Valkyries A-Go-Go

October 1, 2007 9:32 AM

Tell me more about Valkyries!

I am particularly interested in the valkyries of Norse mythology, and fascinated by how they've been portrayed over the ages. I feel their portrayal has relatively two-dimensional, especially considering their imagination-firing roles as escorts, advocates, or scavengers to fallen warriors.

I've already looked on wikipedia, and the information there piqued but did not satisfy my curiosity. I've done a lot of research online, but I'd like to be pointed toward any really thorough or particularly interesting sources or depictions of valkyries in literature, art, pop culture you name it. Excellent books on Norse mythology would also be helpful (though I know there are a few obvious ones that get leaned on a lot). Do you have anything to offer?

posted by hermitosis to religion & philosophy (13 comments total)

The Ring Cycle seems like the most obvious place to look. (Then again, there's always comic books...)
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:41 AM on October 1, 2007

my impression of valkyries is that they're not very bright. as i understand it, brunnhilde loved siegfried, and she knew that he was such a brave man that he would never turn and run from an enemy in a fight, so when she enchanted him with the power of invulnerability, she only enchanted his forward aspect, i.e., the area from nine to twelve to three, neglecting his six, where someone promptly stabbed him with a spear when he wasn't paying attention. dumb blonde valkyrie, go home to valhalla now!
posted by bruce at 10:34 AM on October 1, 2007

Spoiler for "Conan the Barbarian" (the movie version, at least; not sure about the book):

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Valeria, Sandahl Bergman's character, becomes a Valkyrie or Valkyrie-like figure after her death.

Also the 1980's Marvel Comics series "The New Mutants" had the character Dani Moonstar become a Valkyrie during one of her trips to Valhalla (don't ask), a role she found both ironic and disturbing given that she was Native American, not Scandinavian.
posted by Asparagirl at 10:41 AM on October 1, 2007

I should think that the Poetic Edda would be of interest as source material. I've had good luck with Oxford Editions like this one. I've read the Oxford Kalevala, but not the Edda. Not yet, anyway.
posted by jquinby at 10:44 AM on October 1, 2007

I'll second jquinby. Look for translations of Snorri Sturluson. Valkyries are all the more interesting when studied in the context of their mythology.
posted by kepano at 11:24 AM on October 1, 2007

Heather O'Donoghue's From Asgard to Valhalla: The Remarkable History of the Norse Myths does a good job of telling you about the original norse myths and how/why they are still popular after so many centuries. It's mostly about the gods, but there are enough passages about the valkyries.
posted by Skyanth at 11:47 AM on October 1, 2007 [1 favorite]

On YouTube:

The traditional Valkyrie Cry, as performed by the sublime Kirsten Flagstad

Valkyries as death-goddesses delivering slain heroes to Valhalla: the great Patrice Chereau production of Wagner's tetraology
posted by La Cieca at 12:27 PM on October 1, 2007

It will take a day or so for me to find the book, so I can't cite it right now, but I remember reading a book on Scandinavian mythology where that presented Odin as a deathgod and explained some of his associations as metaphors for death/dying. So Odin's eight-legged horse Sleipnir, who can carry a rider between the worlds of heaven, earth, and the underworld, can represent four men carrying a dead man to his funeral pyre. As I recall the Valkyries, minor death deities who worked for Odin, represented buzzards on the battlefield.
posted by RussHy at 12:42 PM on October 1, 2007

A slightly different interpretation of Act III of Die Walkure
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:10 PM on October 1, 2007

Brunnhilde, or Brynhildr to give her her Norse name, is not a typical Valkyrie but a character in the Old Norse Volsunga saga and the Middle High German Nibelungenlied. Both these stories date from around the thirteenth century CE.

To understand Valkyries and their role in Norse belief, here's a starting quote from Gylfaginning, part of Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda:

Odin is called Allfather because he is father of all the gods. He is also called Father of the Slain [Valfather], because all those that fall in battle are the sons of his adoption; for them he appoints Valhall and Vingólf, and they are then called Champions.

