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Snowcolf

Snowcolf is a figure in Njál's Saga who killed Olaf Kettle's son by springing aboard his vessel and thrusting a spear through his body .

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Snowcolf is a figure in Njál's Saga who killed Olaf Kettle's son by springing aboard his vessel and thrusting a spear through his body (Njál's Saga, 83. Of Kari Solmund's Son). The killing was immediately answered: Grim thrust at Snowcolf with his spear so forcefully that Snowcolf fell overboard (Njál's Saga, 83. Of Kari Solmund's Son).

Both attestations come from the same chapter and describe a single rapid exchange of violence. The saga's compressed narration -- Snowcolf springs, kills, and is immediately struck down -- is characteristic of Njál's Saga's battle sequences, where individual combats are told in a few strokes. The pairing of Snowcolf's attack on Olaf with Grim's retaliatory thrust creates a symmetry typical of saga justice: the killer is dispatched almost in the same breath as his victim.