MFDB

Storyline

Wild and uncontrollable Icelander Egill Skallagrimsson is not a handsome man. When the god Odin hears his plea to become a great warrior, Odin promises Egill he'll become famous indeed - not as the warrior he wishes, but as a poet. Words may well come in handy when Egill sneaks aboard the ship his brother, the handsome Thorolf, is sailing from Iceland to Norway. Thorolf seeks to marry Asgerd, the woman Egill secretly loves. Though their family has been feuding with Norway's King, Harald, Thorolf hopes the marriage will make him the King's man and pledges his loyalty to Harald's son, Eirik. When Eirik becomes King, the barons gather at a great feast to honor the new King Eirik and his Queen, Gunnhild, an ambitious sorceress. Egill insults both King and Queen by refusing to praise them with his poetry, adding injury to insult by killing their host, Bard, who was Eirik's right hand man. King Eirik outlaws Egill from Norway and, now suspicious or Thorolf's loyalty, sends him on an impossible mission to the court of England's King Adalstein to kill Eirik's half-brother, Hakon. Leaving Asgerd behind as Eirik's hostage, Thorolf and Egill set sail for England and encounter Hakon, whose goodness and honor earn him not their assassination but their allegiance. Thorolf and Egill fight by Hakon's side against the rebelling Scots in the hope that Hakon can replace Eirik on the Norwegian throne. The Scots are overwhelmed, but the intervention of Gunnhild's witchcraft costs Thorolf his life. Focusing his sorrow into fury, Egill buries his brother and swears revenge. Back in Norway, the wicked Queen's treacheries win yet again, keeping Egill on the run and struggling to stay one step ahead of her dark magic. Egill tries to return to Norway when he learns Hakon has dethroned Eirik, but Gunnhild's black magic places him at their mercy. Only by heeding the advice of the King's Captain and Egill's blood brother, Arinbjorn, is Egill able to save his life and forever break Gunnhild's spell on Eirik by performing a powerful poem in honor of the beleaguered King.