The Níðstöng
Níðstöng, the scorn pole of the sagas, most famously raised by Egil Skallagrímsson against King Eiríkr Bloodaxe and Queen Gunnhild. Egil set a hazel pole topped with a carved horse head, turned toward the mainland, and invoked the land-spirits to drive the royal pair from Norway. The pole was a curse made visible, meant to bring ruin and exile upon its target. The word níð carries the sense of insult and dishonour, and the pole formalised that insult as a public act of magic. By fixing a horse's skull on the stake and carving runes, the raiser handed the curse over to the land-spirits (landvæt