Abstract
Dominated by the historical and philological approach, skaldic poems are arranged by author in most editions. Poems composed by trolls can be hard to locate in these since they are anonymous, seen as not genuine and of less interest. And yet the sagas contain at least 90 skaldic stanzas by otherworldly individuals. Many are delivered in dreams and the speakers referred to simply as “maðr” or “kona”. Most of these paranormal poets appear in a single scene and their poetic expression is their contribution to human society. Their agency is within the mind of the person who experiences the dream or the vision. This paper aims to illustrate how paranormal verse works within a saga text by taking a further look at the language of this poetry. One conclusion is that paranormal figures follow skaldic tradition and their poetry is akin to other poetry. What separates these verses from other poetry is the setting, they form a part of a paranormal scene that is meant to make the audience uneasy. The audience is told how affecting the vision or the dream is to the saga characters. A modern audience may have a hard time to share that dread but the fact that verse is used may have affected the audience all the more strongly. The episodes enhance the conflicts of the sagas that not only take place on a regional stage but are also concerned with good and evil.
