Magnus had rejoined Sigurd Slembe's men, but they continue to have little support in Norway.

After some time spent more like bandits than kings, they meet the forces of the child kings King Inge I and King Sigurd II in the naval Battle of Holmengrå (Slaget ved Holmengrå) near Hvaler in Oslofjord.

The loyal guard Reidar Grjotgardsson lifts his crippled king at the final battle, but a spear impales them both.

Sigurd Slembe, captured and betrayed, meets his end in a brutal manner, tortured to death.

His arms and calves are first crushed with ax-hammers, after which the skin on his head is cleaved, his back is flayed and his spine broken.

He is thereafter hanged, decapitated and thrown into a scree of rocks.