Snert's strange appearance is due to an altercation he had with the washerwoman who used to clean his loincloths. After strictly admonishing her for failing to remove a tenacious stain of priest's blood, Snert received a nasty shock the following morning upon looking in the mirror. It turned out the woman was a practioner of witchcraft and had invoked a terrible hex on Snert, causing him to resemble a housecat. Soon afterwards, Snert's wife left him and took the children, and he has suffered no end of ridicule from his fellow Norsemen.