Gísli takes care of the nation’s nutritional needs: he is a farmer. He was considered a promising man and married well, to Auður Vésteinsdóttir; but Gísli has never fared especially well and it is said that if Auður did not see to things, they would have been made homeless long ago. Instead of seeing to his farm, Gísli has mainly concerned himself with arguments, always quarrelling with others in the community. He believes he is always sidelined and victimised and threatens retaliation – and some people fear him because he is a particularly ‘manly man’ and is suspected of sneaking around nearby farms at night with unknown intentions.

Gísli and Auður used to have a good farm by Dýrafjörður, but after Gísli applied himself to breeding foxes (people believed that was the only animal he felt any real connection to) they naturally went bankrupt, lost their land and moved to a small remote croft at the end of Arnarfjörður. Many feel uncomfortable that such a good woman as Auður has ended up stuck, struggling with such a strange and antisocial man as Gísli, a man who gets on so badly with other people; but she follows her man through thick and thin – and even laid hands on a man who offered her gold and pastures-green if only she would leave Gísli and go with him.

There is one thing about Gísli, however, which is most unexpected – and that is that he really enjoys putting on a show on big gatherings and fetes. He has an outrageous comedy alter-ego called Ingjaldsfíflið (the Ingjalds-fool) who always gets to take a turn on the stage at Þorrablót feasts and so forth. He obviously has a great time on the stage, with all the necessary grimacing, funny faces and suchlike, although not everybody is captivated by his performances; a neighbour reported seeing Ingjaldsfíflið more often and more widely than he wanted to.

Einar Kárason
Author

Gísli Súrsson is the protagonist of the story – tall, dark haired, strong, industrious and good with his hands. Gísli was considered a very wise man, a competent poet and hero.

In this Saga he is a complicated character who defies psychiatric categorisation. Much in his behaviour hints at psychopathy, but he is insecure and increasingly affected by fear of the dark and solitude. Gísli kills his sister’s fiancé at the start of the saga and later murders her husband, which points to an abnormal relationship between the siblings. He was also a captivating man, popular and celebrated by many.

Gísli in the modern age
Gísli would have used his craftsmanship, dexterity and wit to go far as a master builder and contractor. His antisocial tendencies might have served to make his life complicated and lead him to break the rules and codes of society, while double-crossing his clients. At some point in his life the true nature of his relationship with his sister would probably come out and cause much damage. He would then go into some sort of personal exile, holed up in his house and racked with guilt, while history repeated itself.

Auður, his wife, would have stuck with him through thick and thin, all the while living in her husband’s shadow. Auður would never falter in her love for Gísli, whether he was loaded with money or in acrimonious battles with debt collectors and his own sister. She would stand by her man even in the face of all his sister’s allegations – saying they were nothing but lies and slurs. Auður herself would probably have studied nursing and may have gone to work in a geriatric ward at the time when Gísli’s mental state worsened and he locked himself away in their home.

Óttar Guðmundsson
Psychiatrist