Suicide is modernly considered a decision made by an unhealthy and troubled mind. Depression and emotional trauma are often determining factors in taking one's own life and the motivations for the action usually follow a mentality that does not take into account the honor and shame that accompany the concept of suicide. In ancient Norse culture, however, honor, shame, and death go hand in hand. The characters of the Viking sagas have overall very different motivations from those of modern humans, as demonstrated by the Gautrek and Burning Njal sagas. Intending to maintain status in the proud Viking world, the characters of Gautrek and Njal make choices that seem misguided. Although the deaths described seem avoidable, Skinflint in the saga of Gautrek and Njal decide that death is the only honorable way out of their circumstances, even if that death comes by their own doing. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Honor is one of the most valuable possessions a Viking can have, surpassing wealth, relationships, and even life itself. To maintain honor, a Viking man could go to great lengths, taking measures that went beyond the need for self-preservation. In the Njal saga, Njal finds himself trapped in his own house, surrounded by fire; he is surrounded from the attic and every door by flames that rapidly consume his home. Although Njal receives an offer to allow his escape from this impending doom from Flosi, one of the men who trap him inside, refuses to leave. Leaving, for Njal, means abandoning his home and his children and once again exposing himself to the risk of death. Njal is too old to fight if his enemies decide to betray him and even if he escapes unharmed, he will die shamefully of old age. Gautrek's saga takes a more casual and slightly less heroic approach to the concept of honor where death is connected. The saga describes a “Family Cliff” (Gautrek 27) and this cliff is a place where family members often go to jump off the edge and pass into the afterlife, going “to Odin,” an idea that would be highly frowned upon. in modern culture (Gautrek 29). For members of this particular family, death is more honorable than the burden of such things as disease (even minor), starvation, injury, and age. Illness and hunger are painful and pitiful, fates that make strong men weak and desperate. The family members of the Gautrek saga seem to preserve honor in situations where other families might fall. For them, this justifies the use of the cliff. Shame parallels honor and plays an important role in the deaths of Skinflint and Njal. Flosi, one of the men who trapped Njal, says he will allow women and children to leave the house. After Njal tries and fails to offer Flosi "atonement" from his sons for their actions that brought the saga to this point, Flosi offers Njal the chance to escape the burning house so that he doesn't die needlessly ( The Story of Burning Njal 1 ). By leaving, Njal would not only abandon his home and those who live there, but he would also place himself on the level of women and children, a shameful concept he refuses to accept. Shame presents itself differently in the Gautrek saga, in the actions of the patriarch of the Skinflint family. The “Family Cliff” in the Gautrek Saga is used often and in such a way as to detract from the seriousness of the actions that the family members are committing (Gautrek Saga 27). A family member, Snorta, returns to her home one day to find that her father, Skinflint, was starting to divide his assets to disperse them among his family. A king.