Among plot motifs which recur in these sagas and are based on historical reality are a prelude in Norway prior to emigration to Iceland, and the tanfer (journey abroad), in which an ambitious young Icelander sails abroad, usually to Scandinavia and the British Isles, to trade, raid, or to serve kings and earls with his sword or his poetic gifts
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PLOT .
The better-structured sagas are tightly organised, with most if not all episodes feeding into the main plot, although their relevance may not always be obvious at first sight. The plot derives momentum and direction from powerful themes or tragic conflicts. Laxdla saga is united by Gur n's dream and the four marriages it presages, together with the fateful relationship between the cousins Kjartan and Bolli. Njáls saga is in two great linked acts each showing the inexorable progress of a feud involving people of good will as well as trouble-makers, while the shorter Gunnlaugs saga focuses on the mortal rivalry between Gunnlaugr and his fellow poet Hrafn, who cheats him out of possession of the beautiful Helga. Other sagas give a more episodic impression, such as the lengthy Eyrbyggja saga or the shorter, rather primitive Kormáks saga, which has some inept transitions and episodes that are digressive or duplicated, as well as lacking crucial explanation at some points. .
In overall composition, many or most sagas describe an arch-like structure. An introduction is followed by a phased conflict, in which acts of feuding, perhaps interlaced with attempts at arbitration or advocacy, mount to a violent climax, followed by revenge, reconciliation and an 'aftermath' in which social normality returns, and the subsequent history of the protagonists or their descendants is sketched. Within the greater arch there may be sub-conflicts, each with its own shape, and/or different strands of conflict may be interlaced. This was suggested as a near-universal model for the Sagas of Icelanders by Theodore M.
