Valkyries

The Valkyries are divine female figures in Norse mythology whose name means “choosers of the slain” (Old Norse valkyrja, from valr, the slain in battle, and kjosa, to choose). They ride over battlefields during combat and select which warriors will die, escorting the chosen dead to Valhalla, Odin’s great hall in Asgard, where the fallen warriors called the Einherjar feast and fight in preparation for the final battle of Ragnarok. Half of the battle-slain go to Valhalla; the other half go to Freyja’s hall Folkvangr.

Their character in the Norse sources ranges from purely functional divine figures who execute Odin’s will without individual personality to fully individualized figures with complex personal stories, particular relationships with specific heroes, and the capacity to choose and love. This range reflects both the breadth of the sources and the genuine complexity of their mythological role.

History and origins

Valkyrie figures appear throughout the Norse mythological corpus, from the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda through the heroic sagas. Their earliest appearances present them as relatively abstract battle-spirits who determine the outcome of conflicts and gather the slain. In the heroic poetry, particularly the Helgi cycle and the Volsung saga, they become fully individualized characters with names, desires, and personal narratives.

The historical background of Valkyrie belief is connected to older Germanic traditions of female spirit-figures who influenced battle, including the disir (female ancestor spirits) and concepts of female fate-weavers. Roman-era Latin sources mention Germanic female figures called ides or alvitr with battle associations. The Valkyries as a developed mythological category appear to be a Norse flowering of this broader tradition.

Their name structure follows a consistent pattern in Old Norse: most Valkyrie names involve words for battle, slaughter, weapons, or related concepts. Hildr means “battle,” Göndul may relate to a word for wand or staff, Skogul may relate to a word for high or rushing, Geirskogul means “spear-skogul.”

In practice

In contemporary Heathen practice, the Valkyries are honored as powerful divine female figures who operate at the intersection of fate, battle, and passage between worlds. They are not typically approached for everyday requests but are invoked in contexts that relate to their mythological domain: courage in serious challenges, the honoring of those who died in struggle, and the navigation of significant transitions.

Some practitioners develop devotional relationships with specific named Valkyries, particularly Brunhild or Sigrún. Offerings of mead, weapons imagery, and strong herbs are appropriate. They are addressed with respect for their martial character and their role as Odin’s chosen agents.

Life and work

The most fully developed Valkyrie character in Norse mythology is Brunhild (Brynhildr), who appears in both the Volsung saga and the Eddic poems. She was a Valkyrie who disobeyed Odin by granting victory to the wrong warrior and was punished by being put to sleep within a ring of fire until a hero brave enough to cross it found and woke her. Sigurd (Siegfried in the German tradition) crossed the fire and woke her. Their love story, complicated by a curse and Sigurd’s forgetting of Brunhild under the influence of a potion, ends in tragedy.

Sigrún is another named Valkyrie who chose her mortal husband Helgi Hundingsbane and grieved deeply for him after his death. The poems describe her visiting his burial mound, where he returns temporarily from Valhalla to her.

The Valkyrie Skuld is particularly interesting because she also appears in lists of the three Norns, the weavers of fate, suggesting an ancient connection between the fate-weaving and battle-choosing functions.

Legacy

Valkyrie imagery has been enormously influential in Northern European art, literature, and popular culture. Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle, particularly Die Walkure, gave the Valkyries one of the most recognized pieces of music in Western classical tradition. In contemporary culture they appear in fantasy literature, games, and art as archetypes of the powerful female warrior and divine escort. In Heathenry they are understood as living mythological beings with genuine spiritual presence and as representatives of the cosmic principle that chooses which deaths are meaningful and which warriors are worthy of the afterlife in Valhalla.