Saga of the Confederates

This saga struk me as being a saga, that wasn't secifically about a character being the hero and blatently taking revenge (even though that is arguable in this case). This saga brought significant insight into the inner workings of the legal system of the time. I thought it was very odd that, the judges had the power to decide the fate of a criminal, once the Confederates formed no one dared to pose a defense, because the Chieftains held alot of power. In addition to this, I thought it was Ironic that the Father of Odd, Ofeig, bribed the judges to play fair. I laughed at the fact that he went to play dirty so the judges would play clean. That and I also found humor in the fact that Odd invited teh Confederates to his wedding at the end of the saga, sort of a 'Have no hard feelings, that you guys got humiliated, not once, but atleast twice.' I chukled.

The Saga of Hrafnkel

It is similar to the previous sagas in that this one, encorperates the Althing and revenge. However I think that what sperates this saga from the rest of them is that this saga seems legitimate, in terms of untampered with by the scribes hundreds of years later. I got this sense from several places, one being the hoarse, Freyfaxi. This stallion was highly valued by Hrafnkel. Perhaps a little too much, but in that day and age, and shown in the later part of the saga, horses were the way to get around, is you didn't want to walk. horses did manuel labor on farms, as well as helped travel large distances quickly. So I think that Hrafnkel loved his stallion, the essence of how valued they were in their culture is there.
Then another point is when Sam and his companions were going into Thorkel's tent to ask for help. They followed Thorkels instrutions to grab Thorgeir's foot. First of all this is a little weird, and I got a little confused on why they would do this. The guy is very much in pain from his foot, then from the boil that just recently burst, and then he has someone grab it. This guy is a very unlucky guy who is in pain. But I think that his recation was legitimate. He was in alot of pain, he got very little sleep, and very confused, again showing that this saga is atleast legitamate it coinsides with what we would have expected, instead of being in a duel, having a leg chopped of and putting the stump on a cut down tree for suport, that would be very painful indeed.

Havamal

I thought that it was interesting, reading these poems and picking out a few of the morals and provers that are stated. one that stuck out to me first, was in Stanza 31 ..." from the man who likes to mock, for at table who teases can never tell what foe he might have to fight"... this still holds true in this day and age, even though times have progressed, people have to watch what they say, if they don't want to insult someone and go to court over it.

Gisli Sursson's Saga

I happend to notice the significance of Thor in Norse culture. Given that Thor is one of the Primary Gods, and that Thor's Hammer is a relic. I get the sense that Thor was a major god, if not the top god in norse mythology. This is because alot of the people in the sagas are call Thorstein, Thorgrim, Thorodd, Thorkell and others which I didn't bother to highlight. Which brings up the question, how much does the mythology play a role in the soceity? By the fact that many people are named after a God, I would venture to guess that the Gods played a huge role in society, whether it was superstition and that If I name my son after Thor, he owes our family good luck, or whether it was the cultureal Norm at this time, I do not know.