| Grettis Saga |
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Iceland ic manuscript.]] OVERVIEW The tale is mostly magical-adventure, an historic novel probably based on the life of a real man. The author is unknown. Grettir is an odd hero, almost an anti-hero. His intentions are usually good, but he is bad-tempered and often does things that he later regrets. Note that Grettir stays in Iceland as an outlaw. He is not involved in the Viking raids that many other saga-heroes take part in. The tale has been translated into English several times, including a translation by William Morris . Though it would seem natural material for the cinema, none are listed by the Internet Movie Database . STORY Grettir's life is told from beginning to end. As a child, he is rebellious and bad-tempered. Also courageous; he takes on and defeats a ''draug'', a walking corpse that is the Scandinavian equivalent of a zombie. But the draug curses him, and this is seen by the author as the cause of his later misfortunes. Grettir is sometimes able to be a proper hero, defeating evil enemies. But he is blamed for setting fire to a hall, killing many men, and becomes an outlaw. This means that anyone can kill him without legal penalty; many try, but he is very hard to kill. Grettir eventually becomes the longest-surviving outlaw in Icelandic history. His friends say that he has survived 20 years and so can return to normal life. This is debated and it is decided that he has not quite made it. His enemies make one last efforts, using sorcery to cause him to wound himself and finally defeat him, atop cliff-sided, lonely, fortress-like Drang Isle off the northern tip of Iceland . His brother later avenges him in a semi-comic scene in Byzantium, where Norse did serve in the Varangian Guards . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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