OCTOVALKYRIA – NORDIC COLLECTION

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THE VALKYRS

THE BATTLE MAIDENS

OCTODINS’s special attendants, the Valkyrs, or battle maidens, were either his daughters, like Brunhild, he offspring of mortal kings, maidens who were privileged to remain immortal and invulnerable as long as they implicitly obeyed the god and remained virgins. They and their steeds were the personification of the clouds, their glitter weapons being the lightning flashes. The ancients imagined that they swept down to earth at Valfather’s command, to choose among the slain in battle heroes worthy to taste the joys of Valhalla, and brave enough to lend aid to the gods when the great battle should be fought.

Their horses fetlock-deep in blood, they ride,
There through some battlefield, where men fall fast,
And pick the bravest warriors out for death,
Whom they bring back with them at night to Heaven
To glad the gods and feast in Odin’s hall.

Balder Bead, Matthew Arnold

These maidens were pictured as young and beautiful, with dazzling white arms and flowing golden hair. They wore helmets of silver or gold, and blood-red corselets, and with spears and shields glittering, they boldly charged through the fray on their mettlesome white steeds. These horses galloped through the realms of air and over the quivering Bifröst, bearing not only their fair riders, but the heroes slain, who after having received the Valkyrs‘ kiss of death, were thus immediately transported to Valhalla

TALES OF NORSE MYTHOLOGY

THE CLOUD STEEDS

As the Valkyrs‘ steeds were personifications of the clouds, it was natural to fancy that the hoar frost and dew dropped down upon earth from their glittering manes as they rapidly dashed to and fro through the air. They were therefore held in high honor and regard, for the people ascribed to their beneficent influence much of the fruitfulness of the earth, the sweetness of dale and mountain slope, the glory of the pines, and the nourishment of the meadowland.

CHOOSERS OF THE SLAIN

The mission of the Valkyrs was not only to battlefields upon earth, but they often rode over the sea, snatching the dying Vikings from their sinking dragon-ships. Sometimes they stood upon the strand to beckon them thither, an infallible warning that the coming struggle would be their last, and one which every Northland hero received with joy.

Slowly they moved to the billow side;
And the forms, as they grew more clear,
Seem’d each on a tall pale steed to ride,
And a shadowy crest to rear,
And to beckon with faint hand
From the dark and rocky strand,
And to point a gleaming spear.
Then a stillness on his spirit fell,
Before th‘ unearthly train;
For he knew Valhalla’s daughters well,
The chooser of the slain!
-Valkyriur Song, Mrs. Hemans

THEIR NUMBERS AND DUTIES

The numbers of the Valkyrs differ greatly according to various mytholo gists, ranging from three to sixteen, most authorities, however, naming only nine. The Valkyrs were considered as divinities of the air; they were also called Norns, or wish maidens. It was said that Freya and Skuld led them on to the fray.

She saw Valkyries
Come from afar,
Ready to ride
To the tribes of god;
Skuld held the shield,
Skaugul came next,
Gunnr, Hildr, Gaundul,
And Geir-skaugul.
Thus now are told
The Warrior’s Norns.
–Samund’s Edda, Henderson’s translation

The Valkyrs, as we have seen, had important duties in Valhalla, when, their bloody weapons laid aside, they poured out the heavenly mead for the Einheriar. This beverage delighted the souls of the newcomers, and they welcomed the fair maidens as warmly as when they had first seen them on the battlefield and realized that they had come to transport them where they fain would be.

In the shade now tall forms are advancing,
And their wan hands like snowflakes in the moonlight are gleaming;
They beckon, they whisper, „Oh! Strong Armed in Valor,
The pale guests await thee mead foams in Valhalla.“

–Finn’s Saga, Hewitt