Valkyries

Choosers of the Slain

Magnificent young women who ride on great airborne war horses. They have two functions - primarily to attend battles in order to select warriors fit to enter Valhalla, the Hall of the Slain; and secondly to act as waitresses to the warriors feasting in Valhalla. They work under the instructions of the Norse god Odin.

A Valkyry is the archetypal Nordic maiden: tall, strong and handsome, with icy blue eyes and plaits of blonde hair as thick as the cables of a Viking ship. When Odin learns that a battle is planned he orders the Valkyries to attend, and they don their breastplates and horned helmets and saddel up their flying horses. On the word of command they stream forth from Valhalla to the thunderous skies above the battlefield, where the Valkyry host splits into two divisions to ride above the oposing armies.

With blue eyes flashing they watch the amries charge into battle, and the first savage clash of arms is the signal for the Valkyries to swoop the earth, dismount from their chargers, and stride amidst the opposing ranks to choose who shall be slain in that day's combat. They favour the most heroic fighters: those most highly qualified to join the heroes already in Valhalla. Each Valkyry identifies such a man and urges him into the thickest of the fray, sharpening his bloodlust with her savage cries and bidding him ignore the wounds which sap his strength. At last he falls to weapons of his opponents, and his attendant Valkyry waits by the bleeding corpse.

When the sun sets over the battlefield, each Valkyry lifts up the spirit of a dead warrior and takes it to her horse, to join all the others who will be carried to Valhalla that night. The host of women falls into a column behind their leader, and then soar back to Valhalla. There, as the dead heroes feast among the slain of countless wars, the Valkyries serve them with roast pork and tankards of mead and ale.

Valkyries sometimes visit the earth in between battles, on errands for Odin. On such occasions they assume the guise of swans, and may be seen sweeping down the storm winds with their great pinions beating the troubled air.

In England, it is possible that some Waelcyrgean chose to abandon Valhalla and settle in various parts of the country, where they either began a new existence as witches or acted as witches' consultants.