"They spent the day sitting in a great hall drinking."
This phrase is repeated in many a tale about these earls and their companions. In the midst of their pressing demands as leaders, they made time for friendship and merriment. They often found preserving morale more important than pressing concerns, perhaps a symptom of the harsh physical environment around them.
"Considering the kind of mother you have, slave-born on each side of her family, you are not likely to make much of a ruler. But I agree, the sooner you leave and the later you return the happier I'll be."
This exchange between Rognvald and his youngest son, Einarr, concerning the son's proposal to govern Orkney is legendary. It follows a familiar pattern of the doubtful father chastising his son for perceived shortcomings. Although Rognvald guises his concern through the lens of doubt, he speaks volumes about his own security in his authority. He essentially asserts his dominance in order to scare his son into fealty.
"I order you and all your subjects to be baptised. If you refuse, I'll have you killed on the spot and I swear I will ravage every island with fire and steel."
King Olaf is not a master of diplomacy. Eager to spread his Christianity, he took to threatening the governors of given regions in order to convert the people in large groups. He is credited with spreading Christianity to the northernmost parts of the Europe, but this credit has been long since proven false by accounts of previous conversion before King Olaf's lifetime.
"Be it known to all men. . . that I belong to the bodyguard of Saint Rognvald the Earl."
Upon his death, Asleifsson swears fealty to Rognvald. They had, in a sense, shared regency of Orkney, but their relationship was fraught with contention. Asleifsson was a rash and unforgiving man who spent more time interfering with Rognvald's leadership than in supporting him. Neverthless, he makes his final act a penance, in order to be remembered as a loyal servant.
