Svanhild Arnthordottir grew up as Arnthor’s daughter and only child. Her parents died when she was young and she was taken in by Alvi, the father of Thorkatla, Ingithora, and Sigvor. That’s how she became close friends with Ingithora. Ingithora helped her through her grief, giving her someone to confide in. As they grew up together, they became intimate.
They also met, Arnora Saksisdottir, whose father Saksis along with her older brother, served on the same crew as Ingithora’s father Alvi along with Beorcol Thorgrimsson, Koll, Einar, and Skuff, sons of Alrik. Over time, Arnora became very close with Svanhild and Ingithora. Like a sister. However, the three of them became fond of the light-hearted Koll Alriksson who was the best friend of Beorcol, son of Earl Thorgrim. Beorcol was already set to marry Thorkatla, Ingithora’s older sister.
The three women all found out they desired the same man. At first, it drove rifts in their friendship. Svanhild and Ingithora didn’t want one man to break apart what they had. It was special. They had found a bond with each other. Even though Arnora didn’t share the intimate bond they had, they still found a friend in Arnora and they didn’t want to lose her. It wasn’t all that strange to have a marriage between one man and multiple women, usually two. It wasn’t often that it happened and some frowned upon it. Within Stormfront, marriage wasn’t just a pack between two people, but their families as well. A marriage was to bind two families together. However, a marriage they proposed would be very complicated, involving three large families.
Svanhild and Ingithora proposed this to Arnora and Koll and, surprisingly, they were both for it. Arnora was hesitant at first, but she was infatuated with Koll and knew if she had to share him with anyone, her two closest friends would be her choice. Koll and the women talked to their families about the marriage. Alrik and Alvi both agreed to the marriage. However, Saksis didn’t like the idea of having his daughter become one of three wives. He believed the marriage would not favor his family. However, Svanhild was able to persuade him with her charm. She told him about the family they’d be able to forge with Koll having three wives to have children with. With such a potentially large family, they’d be able to crew their own ship entirely with the children they have. That means all the gold minus the gold they had to pay the Earl would belong to the family. This would benefit all of their families.
This convinced Saksis and he gave his daughter’s hand in marriage. The ceremony was performed by Earl Thorgrim and Thorve Eindrididottir, Ingithora’s mother who was the clan’s wise woman, wife of Alvi.
As mentioned in Ingithora and Koll’s biographies, Svanhild’s claim of forging a large family that could fill an entire crew of a ship came true and the family prospered in wealth. Next, read about Arnora and her story. Then you’ll read about their children.
Read about these characters in Broken Souls, Book 1 of Seasons of the Cycle here on Aratheon.com for FREE. Just click the link below.
Broken Souls, Book 1, Seasons of the Cycle
