My Favorite Character

For this blog, I had to do a bit of digging...literally, through the 700+ pages of our Saga book, because I've honestly forgotten a lot of the characters from the beginning of the semester. Egil, Eirik, Leif, Freydis, and of course Ref, are still at the forefront of my mind, but I thought I remembered some interesting ones back in the day. So, for my final blog I thought I'd remind you all about Sarcastic Halli.

The Tale of Sarcastic Halli was memorable to me not only because the title of the Saga helps me remember the gist of the story, but because the character was one I could easily relate to. Especially in the beginning of my immersion into the Viking society, identifying with a character whose tale is told in a setting so different to modern day (in many ways, I realize now there are a good handful of similiarities) made me care more about what that character had to say.

This may seem a little crude, but one of the reasons I might have liked this character more than others is because of his language. I can't remember another saga or character that uses more commonly-known swear words in his/her tale! Between dropping the f-bomb on the second page, and telling the King he "doesn't give a damn" about his policy of clearning everyone's food when he himself is finnished cracked me up! I mean, in the college-realm we hear people cussing up a storm, but not so often in the academic setting. It was refreshing and humorous to me to come upon this so early and in such strong context in the sagas.

Then, to top it all off, his "riddle" to mock his poetic opponent, Thjodolf, sealed Halli as my favorite character. He claims that he should be more favorable in the eyes of the kind because Thjodolf is such a brute that he killed and ATE his father's killer. But, it turns out that his father was inadvertently killed by a pig that Thjodolf and his family later ate for dinner.

Halli's cleverness, sarcastic take on life, and even his primal and vulgar outbursts never ceased to amuse me. In fact, I think Halli might fall closley in comparison to a modern day frat guy, and that likliness had me chuckling at all of his antics, imagining them in the light of today's society.