Hill of Laws

Njal's Saga uses the Hill of Laws as a recurring structural marker, and the pattern of who goes there and when reveals the saga's escalating tensions. Early in the narrative, individual figures travel to the Hill for personal legal matters: Unna goes to the Hill of Laws to pursue her separation from Hrut (Njal's Saga, Chapter 7), and Mord follows to claim his goods (Njal's Saga, Chapter 8). Gunnar's appearance at the Hill of Laws during his wooing marks his entry into the political sphere (Njal's Saga, Chapter 33), while his later contest with Geir the Priest shows the Hill as a site of open confrontation between chieftains (Njal's Saga, Chapter 56).

By the saga's climactic legal sequences, the Hill of Laws has become a collective destination. The formulaic phrasing shifts from individuals to groups: "both sides went to the Hill of Laws" (Njal's Saga, Chapter 101), "men went to the Hill of Laws" (Njal's Saga, Chapter 102, Chapter 140). The legal proceedings surrounding the burning of Njal bring the entire Althing community to the Hill repeatedly -- for Thorgeir of Lightwater's deliberations (Njal's Saga, Chapter 101), for the declarations of suits (Njal's Saga, Chapter 140), for Thorhall Asgrim's son's counsel on procedural strategy (Njal's Saga, Chapter 143), and finally for the events leading to the Battle at the Althing itself (Njal's Saga, Chapter 144).

The repetition is not artless. The saga uses arrival at the Hill of Laws as a signal that the next scene carries legal weight, and the increasing frequency of these arrivals in the final third mirrors the breakdown of the legal system that the Hill represents.