Jormundur is old enough to truly remember his elder brother Bjorn. He was six when Bjorn fell through the icy lake on the one day they were given to play outside. Jormundur remembers trying to save him, but not being strong enough. That drives him still, and he works hard at being the strongest of his siblings so that it never happens again. So that he never fails his family again.
 
That's why in 1543 he arranged for his meddlesome younger sister Emma to be married off to the butcher's boy. She misunderstood and ran off. Their younger sister Saga married the butcher's boy instead, keeping the marriage contract. Jormundur then controlled the fishing business, now without his younger sister pretending to run things. His brother was content to be a farmer on the little land his father had, but Jormundur wanted more.