Kolfinna, means "black Finn" with the nickname being Kolla. The significance of the name is that Kolfinna was born with black hair. The "Finn" part indicates a Saami, which in this case means someone who works with magic/works with Runes/is Shamanic, etc LIKE the Saami. In other words, in Kolfinna's place and time (early, EARLY Norway) folks tend to call folks who were involved with mysticism and spirituality "Finn" meaning Saami, just because of the reputation of the latter for being Shamanic magicians.
Rags-to riches:
Kolfinna has a middle-class-to rags-to riches kind of story. She comes from farming stock, but they were well-to-do, comfortable farmers. She and her husband had husband and wife thralls--and their 3 kids--as part of their household so they were well enough off to afford them. They planned to give the thralls their freedom after harvest. Unfortunately before that could happen, the entire farmstead--and all inhabitants, human and animal--were wiped out while Kolfinna was away trading for seed with her husband's people.
A cremation and a new beginning:
After burning the remains of her dead, instead of going to her husband's people, Kolfinna goes to a stead where the folks are primarily amber hunters and traders. However, these folks aren't as "well off" in terms of livestock and food crops, as were all the folks on Kolfinna's former farmstead. She went to the poorer stead because of a "protector" who is a "disabled veteran" of sorts from the warrior class. Warrior class being tight with the aristocrats, or even the same thing sometimes. This particular guy is not an aristocrat, although he has a nephew who is a Norwegian prince and later becomes a king.
A foul sack:
Kolfinna learns warrior skills from the protector so she can avenge herself on the guys who slaughtered her family and friends. Thanks to the connection to the young Norwegian prince, she is able to go to his family's holding for leads in pursuing her enemies. That lead takes her across the Glomma River into what is now Sweden, in pursuit of more of the men. Over there she hooks up with some highly regarded warriors and aristocrats. They are impressed with the way she kills one of the outlaws she hunts who was hiding among them. However, they find her sack of heads repugnant. She "signs on" (like in the military) with them and they go to Denmark as mercenaries where they help the king of Denmark who is having terrorist problems. Consequently, all the thanes are richly rewarded. During her years in service with the Swedes, Kolfinna visits very rich, royal holdings and is most impressed with the dogs, the like of which she'd never seen--to include long-coated sight-hounds and little lap dogs only the very wealthy can afford.
Gifts of mountain and sea:
Ten years later, Kolfinna returns to the stead of the amber hunters. She often wears real nice clothes, but she is a "country girl" at heart, so she still enjoys planting and working with livestock, especially her horses. She also becomes one of the "protectors" of the stead of the amber hunters, along with her adopted daughter and an Irish thrall who was given to her in Denmark. She gives him his freedom, but he chooses to stay with her and the amber hunters.
As a widow, Kolfinna is able to chose to marry whomever and actually becomes somewhat of a bigamist. She lives happily ever after with a couple of "husbands."
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