Kálfr Árnason

[1] According to the earlier, summary histories of Norway such as the Ágrip, he opposed King Olaf as early as the Battle at Nesjar in 1016; in contrast, Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla depicts him as an early ally of the king, who according to Snorri bestowed on Kálfr both his lands in the Trøndelag and his wife Sigrid after killing the heathen Olvir of Egge, to whom Sigrid had previously been married.

[1][2] According to the one contemporary source which mentions Kálfr, the Kálfsflokkr, by the Icelandic skáld Bjarni gullbrárskáld, he was at Olaf's side in the battle against Erling Skjalgsson.

Scholar Claus Krag sees echoes of Judas kissing Jesus in the scenes in Heimskringla between Kálfr and Olaf.

[1] At the Battle of Stiklestad, he, Thorir Hund and Hárek of Tjøtta led the farmer army which defeated Olaf, and Heimskringla depicts either him or his kinsman Kálfr Árnfinsson as giving the former king one of his three fatal wounds, a neck wound;[4] however, the poet merely describes him as "[fighting] ... stout of heart ... until that fallen lay the liege-lord", and according to another skáld, Sigvatr Þórðarson, Thorir Hund struck the fatal blow.

In 1050, Magnus' successor, Harald Hardrada, asked him to return, but only to send him to fight in Denmark, leading to his death in about 1051.

Kálfr Árnason with the young Magnus at Stiklestad ; illustration by Halfdan Egedius for the Saga of Magnus the Good in Heimskringla