Valkyrjur

Valkyrjur (Old Norse, singular valkyrja, “chooser of the slain” — valr = slain warriors, kjósa = to choose) are Odin’s divine battle-maidens: women of supernatural power who ride invisibly over battlefields and determine the outcome, both by selecting which warriors will die and by carrying the chosen dead to Valhöll. They are simultaneously agents of fate and personal extensions of Odin’s war-gathering.

On the battlefield

Völuspá stanza 30 sees them “riding” before the end of the world, prepared for the final choosing. Gylfaginning ch. 36 gives their names: Hrist, Mist, Skeggjöld, Skögul, Hildr, Þrúðr, Hlökk, Herfjötur, Göll, Geiröhul, Randgríðr, Ráðgríðr, Reginleif — and notes that they pour mead for the einherjar in Valhöll.

The Darraðarljóð, embedded in Njáls saga, gives the most visceral description: twelve valkyrjur are seen weaving at a loom before the Battle of Clontarf. Their warp is weighted with skulls, their weft is made from warriors’ entrails, their shuttle is an arrow, their rods are swords. The web they weave is the battle: the pattern determines who dies before a blow is struck.

Valkyries and mortals

Several Eddic poems explore the relationship between valkyrjur and human heroes — particularly Helgi Hundingsbane and the valkyrie Sigrún in Helgakviða Hundingsbana I–II. These unions between mortal hero and divine battle-maiden became a recurring motif in heroic poetry, blending the valkyrie’s cosmic function with intensely personal loyalty.

Valkyrjur and the dísir

The valkyrjur share qualities with the dísir — female protective spirits associated with fate and family — and the two categories blur in some sources. Modern practitioners sometimes approach them together in contexts of ancestral or battle-related rites.