Skarphéðinn Njálsson

Skarphéðinn is described as hardy and skilled warrior but also as an ill-tempered and sharp tongued man whose insults of potential allies at the althing ends up isolating Njáll and his family, leading to their demise as they are burned by their enemies inside their home at Bergþórshvoll.

After years of intermittent feuding, Skarphéðinn causes the tide of the conflict to turn against Njáll and his family, when he kills the well-liked and innocent Höskuldr Þráinsson the priest (goði) of Hvítanes as he is sowing his field.

[2] Skarphéðinn is described as a large and dangerous looking man of threatening demeanor, with prominent teeth and an ugly mouth, whose facial expression often betrays a burning rage that he is working hard to keep under control.

Having been burned in the house with his father and brothers, his friends find his charred body with his eyes open and teeth biting down on his lips - and they agree that he is now less scary to them than when he was alive.

His hair was reddish-brown and curled and he had fine eyes; his face was pale and sharp-featured, with a bent nose, a broad row of upper teeth and an ugly mouth, and yet he was very like a warrior"