Oddsfjellet - The mysterious mountain

Visit Oddsfjellet for a stunning view of the North Sea around a Viking grave that truly fascinates.

Path to the top

Today you can easily walk to the top of Oddsfjell. The trip is marked and takes 15 – 20 minutes.
At the top you have a panoramic view to Lista on one side and to Egersund on the other. The story of Odd was long known to only a few, but in recent years Odd has had a renaissance, thanks in large part to the novel series about Odd from Berglyd.

Core of truth

The saga of Orvar Odd is called a saga of lies. Here we find magic and stories that are obviously not true. Nevertheless, there is a kernel of truth in the stories. The author Arnt Olav Klippenberg says that he is certain that Odd's family came from Ramstad in Trøndelag. He is sure that Odd was born at Berglyd and he is sure that his parents left him there and never came back to collect their son.

In the saga, Odd's life is described as a restless journey around a Viking world. Most of this, Klippenberg believes, is well made up, but is unlikely to have happened in reality. It only becomes true when Odd returns home to Berglyd in his old days to die. Odd is a kind of clock winder who collects stories, legends and myths. It is impossible to date when Orvar Odd lived, but there are several references to Christianity, which means that Klippenberg places Odd in the late Viking Age.

The grave at Oddsfjellet

In 1844, the village priest went up to Oddsfjellet. He explored the grave and found various artefacts. These are registered with the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. In the 1970s, a fisherman from Nesvåg was buried at Oddsvik. He was surprised by a terrible thunderstorm. Lightning split the sky and struck the grave at the top of Oddsfjellet. The fisherman described how stones from the grave "floated" in the air and some ended up in the sea. The grave is a protected cultural monument. The pile of stones at the top was probably gathered together after the lightning strike.

Three wishes

A Viking ship is on its way from Trøndelag to Viken in connection with an inheritance settlement. On board is Lopthena, a young, heavily pregnant woman. Outside Nesvåg, the labour is in progress and the ship decides to go ashore. She is taken up to Berglyd where she gives birth to her son Odd. The parents then move on. Odd grows up with his stepparents Ingjald and Ålov at Berglyd. There we meet Odd again as a young man. Volven Heid comes to Berglyd. She predicts that Odd's horse, Fakse, will become his bane. To make sure that doesn't happen, the horse is killed and buried in the countryside.

Odd spends his adult life travelling. Not until he is an old man does he return home to Berglyd. One day he walks in the countryside. There he sees the skull of a horse sticking out of the ground. He kicks it. Out darts a worm. It squirts its poison into Odd and it soon becomes clear that he is going to die. On his deathbed, he has three wishes. He wants to be buried in a place where he can hear the church bells, the sea and the rooster at Berglyd.

That place is the top of Oddsfjellet.