True Friends

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Something that amazed while I read the Njal Saga was the very strong friendship between Njal and Gunnar. They both went through many obstacles, many things that in many cases will have caused a friendship to end. But theirs didn't, theirs lasted. Gunnar's wife Hallgred had quite a temperment. She was kind of malicious and did many bad things. She ordered her servant to kill one of Njal's servants which was the beginning of a very big problem. Njal's wife, Begthora didn't let this just happen, she had to get back at Hallgred so she ordered to kill the servant who had killed her servant. And that kept on going until it became a kind of "war" between the two women. Njal and Gunnar both were put into a very difficult position. Well, both of their wives were fighting, and each of them were responsible of paying the other with money for the servants lives. But they didn't let that become between their friendship. They defended each other always no matter what. "You are foolish and unable to follow good advice if you are willing to slander...Njal himself...this will lead you to your death...and if any man here repeats these words he'll be sent away, and bear my anger besides. " (pg.74). They were great friends.

Later thorughout the book, I thought that something was going to happen between them. Well, usually in stories best friends after been great together, fight. But I realized that here Gunnar's and Njal's friendship lasted even in very difficult times. Gunnar was going through a very hard time because every person he came across with wanted to kill him, so he of course defended himself and killed them first. So this caused him to get in to trouble. But Njal still defended him. He stood up for him and gave him great advice and support. "You will ride to the Thing and follow my advice and earn great honour from this matter. This will be the beginning of your career of killings." (pg. 94). No matter what, Gunnar knew that Njal will always be there for him.

If this is not real friendship then I don't know what it is. A real friend is always with you even in the hardest times. Even if there is a fight between two people you both love. And especially when you are in trouble, it can be the best thing that can happen to you.