kick off our first episode of Víga-Glúms saga, the last of the sagas of Eyjafjörð. Víga-Glúms saga is one of the great character-driven Íslendingasögur, often drawing comparisons to Egils saga. Now, whether that’s because it also happens to be a biographical saga or because it’s of a similar quality will have to be sorted out on the podcast across the overview and judgments. But we’re excited to start this new saga either way, and this first episode sets the stage beautifully for the arrival of the man who comes to be known as Killer-Glum.

Like so many sagas, Víga-Glúms saga opens not with the hero himself but with the adventures of the generations that came before him. These early chapters give us a sense of the family dynamics, the local tensions, and threads of fate that Glum will inherit and inevitably wrestle with as his saga develops.

Cast of Characters:

I’m going to try and include a cast of major characters in the show notes for each episode to help listeners keep track of things. In this first episode, we get to know Glum’s formidable ancestors, including:

• Helgi the Lean, Glúm’s great-grandfather and the most prominent settler in Eyjafjörð
• Ingjald Helgason, Glúm’s grumpy grandfather
• Eyjólf, Glúm’s mild-mannered but calculating father

Of course, this wouldn’t be Saga Thing without a few memorable supporting characters to make things interesting. This episode introduces some pretty interesting Norwegians:

• Hreiðar, a Norwegian merchant with a heart of gold
• Ívar, a Viking with a heart of red (also Hreiðar’s brother)
• A berserk with a notably low sense of self-worth, whose attempts at intimidation don’t quite land the way he hopes
• Vigfús, a powerful Norwegian hersir with a lovely daughter named Ástrið

And then, there are the Icelanders who will make Glúm’s life more interesting, and challenging:

• Þorkell the Tall, father-in-law of Glúm’s recently deceased brother
• Sigmund, son of Þorkell the Tall, and wannabe goði

Víga-Glúms saga is definitely a fun one that we’ve been saving for a while. We hope you enjoy this first episode!

Texts Discussed in This Episode

• Andersson, Theodore M. “Creating Personalities: The Saga Age Icelanders.” In The Growth of the Medieval Icelandic Sagas (1180–1280), 60–85. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006.
• Johnston, George, trans. Viga-Glum’s Saga. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999.
• McKinnell, John, trans. Viga-Glums Saga: With the Tales of Ögmund Bash and Thorvald Chatterbox. The New Saga Library / UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, Icelandic Series. Edinburgh: Canongate/UNESCO, 1987.
• North, Richard. “Sighvatr Sturluson and the Authorship of Víga-Glúms saga.” In Analecta Septentrionalia, edited by Wilhelm Heizmann, Klaus Böldl, and Heinrich Beck, 256–80. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 2009.
• Turville-Petre, Gabriel, ed. Viga-Glúms Saga. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1960.

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Recent Interview Links

As promised, here are the links to our recent interviews:

Relevant or Irrelevant - "Podcasts and Teaching" (KALA broadcast portion)

Relevant or Irrelevant - "Podcasts and Teaching" (KALA podcast portion)

Vikingology - "It's a Saga Thing"

Music Credits

Intro Music – “Prelude and Action” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Outro Music – “Stormfront” by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/