Troll sex: youth, old age, and the erotic in Old Norse-Icelandic narratives of the supernatural
Keywords: Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra
Ghost
Saga
Sagas
Sturlaugs saga starfsama
Ketils saga hængs
Kjalnesinga saga
Fróðárundur
Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar
Senescence
Iceland
Adolescence
Wonders at Fróðá
Gender
Age
Literature
legendary sagas
Hrólfs saga kraka
Ageing
Youth
Sex
Magic
Óláfs saga helga
Konungasögur
Childhood
Old Norse-Icelandic
Fornaldarsögur
Monster Theory
Medieval
Medieval literature
Old age
Grettis saga
Courtship
Menarche
Paranormal
Icelandic
Erotic
Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra
Adolescent sexuality
Sexual consent
Medieval Studies
Örvar-Odds saga
Supernatural
Hauks þáttr hábrókar
Riddarasögur
Sigrgarðs saga frækna
Hjámþés saga ok Ölvis
Völsa þáttr
Infantile sexuality
Medieval romance
Marriage
Senescent sexuality
Kings' sagas
Heiðarvíga saga
Supernatural literature
Scandinavian Studies
Eyrbyggja saga
Middle Ages
Family sagas
Íslendingasögur
Rape
Prose literature
Revenant
Old Norse
Monster
Troll
Sexuality
Witch
Hávarðar saga Ísfirðings
Menopause

In this thesis, I investigate representations of adolescent and elderly sexuality from throughout the medieval Icelandic saga corpus. To access expressions regarding these liminal sexualities, I pay particular attention to depictions of supernatural phenomena. Because of their distance from everyday reality, such depictions can be used to express uninhibited commentaries about uncomfortable subjects. They can therefore provide us with expanded, nuanced, or alternative perspectives on the sexual ideologies indicated in naturalistic episodes and non-literary sources.
Chapter One examines portrayals of male adolescent sexuality. I analyse supernatural ‘riding’ episodes from Eyrbyggja saga and Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra, which depict the violent sexual domination of women by young men as beneficial to masculine adult supremacy. I then analyse portrayals of trysts with troll-women in four sagas, which offer diverse commentaries on the impact of pre-marital sexual experimentation on male maturation.
Chapter Two investigates depictions of female adolescent sexuality. I examine the ghostly sexual assault of a teenage girl in Heiðarvíga saga, an attack that is partly blamed on her nascent erotic volatility. I then consider a maiden-king episode from Sigrgarðs saga frækna, which conversely defends young women’s active engagement in the marital and sexual spheres.
Chapter Three examines representations of elderly male sexuality. I analyse senex amans episodes in Hrólfs saga kraka and Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis, which lament the loss of male socio-sexual power during senescence. However, the following examination of rapacious revenants indicates that, though this decline is regrettable, resisting it could be considered even more problematic.
Chapter Four considers elderly female sexuality, which is almost exclusively denigrated throughout the corpus. Consistent with this trend, the Fróðárundur of Eyrbyggja saga are interpreted as symbolic criticisms of the sexuality of the menopausal Þórgunna. However, the ubiquity of this trend is then contested, with reference to the beneficial eroticism of ancient, supernatural foster-mothers.