Hlíf Njörðrsdóttir

General:
Name: Hlìf
Last name: Njörðrsdóttir
Title: -
Age: 25 years old
Rank: Shield Maiden
Place of birth: Rogaland
Place of residence: Skagen

Family:
Father: Njörðrs Vargsson
Mother: Birget Klengsdóttir
Siblings: None.
Other: Sköll

Appearance:
Skin tone: Pale
Hair color: Dark brown
Hair style: Worn backwards, pinned on the back af her head, preventing it from falling into her face. The soft curls she has are mostly worn loose, but sometimes braided. She likes to color the front of her hair with white paint.
Eye color: Green
Height: 1m75
Weight: 56kg
Build: Slim, muscular
Tattoos: Her etire left leg, from ancle to groing, is decorated with viking runes and drawings.

Personality:
Hlíf is very driven in everything that she does. She is from the principle: When you go for something, give your all and everything, or don’t go for it at all. Hlíf is aware that she isn’t the greatest fighter that has ever walked upon the earth, she knows her weaknesses as well as her strengths. She is very aware of who she is as a person, what of course doesn’t mean that she liked to admit that also she had things she needs to learn. Hlíf doesn’t like to cooperate with other human when she is working, she is a lonely warrior and isn’t good at teamwork, nor teaching. When looking for deserters she has an unlimited patience, a patience that completely disappears when she had to teach her skills to others. When she is not working, she doés like to socialise with others, in a way that is very typical hers but not always predictable.

She is good with words but doesn’t always know how to bring them over in a correct way. People like her, or not at all, and even those who have a thing for her she easily knows to annoy with her presence. She seems to be much better with animals, since they aren’t able to speak back to her. Her dog Sköll is nearly always by her side, watching over her and obeying every command she gives him. Back in Rogaland she used to have a horse, a white mare called Surt, but she had to leave her in Rogaland when she departed by boat to fight the war for Skagen.

Hlíf is merciless, had almost none compassion towards others because of her lack of empathy. This manifest itself when she is hunting: She likes to capture an animal and make it suffer before she ends its life, only to show that she is in charge. It is like she wears eye valves and only sees from her point of view. Only her own luck and happiness counts in her life, even though she never had experienced true happiness or satisfaction. She always wants more, an unlimited power for skills and greatness. Hlíf wants to be known by all, she is known in Rogaland, in Skagen, but also in other villages she wants to introducer herself as the person she is. Although her great ambitions, she does not have the one to become a ruling earl or queen in a village. Because it would require a lot of cooperation with others, and she knows that is one of her weaknesses. She likes to follow, but being independent at the same time. Hlíf just wants to be one of the dangerous pieces of the chess game ready to move forward when needed.

History:
Hlìf Njörðrsdóttir, born as the daughter of a dressmaker and a viking warrior in the Kingdom of Rogaland was supposed to walk into the footsteps of her mother. But from her childhood it was clearly that Hlíf’s interests did not fount their origin in the spinning of wool, nor the sewing from fabric. Although she was very good with her hands and able to perform detailed work, she didn’t seem to find any kind of challenge in the making of clothes. When in the shop of her mother, she often hid in the storage room, playing with the little bugs that were to be found in between the baskets of wool and in the dark corners of the room. She made them crawl over her hands and fight each other, only to kill them with a knitting needle when they couldn’t entertain her enough.

Her parents soon enough discovered that the girl needed to surround her with nature instead of needles and thread. So Njörðrs took her daughter out for hunting lessons by the age of 15, trying to make an experienced huntress from her. He didn’t let her follow fighting lessons because he was too afraid that his only daughter one day might got herself killed in battle. But Hlíf was a fast learner and needed another something with a bigger challenge. When she was 18 she had become an excellent huntress and trail finder, so she offered herself to track deserters, since King Harald was very fond of keeping his folk inside of his Kingdom. Her father did not agree, but King Harald was very fond of her skills and her becoming a tracker of deserters. The only condition was that she would learn how to defend herself against people and not only animals. So she was trained as a Frú and was allowed to start tracking down deserters when she was a Thegn. By that time she was 22 years old.

Hlíf was very good at what she did, but knew that in some cases the might needed help from another. Since she wasn’t good at cooperating with people, she decided to take a dog as her companion. She got Sköll from when he was only a pup, and trained him to be her left hand. Together they were able to track down people with the smallest piece of evidence from their desertion. Her lightness and hunting skills were a big advantage. In most of the cases she didn’t even needed to physically battle the deserters. Together with Sköll she tracked the deserters down, observed their behaviour for a couple of days and eventually placed effective traps. When they were caught, she would knock them out, tie them up and guide -or drag of needed- them back to the Kingdom of Rogaland.

With every deserter she brought back to King Harald, she was generously thanked with silver and gold, but Hlíf found no pleasure in money. The only thing she wanted in her life was experience, growing stronger and making her name known by all. So when she told Harald what she wanted, he offered her a new chance: Taking over Skagen together with his brother Halfdan.

When the time was right, Hlíf jumped on board with a whole army of Viking warriors and shield maiden, under the command of King Harald and his brother Halfdan the Black. It was Björn Ironside who had informed the brothers about a small fisher village with an expertise in the crafting of ships. So eventually they set sail to the village that called itself Skagen. They were caught by surprise when the army of Rogaland invaded the village. Halfdan killed the former earl in cold blood and took over his place on the throne, supported by his brother. Hlíf took part in fighting the warriors from Skagen itself but got herself hurt while she did so. One of the warriors from Skagen was able to cut open her side with a sword. Eventually she knew to supress him with the help of Halfdan himself. Cranked in ego she wanted to kill the man, her first human kill, but she wasn’t allowed because he could be useful to them.

When time passed by and Skagen found it rest again beneath the ruling of Halfdan the Black, part of the army from Harald decided to go back to Rogaland. Hlíf wanted to join them, but wasn’t allowed because of her useful skill to track down people. Harald expected a lot of desertion, so Hlíf was ordered to stay. When she finally accepted, she was promoted to become one of the personal shield maiden from Harald.