Landvættir

Good relationships between humans and landvættir were believed to be fostered through acts like leaving out food for them however upon the establishment of the church, the practice was labelled heretical and explicitly forbidden in the Norwegian Gulating law codes.

Landvættir have been variously connected by scholars to other beings believed to inhabit the land such as elves, dwarfs and landdísir, with which they were potentially identified at different points in history.

[4][5][6][7] In Úlfljótslǫg, a law aiming to prevent upsetting landvættir: Þat var upphaf inna heiðnu laga, at menn skyldu eigi hafa höfuðskip í haf, en ef þeir hefði, þá skyldi þeir af taka höfuð, áðr þeir kæmi í lands sýn, ok sigla eigi at landi með gapandi höfðum eða gínandi trjónum, svá at landvættir fælist við.

In this account, Þórólfr Mostrarskegg sets aside a skerry that he names Dritsker ("Shit-skerry") so that they would not defile with their faeces Helgafell, which he held holy.

Consistent with other accounts, this depicts Iceland as inhabited by landvættir and has been further argued to represent a belief that they may harm settlers if the appropriate ritual precautions are not carried out.

[12][13] They further feature in saga literature, for example in the Heimskringla version of Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar when they drive away a possible invasion from Harald Bluetooth: Haraldr konungr bauð kungum manni at fara í hamförum til Íslands ok freista hvat hann kynni segja honum.

[11] In Landnámabók, one account describes a bergbúi ("rock-dweller") making an agreement with a man named Björn, who had few goats after fleeing from a lava flow.

It has been proposed that in this context, bergbúar are synonymous with landvættr, supported by the idea that landvættir live in stones, mountains and hills.

[17] It has been further suggested that in return, Björn may have been expected to make food offerings, as is recorded as being performed by women for landvættir in Heimslýsing ok Helgifrœði, a homily found in the Hauksbók.

[18] The Norwegian Gulating laws, written in the latter half of the 13th century, made illegal the belief that howes, wooded areas and waterfalls, were inhabited by landvættir, considering it a heresy and belonging to the heathen religion.

[note 1][19][11] Similarly, the author of the homily Heimslýsing ok Helgifrœði states that the willingness of some women to give offerings to landvættir results from their stupidity.

These are stones in northwestern Iceland that were described as having been respected as late as the 19th century, with it being seen as inappropriate to mow grass or let children play near them.