Editing Njáls saga (section)

===Höskuldur and Flosi, the burning===
Mörður Valgarðsson now finds Höskuldur to be such a successful chief that his own chieftaincy is declining. He sets the sons of Njáll against Höskuldur; the tragedy of the saga is that they are so susceptible to his promptings that they, with Mörður and Kári, murder him as he sows in his field. As one character says, "Höskuldur was killed for less than no reason; all men mourn his death; but none more than Njáll, his foster-father".

Flosi, the uncle of Höskuldur's wife, takes revenge against the killers, and seeks help from powerful chieftains. He is pressured (against his better judgement) by Hildigunnur to accept only blood vengeance. Njáll's sons find themselves at the Althing having to plead for help. Skarphéðinn has become grimly fatalistic, and insults many who might help them.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ármann Jakobsson |date=2015 |title="Skarphéðinn talar: Tilvistarlegt tvísæi í miðaldasögum," |url=https://www.academia.edu/14712863 |journal=Ritið |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=9–27}}</ref><ref>On this scene see also Thomas Morcom, "[[doi:10.1484/J.VMS.5.121522|Insult and Insight: Skarpheðinn’s Performance at the Alþingi]]", Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 16 (2020), 157-180.</ref>

After some legal sparring, arbitrators are chosen, including [[Snorri goði]], who proposes a [[weregild|wergild]] of three times the normal compensation for Höskuldur. This is so much that it can only be paid if the arbitrators, and many at the Althing, contribute. The great collection is gathered, and Njáll adds a gift of a fancy cloak. Flosi claims to be insulted by the offer of a unisex garment (an insult from Skarphéðinn also adds fuel to the fire) and the settlement breaks down, with Njáll's silence on the matter remaining unexplained.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Tirosh |first=Yoav |date=2014 |title=&quot;Víga-Njáll: A New Approach Toward Njáls saga,&quot; . |url=https://www.academia.edu/8418008 |journal=Scandinavian Studies |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=208–26}}</ref>

Everyone leaves the Althing and prepares, amid portents and prophecies, for the showdown. A hundred men descend on Njáll's home, [[Bergþórshvoll]], to find it defended by about thirty. Any victory for Flosi will be at some cost. But Njáll suggests that his sons defend from within the house, and they, while realizing that this is futile, follow their father into certain death.<ref name=":2" /> Flosi and his men set fire to the building.

Both the innocent and the guilty are surrounded. Flosi allows the women to leave but beheads Helgi Njálsson, who attempts to escape disguised as a woman. Although Flosi invites Njáll and Bergþóra to leave, they refuse, preferring to die with their sons and their grandson Þórður (the son of Kári). Eventually eleven people die, not including Kári, who escapes under cover of the smoke by running along the beam of the house. Flosi knows that Kári will exact vengeance for the burning.