Do not count on me

I am reading Þórðar saga hreðu, and cracking up a little bit at the depiction of Þórhallur, a farmer at Mikilbær. He is married to Olöf, a woman who knows something about healing people. The couple befriend Þórðar after he is injured in a battle, and he stays with them for a rather long time. Þórhallur goes along with him on many skirmishes, usually boastfully proclaiming ahead of time that he will come to his friend's aid, at which point the wife always says, "Do not listen to him, he won't do what he says." Through most of the plot, he neither helps nor hinders Þórðar, although at a crucial point, he betrays his friend's whereabouts to his enemy, and for this he is killed. His wife ends up marrying Þórðar. Þórhallur would have probably been better off if he had just said all along, "Look, seriously dude, just don't count on me OK? I mean, I know you don't have a lot of support in this valley, and I know that sucks for you, but all this killing and stuff, it is just not really my cup of tea. I just want to hang out, dry the hay, you know, keep it low key. You should go though, it seems like you sort of like killing people. Sorry I can't help you out."

Now, in contrast to Þórhallur is Þórðar's foster-son, Eiður, who valiantly comes to his foster-father's defense many, many times, most often against his own father, who rather does not like Þórðar (for no apparent reason other than word of his deeds in Norway).

As a side note, it is rather odd that Þórðar has to rely on these more tenuous connections as a support base, since actually he has two brothers, both of whom are older, and both of which live in the district. They however play zero role in the story. Weird.