Sigfus
Sigfus is a patriarch in the Njal's Saga tradition, known primarily through the collective actions of his sons rather than his own individual deeds.
Sigfus is a patriarch in the Njal's Saga tradition, known primarily through the collective actions of his sons rather than his own individual deeds. The "sons of Sigfus" appear as a faction throughout the later chapters of the saga, entangled in the legal and violent aftermath of the burning of Njal. Sigfus himself appears directly only once, when he "rode to their homes" after events had run their course (Njal's Saga, Chapter 148).
The six citations from Njal's Saga reveal Sigfus almost entirely through the patronymic -- his sons act as a group, and it is the phrase "sons of Sigfus" that carries narrative weight. At the Althing, they gave notice of their suits "at the Hill of Laws, and asked in what Quarter Courts they lay" (Njal's Saga, Chapter 120), positioning them as litigants in the legal drama following the burning. After Skarphedinn's death, Flosi doubted whether "any man of you, ye sons of Sigfus, will dare to stay in his house," offering them shelter in the east with the declaration "let us all share one fate" (Njal's Saga, Chapter 129).
The sons of Sigfus also appear as a threat: Flosi tells Ingjalld that they "are eager to slay thee," to which Ingjalld replies he will "be no whit more afraid of them than they are of me" (Njal's Saga, Chapter 129). Later, women warn Kari and Thorgeir that the sons of Sigfus had been at Raufarfell and "meant to get to Myrdale to-night," suggesting a pursuit (Njal's Saga, Chapter 145). The blood-feud itself belonged to their brothers, not to all of them equally, and the eventual atonement was brokered by Hall, who persuaded them that Thorgeir's temperament made settlement the only prudent course (Njal's Saga, Chapter 145).
Appears in: Beings, Entities in Njál's Saga, Norse Tradition
On trail: Genealogies