Gorm

Gorm is miserly, irritable, materialistic, and highly conscious of the monetary value of almost everything around him. Even when welcoming Askeladd's successful band home, his first concern is calculating what their food and lodging will cost.

His greed extends into his treatment of people. Gorm owns slaves and evaluates their usefulness in financial terms, responding aggressively when they waste food or fail to satisfy his expectations.

He nevertheless has a familiar relationship with Askeladd and is willing to indulge him once payment is assured.

Gorm has no established exceptional fighting ability. His influence comes from land ownership, wealth, household authority, and the labor of people living under him.

As a feudal lord, he can provide shelter, food, and supplies for a large armed company, making his settlement a valuable winter base for Askeladd's mercenaries.

Gorm appears when Askeladd's band returns to Jutland after a successful campaign. He calculates the substantial cost of feeding the roughly hundred-man company before Askeladd assures him that the year's spoils will cover the expense.

Gorm also introduces the household's enslaved Norwegian woman Hordaland, explaining that she came from a defeated noble family and was sold after losing her former position.

When Thorfinn arrives demanding another duel with Askeladd, Gorm serves as witness and establishes the rules under which the confrontation will be decided.

Askeladd is Gorm's nephew and a recurring guest whose mercenary band uses Gorm's settlement as winter lodging.

Hordaland is an enslaved woman owned by Gorm, who treats her harshly and evaluates her primarily as property.

Thorfinn fights Askeladd in a formal duel witnessed and officiated by Gorm.