Valkyries

"Dream Idyll (A Valkyrie)" by Hughes c. 1902

In the Prose Edda Snorri Sturluson describes Valkyries as women who “serve in Valhalla. They bring drink and see to the table and the ale cups … They are sent by Odin to every battle, where they choose which men are to die and they determine who has the victory” (at 44-45). In the Völuspá Valkyries are described as coming “from widely beyond, ready to ride to the people of the Gods. Shall-be wore one shield, Brandisher another, Battle, War, Wand-maid and Spear-brandisher: now are the War-lord’s ladies, ready to ride over earth, Valkyries” (Elder Edda at 9). In the Grímnismál Odin is said to speak of the Valkyries thus:

“I want Wielder and Mist to bring me a horn; Axe-age and Brandisher, War and Strength, Clash and War-bonds, Smash and Spear-waver, Shield-truce and Counsel-truce and Power-trace: they bring the Einherjar ale [Elder Edda at 56]”.

Renowned Old Norse scholar H R Ellis Davidson describes Valkyries as:

“… fierce female spirits attendant on the war-God … Valkyries play a great part in the stories and poems about the exploits of the legendary heroes … They are said by Saxo to vary their appearance, and to be seen sometimes as fearsome beings and sometimes as beautiful maidens, who offer love to the warrior. Protective spirits of this kind were said to attach themselves to the kings and princes who worshipped Odin, giving them help and counsel and bringing them luck in battle, while at death they received them as their ‘husbands’ [Scandinavian Mythology at 41]”.

Fate in the Germanic Tradition

Brynhild and Gudrun are bound by fate; by Rackham (1911) 

In the Hamdismál (a poem within the Codex Regius) a man who is about to die says to his brother: 

“30. ‘Great glory we have gained though we die now or tomorrow; no man survives a single dusk beyond the Norns’ decree’.”

The brothers have won “great glory” because they have, at the urging of their mother Gudrun, avenged the death of their sister by slaughtering her murderer and in the doing of it showing themselves to be fearless warriors. They do not lament their imminent death; to do so would be futile, for the date is preordained. They cannot choose the hour of their death, but they can choose the manner in which they meet it, either boldly or otherwise. It is as if they fearlessly look into the eyes of death even as they succumb to his grip. Equally pointless as resisting the hour of one’s death is attempting to embrace death before the hour decreed by fate – just as Gudrun failed in her attempt at suicide by wading into a rough sea:

“13. [Gudrun laments:] ‘I went to the sea-shore, I was angry with the Norns, I wanted to rid myself of their painful plans: high waves lifted me, didn’t drown me; I climbed up on to the land, since I had to live [Gudrúnarhvöt, Codex Regius].”

These lines suggest that in traditional Germanic polytheism fate is immutable, and we only have so much control over the things that happen to us. The disparity in the fortunes of men is explained through the workings of the Norns, who dwell by the Spring of Fate:

“20. From there come maidens, knowing much, three from the lake that stands under the tree [Yggdrasil]: Destiny they called one [Urdr], Becoming the second [Verdrandi] – they carved on wood-tablets – Shall-be the third [Skuld]; laws they laid down, lives they chose for the children of mankind, the fates of men [Völuspá, Codex Regius].”