Valkyries

For this week's episode, come find out about the amazing undead ladies of the Norse underworld, the Valkyries! Why are they linked to the underworld? How do the Vikings get to their place of rest? Find out in this week's podcast!

Transcript

INTRO:

Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Welcome back! It’s been a very long two weeks - but I’m so happy to be back talking your ears off. Little bit of an update from me, is not much really - we topped the charts on Goodpods a couple of times during this time which was amazing. I had a lovely birthday full of karaoke and alcohol, turning 27 was pretty damn good and I can happily say that we’re at a year into the podcast - can you believe it?! 

DESCRIPTION:

Anyway, this week we’re heading back over to the Norse mythos and looking at the amazing, afterlife-bringing maidens of Scandinavia, the Valkyries. 

Valkyries are female spirits who guide the honourable dead to one of two paths of the underworld in Norse mythology during the Viking period of Norway and Scandinavia. They are usually described as tall, ghostly women, who are armed with spears, shields and angel wings. They are considered to be otherworldly strong, beautiful and were usually pretty silent. They would ride down to the bloodied battlefield on silver horses with their armour shimmering in the light, to pick up the lost souls who deserved to be lifted to the afterlife by them. In fact, the Vikings believed that the phenomenon of the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis is caused by the flickering of light on their armour. 

In some tellings they have an even bigger role, and they become the Fates of the Norse world - deciding before the battle who would die and who they would serve in death. Some of them even caused death of the warriors they didn’t favour, and they could also protect ones they did - such as specific boats or heroes. 

These maidens were not weak in life either, most of them were fighters too, as the Vikings were all for everyone knowing how to fight - including women, which was unheard of in other cultures. They usually lived in and around the underworld, however, when they did venture into the normal world on Midgard or Earth, they would sometimes take lovers and have families with mortals - including other women, which again was pretty unheard of. 

The Valkyries were honoured servants of Odin, the king of the Norse gods - which made them pretty high up on the roster of important figures. In order to truly understand their roles though, we need to go more into the ethics of the Underworld in Norse myth, which I will do later on. 

Valkyries are also associated with transformation as well as guides and comforters of the fallen. They were sometimes known as "wish girls", this was because they granted Odin’s wishes but also the wishes of mortals who caught them. By catching, I mean, that the person would steal the Valkyrie’s clothes while they bathed. Very similarly to the Selkies from a previous episode and the same mythology, the man would hide the clothing, and the Valkyrie would fall under a spell, and she became his wife and mother of his children. However, if she found her clothes, she would leave her family and her husband would need to prove that he was good enough to win her back - which would in turn, change him into a hero instead of a mere man.

ORIGIN:

Now onto etymology, the word Valkyrie comes from the Old Norse valkyrja, which literally means ‘chooser of the slain'. This comes from valr, meaning the slain on the battlefield and kjósa, meaning to choose. 

In original myths, there were only 12 Valkyries - all of which having names that related to battle or arms of some kind, such as Brynhildr, Hildr or Eir for example. However, it eventually developed into many other Valkyries - as well as these original 12. The so called Queen of the Valkyries was Frejya, and she was often dressed the same as her ladies in armour - if you look up depictions of Frejya, she looks badass, highly recommend.

There is no dead set history behind the Valkyrie myths - however, they were first mentioned in Poetic Edda, which is a very very old Viking text, which was first found in the 10th century - written by an anonymous author. This book would go on to inspire most Scandinavian stories from the 19th century, alongside authors like Strindberg, Boye and even Tolkien. These poems mentioned Valkyries in many of their verses - my favourite actually comes from a later text, the Prose Edda from the 13th century - here’s an extract;

There I perceive valkyries and ravens,

accompanying the wise victory-tree 

to the drink of the holy offering

Within have appeared these motifs

However, within myths - they were originally considered to be chthonic entities that would consume the dead, much like demons. They would eat the ones that looked tempting enough, but as history developed - so did the image of the Valkyries.  

So I did say I would go back to Viking death rituals and it was considered the biggest honour if you were able to die in battle as a Viking, if you have watched any Viking shows - there will be some mention of this. If you’re killed in battle, you were given the opportunity to spend your afterlife in Valhalla, the hall of the slain, watched over by Odin. They would feast from a daily rejuvenating boar, and Valkyries would serve ale and mead to the proud warriors seated in the hall.

However, it’s not as widely known as to what happens if you don’t get shanked in battle. 

Let me tell ya all about it! There were 4 possible afterlife destinations for the Vikings, these were Valhalla, Folkvanger, Hel or the Realm of Ran. Valhalla, or the Hall of the Slain in English, was where the most elite warriors of the Vikings were sent, to be paraded in front of Odin and put alongside him in the oncoming Ragnarok - or end of the world in Norse myth. The other ‘good’ option was that of Folkvanger, which means Realm of the People, which was the realm of the goddess Frejya, the goddess of love, sex, beauty and war to serve for her instead. Odin and Frejya would share the honourable warriors - which the Valkyries would deliver to them. These men in Valhalla were called Einherjar, which means single fighters.

