The Vinland Sagas

First off, I thought it was cool that there are two separate sagas that overlap so much in terms of characters and events covered. It was like watching two different movies about World War II or something; there are some things that appear in each but the main focus of each is slightly different.

I also thought it was really interesting that so much emphasis was placed on Gudrid. It seems that her life is full of these supernatural types of events, most of which are recorded in both sagas. I could imagine how strange it must have been for her to be taking part in the magic rite with the wise woman in spite of her qualms about participating. When her husband woke up, after dying, to tell her fortune, it reminded me of the tale of Thorstein Shiver where he is talking to the demon in the outhouse--very matter of fact, not seeming to deny that such an interaction is really possible.

I think that the motivations stated for the exploration of Vinland speak to the nature of the Iceland-Greenland culture of the time. The people who went were in search of good natural resources and possible farm locations. If they were only a warmongering people, they would not have been so quick to give up hope of settlement because of conflict with the pre-existing residents.