Gunhild Steinarsdottir was a shieldmaiden who saw a few battles when she was younger. By the years before Þýdal's fall, she was married to Hoffer Magnuson, the village jarl, and maintained a garden filled with beautiful flowers. She had grown sick of war and sought peace and beauty. Gunhild also acted motherly to everyone in the village. It was well known that she seemed to hear and see everything that happened, and no one fooled her for long.