Thorolf Skallagrímsson (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

: ;

Modern Icelandic Icelandic ( ; , ) is a North Germanic language from the Indo-European language family spoken by about 314,000 people, the vast majority of whom live in Iceland, where it is the national language. Since it is a West Scandinavian language, it ...

: ) is an Icelandic character in

Egils saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years c. 850–1000 ...

. He is brother of

Egill Skallagrímsson Egil Skallagrímsson ( ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a period from approx ...

and oldest son of Skallagrím Kveldulfsson and Bera Yngvarsdóttur. He closely resembles in looks and manner his uncle and namesake,

Thorolf Kveldulfsson Thorolf Kveldulfsson was the oldest son of Kveldulf Bjalfasson and brother of the Norwegian/Icelandic goði and skald Skalla-Grimr. His ancestor ( great uncle) Hallbjorn was nicknamed "halftroll", possibly indicating Norwegian-Sami ancestry. H ...

. Thorolf is well known for his travels with Bjorn and giving his own ship to

Eric Bloodaxe Eric Haraldsson ( , ; c.930−954), nicknamed Bloodaxe ( , ) and Brother-Slayer (), was a Norwegians#Viking Age, Norwegian king. He ruled as List of Norwegian monarchs, King of Norway from 932 to 934, and twice as List of monarchs of Northumbr ...

to help lessen the grudge held against him by Eric’s father

Harald Fairhair Harald Fairhair (; – ) was a Norwegian king. According to traditions current in Norway and Iceland in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, he reigned from 872 to 930 and was the first Monarchy of Norway, King of Norway. Supposedly, two ...

. This grudge was in place due to Thorolf’s father and grandfather seeking revenge by killing Harald’s servants for Thorolf Kveldulsson’s murder. The feud between Skallagrim and Bloodaxe, however, continued with the present of a poorly crafted axe that Skallagrim tried to return to Bloodaxe but Thorolf instead intercepted the return and in turn gave Harald thanks instead. Thorolf’s downfall came during a battle fighting for King Athelstan against King Olaf’s army, after which his brother Egil buried him.

References

*Thorsson, Örnólfur, et al. "Egil's Saga." ''The Sagas of the Icelanders.'' trans: Bernard Scudder (Penguin Classics, 2000). {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorolf Skallagrimsson 10th-century Icelandic people