From this, you can see that "Val" in Old Norse means "the slain." Valhall [Hall of the Slain] and the less-mentioned Vingólf [Friendly Floor] are two of Odin's halls. According to Old Norse tradition, if you died honourably in battle, you joined him there for an afterlife of hunting, feasting, beer drinking and fighting.

Valkyries are literally "choosers of the slain," those who ride over battlefields and bring the best slain warriors home to Odin. Odin collected these brave warriors to serve as his army on the day of Ragnarök, the end of the world. Here's a quote and footnote from Völuspa

"31. On all sides saw I | Valkyries assemble,
Ready to ride | to the ranks of the gods;
Skuld bore the shield, | and Skogul rode next,
Guth, Hild, Gondul, | and Geirskogul.
Of Herjan's maidens | the list have ye heard,
Valkyries ready | to ride o'er the earth.


[31. Valkyries: these "Choosers of the Slain" (cf. stanza I, note) bring the bravest warriors killed in battle to Valhall, in order to re-enforce the gods for their final struggle. They are also called "Wish-Maidens," as the fulfillers of Othin's wishes. The conception of the supernatural warrior-maiden was presumably brought to Scandinavia in very early times from the South-Germanic races, and later it was interwoven with the likewise South-Germanic tradition of the swan-maiden. A third complication developed when the originally quite human women of the hero-legends were endowed with the qualities of both Valkyries and swan-maidens, as in the cases of Brynhild (cf. Gripisspo, introductory note), Svava (cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, prose after stanza 5 and note) and Sigrun (cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 17 and note). The list of names here given may be an interpolation; a quite different list is given in Grimnismol, 36. Ranks of the gods: some editors regard the word thus translated as a specific place name. Herjan ("Leader of Hosts"): Othin. It is worth noting that the name Hild ("Warrior") is the basis of Bryn-hild ("Warrior in Mail Coat").

Snorri has:

Hrist and Mist | I would have bear the horn to me,
Skeggjöld and Skögull;
Hildr and Thrúdr, | Hlökk and Herfjötur,
Göll and Geirahöd,
Randgrídr and Rádgrídr | and Reginleif
These bear the Einherjar ale.

These are called Valkyrs: them Odin sends to every battle; they determine men's feyness and award victory. Gudr and Róta and the youngest Norn, she who is called Skuld, ride ever to take the slain and decide fights.

So according to Snorri, valkyries not only collect the slain, they decide fights and award victory. (And serve drinks!) Wagner has Brunnhilde appear to a hero before a battle to foretell his death. I can't determine if this is based on legend or just something he put in for the hell of it, but the Norse did believe in predestination, and foreknowledge was important to them.

I recommend the Kevin Crossley-Holland's "The Norse Myths", if you're interested in more background: it's a very good read.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:08 PM on October 1, 2007

Just adding that in Wagner, Valkyries are the daughters of Wotan (Odin) and Erda the prophetic earth-goddess; but Wagner, being a nineteenth-century Romantic, isn't the most reliable source. I can't find a mention of the parentage of the Valkyries in the Eddas, but their names are often listed, with translations (here from a footnote in Grimnismal, of which stanza 36 is a Valkyrie list):

Hrist: "Shaker." Mist: "Mist." Skeggjold: "Ax-Time." Skogul: "Raging" (?). Hild: "Warrior." Thruth: "Might." Hlok: "Shrieking." Herfjotur: "Host-Fetter." Gol: "Screaming." Geironul: "Spear-Bearer." Randgrith: "Shield-Bearer." Rathgrith: Gering guesses "Plan-Destroyer." Reginleif: "Gods'-Kin." Manuscripts and editions vary greatly in the spelling of these names, and hence in their significance.

posted by Pallas Athena at 4:18 PM on October 1, 2007

And here's the classic picture by Arthur Rackham. Sorry for the multiple comments! Hope some of it helps.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:23 PM on October 1, 2007

I read D'Aulaires' Norse Myths as a kid.
posted by brujita at 9:25 PM on October 1, 2007