The Norse period was one of great literary endeavour in Orkney. The most famous work is the Orkneyinga Saga, written by an Icelandic scholar in the early 13th century. There are several translations of this story of the Earls of Orkney including an 1873 translation edited by J. Anderson and reprinted in 1975 and a modern translation by Hermann Palsson/Paul Edwards, published in 1978. Other sagas, including Laxdaela Saga and King Harald's Saga are wider in scope but include stories of Orkney Vikings. Laxdaela Saga refers to Earl Einar Rognavaldsson (Turf-Einar) and Erlend and Paul Thorfinsson, Earl Rognvald Brusason, and Earl Thorfinn Sigurdson (Thorfinn the Mighty) are referred to in King Harald's Saga. More recently, Ernest W. Marwick compiled and edited An Anthology of Orkney Verse (1949) with verse from the Norse era and later works.

The Viking days of Orkney have also been portrayed in modern stories and novels by Orcdian authors George Mackay Brown and Eric Linklater. Brown wrote short stories such as The Feast at Paplay (1983), the story of the "feast of the reconciled earls" in Holm, Orkney, at the time of the murder of holy Jarl Magnus.

He also wrote novels such as Magnus, Vinland (1992) and Beside the Ocean of Time (1994). Linklater's works include, The Men of Ness: The Saga of Thorleif Coalbiter's Sons (The Orkney Edition), published in 1952.

Orkney Vikings also feature in stories by Henry Treece and others. Treece's The Last of the Vikings (1964), illustrated by Charles Keeping, describes some adventures of King Harald Hardrada

With the death of Sweyn Asleifsson in 1171 in a raid at Dublin and then the death of Earl Harald Maddadson, who was part Scots, in 1206, times were changing. By the mid 13th century Norse influence had waned, though Orkney and Shetland only became part of Scotland in 1468. During the fifteenth century, Old Norse and Udal Law lost its grip on the islands, with the tidal influx of Scots Earls and the effect of their rule. The cruel and oppressive rule of the Scots earls Robert Stewart and his son Patrick had a more detrimental effect in a much shorter period on the life of Orkney than centuries of occasionally turbulent but usually colourful and constructive Norse rule.

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