Valkyries
This page is devoted to both Valkyrie and non-Valkyrie heroines.
For women skilled in magic, witchcraft or divination or women simply known for their wisdom, there's a separate page titled Witches.
For Grimhild, see Gudrun. For Sigrdrifa, see Brynhild.
Background
The Valkyries have often inspired poets as women-warriors. Their name means "Chooser of the Slain", and they were often called battle-maidens, shield-maidens, swan-maidens, wish-maidens and mead-maidens. As these names suggest, they had various functions.
Their main duty was to select the slain warriors who had fallen in battle or other combat, such as on a quest or killing a dragon, etc. These slain warriors were known as the Einherjar (Einheriar) and were chosen to fight alongside the Aesir gods at Ragnarok. The Einherjar waited for Ragnarok in Odin's hall, called Valhalla.
They were sometimes called "Swan-maidens" because they wore garments made of swan feathers that allowed them to fly, carrying off slain warriors to the hall called Valhalla. Their other duties included serving mead or ale in drinking-horns or mugs to the Einherjar in Valhalla.
Three Valkyries appeared in the Volsunga Saga. Sigrun ("victory-rune") married the hero Helgi, the son of Sigmund. The other two Valkyries were Brynhild ("bright battle") and Gudrun ("battle-rune"), and these two were associated with the hero Sigurd, another son of Sigmund. Gudrun was also associated with Helgi in other sources as the hero's first wife.
Brynhild was the most famous of all the Valkyries. In the Volsunga Saga, Odin punished Brynhild for assigning the wrong king to die in battle. Odin condemned her to marry a mortal. Brynhild vowed that she would only marry the bravest of warriors, so she slept in the Ring of Fire until the bravest hero could ride through the flame. Sigurd rode through the flame twice. The second time, she was duped into marrying Gunnar the brother of Gudrun, while her hero married Gudrun. In the end she caused Sigurd's death. Brynhild, overcome with grief, died in Sigurd's funeral pyre. See Volsunga Saga for the whole tale about Brynhild.
Brynhild goes by a different name in one of the poems of Poetic Edda. In Sigrdrifumal ("Lay of Sigrdrifa"), Brynhild was known as Sigrdrifa ("victory-urger"), where she taught the hero runic magic.
Odin also had the wish-maidens or Óskmær to serve him. In one instance, the wish-maidens had a fertility function, as found in the Volsunga Saga. See Hljod.
Related Information
Name
Valkyries – "Chooser of the Slain".
Battle-maidens, shield-maidens, swan-maidens, mead-maidens
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By Jimmy Joe
