Njal's Saga (30-39)

I’d like to talk about the friendship between Gunnar and Njal. What I like so much about it, is the way that they let nothing come between them (their wives) but how the decide that it’s not their problem.

I wouldn’t have expected for Gunnar and Njal to be friends. First of all, their personalities don’t match. While Njal is more into thinking, Gunnar prefers physical power, and is more into fighting.

Njal was upset over it. Gunnar asked him why he founded so ill-advised.
“Every kind of evil will come from her when she moves east,” said Njal.
“She shall never spoil our friendship,” said Gunnar.
“It will come close to that,” said Njal, “but you will always make amends for her.”
(Chp. 33, pg. 54)

Gunnar is planning to marry Hallgerd, and Njal is upset about it. Then, Gunnar assures that this marriage of his shall never spoil our friendship. This is an example of how truly does Gunnar appreciate this friendship, and how he won’t let anything come between them.

Though Gunnar is doing something that Njal believes is imprudent, Njal whatsoever respected his friend’s choice, instead of getting mad and angry because of his friend being foolish. It might be foolish to him, but if not to Gunnar, why bother?

It is incredible how strong the bond is, for each husband not to take sides with his wife, how both Gunnar and Njal respect their friendship as much as they respect their wives.

Gunnar said that he would never trust against Njal or his sons, and she went on raging. Gunnar paid no attention.
(Chp. 37, pg. 63)

After Hallgerd’s servant is killed in order of Njal’s wife, Gunnar mentions this towards his wife. Angry and disappointed, Halberd’s leaves, because she would’ve expected for her husband to join her ‘side’. But Gunnar whatsoever understand that the ‘war’ is hers, along with Njal’s wives. So both husbands decide to remain aside. Gunnar makes it clear to his wife, that no matter she does and thinks, his friendship with Njal will carry on.

So, no matter whether their wives are complete enemies (that they kill each other’s servants) Gunnar and Njal persist to be friendly.

“You two are a real match for each other,” said Hallgerd. “Both of you are soft.”
(Chp. 38, pg.66)

Even their wives agree with the strong bond between their husbands. Soft, in a psychological way, because Gunnar is not at all flexible in the physical sense; in a way that they agree in paying for their wives’ mistakes and endless envies, in a way that they understand how it must be hard to deal with such woman.

Whether this type of friendship were to be produced in reality, I bet it wouldn’t last. I guess it would be because the smart one thinking as the strong one to be kind of dumb, to prefer to fight rather than think about it. And, so it would happen backwards; the strong one would think the smart one was a coward, because of not wanting to fight.

This friendship shows that if tried out, it will be possible for two people to persist friends, no matter all the obstacles blocking the way, or bad influences that might break the relationship once and for all.

The friendship between these two characters shows us that it is possible for two totally different people to be friends, as long as they respected each other’s beliefs and likes.