Re: Berserk Kinslaying

From: Benedict Adamson <badamson_at_...>
Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2001 16:27:32 +0100

Graham Robinson wrote:
...
> Kinslaying is kinslaying. There are no mitigating circumstances. There are
> no punishments possible,

...
> If the act were genuinely accidental, the best course open
> would be to find a demon, trickster, or similar who could be blamed, and
> punish the scape-goat.

...

Kinslaying is a tragedy, so make it dramatically tragic.

When the son of Egil Skallagrimsson died an accidental death, Egil composed a great poem to his memory, and elected to starve himself to death. Only the cunning of his daughter (a model Ernaldan, if ever there was) convinced him to live.

IIRC, Beowulf includes the lament of a king for his son killed in an accidental kinslaying.