The hero's journey
Hrafnkel is on an epic hero's journey, making him an archetype in the truest sense of the word. His journey from power and honor descends into the madness and chaos of emotional humiliation, shame from his community, and the difficult task of building a life for himself from scratch. He is a hero because he continues on his quest, not because he always does the correct thing; notice that he murders Einar for pride's sake. But eventually, surviving the bitter twists of fate makes him into a noble person suitable for true leadership in his community.
The murder of Einar
Einar defiled Hrafnkel's seat of honor, in Hrafnkel's hasty opinion. To Hrafnkel, a man's horse is more than just private property; it is a symbol of his dominion over nature, because he administers justice from horseback. So, when Einar sits on his horse, that is like him sitting on Hrafnkel's throne, in his opinion, so he kills him for slighting his pride. This turns out to be a difficult fate, because the murder is an inciting incident that sends Hrafnkel into perplexing trials and tribulations.
The father's justice
The foil to Hrafnkel's justice is Einar's father's justice. This symbolic foil shows that there is another point of view besides Hrafnkel's. Just as Hrafnkel sees the beauty and meaning of his own life, the father sees the meaning and beauty of Einar's life, his son. So, Samur helping the father attain justice against Hrafnkel is a symbol for Hrafnkel's need for empathy, because Hrafnkel chose to despise Einar as less than himself by saying his horse was defiled.
The symbolic chieftain
The office of chieftain is symbolic in this story, and the reader can reverse-engineer the meaning of this role from the story. When Samur is appealed to, he executes a judgment against Hrafnkel, showing that the chieftain is a moral superior in the community with authority to execute judgments. Also, he is a religious figure, because he has the authority to dishonor Hrafnkel and strip him of his family honor (in the primal religious sense of the term).
Hrafnkel and the gods
The story can be viewed as a religious allegory, because Hrafnkel is a worshiper of the gods in the beginning of the story, then abandons that faith, deconstructs it, and establishes a superior faith in its place. Once he has learned to hate the gods, he starts to see that the gods are shaping his fate for the construction of his character, and this helps him to reconstruct his belief until finally, he is an established religious and political leader in his community. He is a divine hero, because he suffers a fate that teaches him to administer justice with empathy and respect for all life.
