Valkyries: Women of War

Cue the music: “Ride of the Valkyries,” from Richard Wagner’s opera Die Walküre, is one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music ever written, thanks in part to Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in “What’s Opera, Doc?” (1957). Wagner’s four-opera Ring cycle also gave us something less welcome. For example, Carl Emil Doepler’s costumes for the 1876 premiere helped fix the myth of horned Viking helmets in the popular imagination (the Vikings didn’t wear them). Wagner’s Valkyries are armored sopranos in winged helmets. Still, the Valkyries of Norse sources are something far stranger and more frightening.

What Is a Valkyrie?

In Norse mythology, the Valkyries are the “choosers of the slain” who serve Odin. According to Dr. Jackson Crawford, a scholar and translator of Old Norse, a Valkyrie is a human female who has dedicated herself to Odin. Crawford also notes that Valkyries may also be jotnar (giants). So she takes on this role of choosing the dead, which grants her the powers of a Valkyrie. However, what survives of Norse mythology does not make clear whether the job is a lifetime appointment.

Physical Characteristics of the Norse Valkyries

While modern depictions often portray Odin’s shield-maidens as scantily clad and attractive, there is little evidence to suggest that Valkyries were physically beautiful. For example, ‘Hrafnsmal,’ a poem written for Harald Fairhair around 900 A.D., describes a Valkyrie as blonde and bright-haired, indicators of the upper class. She was wise, snake-eyed, blond-lashed, and pale-throated, and unaffected by men emotionally. The term “snake eyes” also relates to the Volsungs and denotes a daunting presence in battle.

The Valkyrie Skins

Some Valkyries wore feathered skins, giving them a swan-like appearance, which may have been the source of their flight powers. In at least one tale, however, men have stolen these skins.

The Terrifying Norse Valkyries

However, much more evidence shows them to be mesmerizing and terrifying. For example, the “Saga of the Volsungs” says that looking at them was like gazing into flames. “The Web of Spears” unites 12 of the Valkyries with Skuld, the youngest Norn (a Fate in Norse mythology). First, they go to a cottage where they use a loom made from human body parts. The cloth is human entrails dyed with blood, and the tools are weapons. Meanwhile, they sing about how their weaving is determining the outcome of a far-off battle. When they finish with the weaving, they tear it to shreds and take the scraps with them. Crawford points out that Skuld may or may not be a Norn. Instead, she could be a Valkyrie with the same name. In fact, the Valkyrie and the Norns may be the same group of supernatural beings.

What the Norse Valkyries Symbolize

Crawford suggests that the Valkyries symbolize both the tangible lust men have for women and the abstract allure they feel toward battle.

Valkyries: Women of War

According to the archaeologist Neil Price, there are 52 named Valkyries in surviving Norse literature. Many of those names have something to do with war. Price says the Valkyries did not gracefully “swoop” onto the battlefield to bear their heroes to the afterlife; instead, these women warriors “were unleashed on it,” personifying the harsh realities of battle. In fact, many Valkyrie names reflected the noise of battle, the hesitation, and the chaos. They were also named for weapons and different ways and times those weapons would be used.

Norse Valkyrie Names and Their Meanings

The word valkyrja means ‘chooser of the slain.’ The Valkyries chose which of the dead would go to Odin’s Valhalla (or, in some sources, to Freyja). Here are some of the names that survive, with Price’s and Crawford’s translations:

• Gondul: Price’s interpretation is “War-Fetter,” the freezing hesitation that could be fatal. Crawford links the name to magical staves, wolves, and monsters. Gondul also comes up as a name for Freyja, who appears as a tall, beautiful woman to King Hethinn.
• Hlokk: Price lists this name as “Chain,” “Mist,” “Cloud.” It could be related to the fog of war or the hesitation as with Gondul. However, Crawford translates it as “the cry of an eagle.”
• Hjalmthrimul: “Helmet-Clatter.”
• Hjorthrimul: “Sword-Noise.”
• Hljóð: “Howling” (or “Noise”).
• Randgnithr: “Shield-Scraper.”
• Skalmöld: “Sword-Time.”
• Svava: “Killer” or “Put-to-Sleeper.”
• Tanngnithr: “Teeth-Grinder.”
• Geirahod: “Spear-Battle.”
• Geirdriful: “Spear-Flinger.”
• Geirskogul: Price calls her “Spear-Shaker.” Crawford calls her “Spear-Projector.”
• Hrist: “Shake.”
• Mist: “Mist.”
• Skeggjold: “Axe-Age,” which is also the name of one of the terrible ages coming before Ragnarök.
• Skogul: “Projector.”
• Hildr: “Battle.”
• Gunnr: “Battle.”
• Thruthr: “Supernatural-Strength.”
• Herfjotur: “War-Fetter” or “War-Wife.”
• Goll: “Noise.”
• Randgrid: “Shield-Eager.”
• Radgrid: “Advice-Eager.”
• Reginleif: “Divine-Survivor” or “Divine-Remnant.”
• Skuld: “Debt” or “Necessity.” This is also the name of a Norn.
• Sigrún: “Victory-Rune” or “Victory-Mystery.”
• Brynhild: “Armor-Warrior.” Her other name may be Sigrdrífa.
• Sigrdrífa: “Victory-Driver.” She may be the same figure as Brynhild.

A few more names survive in the sources. Here they are, given only in translation:

• “Battle-Weaver”
• “Disorder”
• “Scent-of-Battle”
• “Victory-Froth”
• “Vibration”
• “Unstable”
• “Treader”
• “Swan-White”
• “Shield-Destroyer”
• “Helper”
• “Armor”
• “Devastate”
• “Silence”

Chief Valkyrie?

Was there a chief Valkyrie? Crawford proposes that it may have been Freyja. In the poem Grímnismál she decides where the dead will sit in her hall-field, Fólkvangr, and chooses half of the slain each day. After all, choosing the dead is exactly what Valkyries do. (For more on where the dead go, see our post on the Viking afterlife.)