Valkyrie

The tale of the Valkyries

When warriors fought in the North, they believed they were never alone on the battlefield. Above them, unseen, rode the valkyries, the "choosers of the slain". They were Odin's warrior maidens, sent to decide who would win the battle and who would die, and to carry the bravest of the fallen up to the hall of Valhalla.

They ride through the air and over the sea on horses, armoured, with helmets and spears, and some say the northern lights are the shining of their shields. Their names are battle itself: Hildr (battle), Göndul (wand-wielder), Skögul (shaker), Hrist (shaker), Mist (mist), Geirskögul (spear-fight).

In Valhalla

The chosen dead are the einherjar. In Valhalla they fight each other every day for practice, and every evening their wounds heal and they sit down together to feast. The valkyries serve them mead in drinking horns. The meat never runs out, because the boar Sæhrímnir is cooked every night and alive again every morning. All this is a preparation: when Ragnarök comes, Odin will lead the einherjar out to the last battle against the giants.

Brynhildr

The most famous valkyrie is Brynhildr. Odin ordered her to give victory in a battle to an old king, but she gave it to the young one instead. In punishment Odin put her into a deep sleep on a mountain, surrounded by a wall of fire, and decreed she would have to marry a mortal. Only the hero Sigurd, slayer of the dragon Fáfnir, dared to ride through the flames and wake her. They swore to marry, but a magic drink of forgetfulness made Sigurd marry another, and the tale of Brynhildr's love and revenge became one of the great tragedies of the North.

Shieldmaidens and swans

Some valkyries could take the form of swans. In one poem the smith Völund finds three of them bathing in a lake with their swan cloaks on the shore, and takes one as his wife. Real Viking women sometimes fought too, and later sagas told of shieldmaidens, so valkyries and warrior women came to mean the same thing to many.

Valkyrie in Battle of Myths

The Valkyrie is a cost 2 Norse hero with two aspects. As the Chooser of the Slain (assassin and mystic) she makes the Dive of the Valkyrie, leaping onto the weakest enemy. As Valhalla's Herald (mystic and guardian) she sends out Valhalla's Call, healing the most wounded ally and quickening its attacks. As her quote says: not you, not yet, keep fighting. Like every Norse hero, she grows stronger with Ragnarök the longer a fight lasts.

Did you know?

• Richard Wagner's opera Die Walküre (1870) contains the Ride of the Valkyries, one of the best-known pieces of music in the world.
• Freya, too, chooses half of the slain for her hall, so the valkyries are not the only ones collecting heroes.