The story of Egil Skalla-grímsson is a story about the untamed human spirit which adapts and adjusts when it is confronted with an obstacle.  

Destiny places obstacles before Egil when his ship is wrecked and he must sing his way out of death by preforming a heroic poem to his worst enemy. Mercy is shown to the merciless and he becomes a humbler man.

The might of nature places obstacles before Egil when his son dies - and Egil himself, like a ship in turmoil, straightens his path as a human through the narrative.  

At the end of the story the old man is faced with the edge of existence - old age and inevitable death. The proud hero and master feels the force of life ebb away from him.