Ketill Flatnose

[2] Ari was born not long after the death of his great-grandmother Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir – a prominent character in the Laxdæla saga whose husband, Thorkell Eyjolfsson, was descended from Auðr.

[5][6] There is evidence that Scandinavian settlers may have reached the Norðreyjar (Northern Isles) – the Orkneys and Shetland, north of mainland Scotland – as early as the mid-7th century.

[7] After Harald Fairhair won the decisive Battle of Hafrsfjord, in the late 9th century, to take control of Norway, many people emigrated to the Orkneys and Shetlands.

[8] According to the Orkneyinga saga, some of these emigres began to raid Norway in summer, and Harald followed them to retaliate; he defeated them and also took possession of what the Norse called the Suðreyjar (or Sudreys): the Hebrides and the Isle of Man.

[15] Hunter (2000) states that Ketill was "in charge of an extensive island realm and, as a result, sufficiently prestigious to contemplate the making of agreements and alliances with other princelings".

[17] Although Norse military activity in Ireland in the 9th century is well documented in Irish sources, they contain no record at all of Harald Fairhair's voyage to the west.

[19] Ketill Flatnose is also sometimes equated with Caittil Find, a reported leader of the Gallgáedil recorded in the Annals of Ulster as fighting in Ireland in 857.

[20] This source states simply that "Ímar and Amlaíb inflicted a rout on Caittil the Fair and his Norse-Irish in the lands of Munster.

"[32] Examples include islands called Pjattland (Pictland) and Írland (Ireland) and the nearby Patreksfjörður and Trostansfjörður named in honour of two Celtic saints.

[35] Ketill Flatnose is portrayed by Adam Copeland (better known in WWE by the ring name Edge) in the 5th and 6th season of the historical drama television series Vikings.