Hrafankel Frey's Godi

In this saga, the emphasis seemed to be on keeping one's word. At the beginning, Hrafankel says, "He who gives warning is not at fault." When Sam and Thorbjorn are having trouble getting support for their case, Sam convinces Thorbjorn to stick with it by using convincing words to remind him of why he wanted to take the case before the Althing to begin with. Thorkel uses an ingenious method to gain his brother's backing for Thorbjorn, saying, "Either you accept what I propose, or you won't come to me asking for advice." At the end, when Sam has had Hrafankel's farm taken back from him, he goes to Thorbjorn, who tells him pretty much the same thing. The second time, though, Sam does not take his advice, but goes back home and has a peaceful rest of his life.

I also enjoyed the contrast made by several characters between stoically living with one's bad fortune and courageously fighting for change. Many people remembered that Hrafankel had been an unfair ruler, but none of them had ever done anything about him because everyone believed that a dispute with him was more trouble than it was worth. Even Sam initially said, "It's no great news that Hrafankel kills people." It took a man like Thorbjorn, who felt he had nothing left to lose, to stand up to him.

So, indeed, Thorbjorn and Sam proved true the words of Thorkel, that "Who dares wins." Their gain did not last forever, though. The reappearance of Sam's brother Eyvind sparks Hrafankel to avenge his own humiliation and take back what he lost. I noticed that both Eyvind and Thorkel had spent time traveling around Europe, even specifically to Constantinople. I think that Hrafankel must have transferred some of his resentment towards Thorkel onto Eyvind when he decided to kill him.