The not so good one is the Realm of Ran, where you would have died at sea - usually through drowning, as this was unbelievably common with Vikings dominating the seas during the time. Ran was a primordial goddess of the sea, and wife of the god of the sea Aegir, and they would spend their afterlife in the deep caves of the ocean where they drowned. 

Lastly, there was Hel - and this isn’t really as bad as it sounds. This is in the realm of Nilfhelm, which was a cold, barren land ruled over by the goddess of Death, Hel - who was the daughter of the god of mischief, Loki. It had an immensely high wall to keep the living out and the dead in, and was generally a place you went if you were dishonourable, or if you died of old age, or sickness. 

There is technically another, and that is of your own grave or burial mound. Vikings believed that actually if you just wanted to relive your life or haunt people - you could, so go figure.

There’s a really cool myth about one of the Valkyries though, about the warrior woman Hildr. 

Hildr was the daughter of a famous warrior Hogni, who was away on assumingly a raid of some kind, and Hildr was then kidnapped by a local prince Hedinn to the Orkney Islands, off of the coast of Scotland. 

When her father tracked her down, she welcomed him to the island with gifts, but her father had already drawn his sword to which he stated that now the sword was drawn, a battle must ensue. 

Many many men died, however, in the evenings of the battle - Hildr would go and resurrect the dead men. However, as soon as they were revived, they would continue to fight - creating a continuous battle until Ragnarok. This conflict was called the Battle of Heodenings.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto cultural significance, we’re going to start with art - and this week we have quite a few! The most famous is the Ride of the Valkyries by Johan Gustaf Sandberg between 1782 and 1854, which is a stunning painting of a couple of Valkyries charging into battle. Another famous one is Valkyrie by Peter Nicolai Arbo from 1864 - who also painted Odin’s Wild Hunt which has Valkyries in 1872. And lastly, Valkyrie and a Dying Hero by Hans Makart from between 1840 and 1884.

For movies, we only have a few, but they’re quite significant movies such as Conan the Barbarian, Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers End Game, this is because there is a super hero called Valkyrie, who was one of many before the goddess Hel slayed her sisters - and so becoming the one and only Valkyrie in the Marvel universe version of the Norse myths. 

For TV, there is Charmed, Samurai Jack, Looney Tunes, Hey Arnold, LostGirl, Vikings, Xena: Warrior Princess, Kamen Rider Wizard and Courage the Cowardly Dog. The latter being a cartoon that gave me intense nightmares as a child in the noughties. If you know, you know.

For video games, this is our biggest category this week! We have games such as God of War, Age of Mythology, Archon, Castlevania, For Honor, Diablo 2, Brawlhalla, Elder Scrolls, The Legend of the Valkyrie, Mass Effect 2, Max Payne, Too Human, Smite, The Valkyrie Profile, Wizardry and World of Warcraft. Obviously my favourite is the latter here, Valkyries are very often used in WoW, but usually called Valkyrs and are very scantily clad, slightly sexy ladies - so I’m down for that.

For my book recommendations this week, I’m going to suggest Tales of Norse Mythology by Helen A Guerber, for a really gorgeous book with great stories in, and for specific Valkyrie books which I’m yet to read but are in my immense bookshelf - are The Real Valkyrie: The Hidden History of Viking Warrior Women by Nancy Marie Brown and Valkyrie: The Women of the Viking World by Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir - which is an amazing Scandinavian name by the way.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? Now with anything chthonic like Valkyries, it’s a bit tricky. I always find spirits linked with death quite hard, especially ones that are so heavily linked to the fundamental function of the underworld’s routine. 

Do I like the idea of an armoured shield-maiden rescuing me from battle to chill out with beer and meat for eternity? Absolutely yes, that, to be honest is my absolute dream - however, is it feasible? Probably not - but the idea of spirits and rescuing of the dead much like the idea of the Grim Reaper and Thanatos in Greek myth, is kind of believable because of the invisibility of it all. 

I love the idea of the Norse underworld though, I think it’s a really cool concept, much like the Greek underworld, with loads of different layers based on how great you are in life. I personally follow this belief of the afterlife all being within one place, and it’s how you spend your life that depends what level you end up in. I think that’s a great and honest way of thinking about your own mortality, but that’s just me.

OUTRO: 

I love these fearsome ladies, they’re such a fun bunch and definitely feeling a girl power vibe. We’re carrying on this great theme of women during International Women’s Month - from Harpies, to Valkyries and then onto the next.

Next week, we’re heading back over to the UK for the first time in a little while and looking at the ghostly figure of Black Annis from the Brummy countryside. Come haunting with me next Thursday with this spooky lady!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast, ya know if you feel like it.

Come join the fun and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.