16 April 2008
Professor Tracey R. Sands
Recitation Leader: Joanna Peluso
SCAN 3202
The Infinite Importance of the Valkyries
According to Old Norse Mythological tradition, the common Christian belief of a
soul within a human with determining factors contributing to salvation are not influential
on an individual’s death.
The ancient Scandinavian culture remained a clan of “warlike
agriculturalists” (Nordland, 68) existing to serve in the final battle of Ragnarok with a
fixed belief of realms beyond the physical world where individuals go regardless of
benevolent deeds or their soul.
The cult of Odin firmly expresses this belief as the realm
of Valhalla houses fallen warriors to assist Odin in the final battle of Ragnarok.
The
function of the valkyrie, one of “…Odinn’s own
valkyrjor
(corpse-choosers): attendant
spirits of the battlefield” (DuBois, 52) is to escort fallen warriors from the battlefield to
the separate realm where they will wait for the final battle.
The valkyries position in
choosing the destiny of the warriors provides the valkyrie with an agency above other
deities of the religion.
They preserve the ability to choose when an individual dies,
which deviates from the other gods function within the henotheistic belief system.
There are few afterlife destinations discussed by Snorri in his works of Norse
mythology.
He mentions the “otherworld region Gimle” which contains “…a hall called
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Brimir, which serves good drink to the dead lucky enough to arrive there” (DuBois, 80).
The halls of Sindri where “good and righteous men” find a home, Nastrandir, where
“perjurers and murderers” belong, and finally “Hvergelmir” which is likened to the
Christian hell and at “the vortex of the underworld” (DuBois, 80).
These other
dimensions remain the determined resting places of individuals under a hierarchal and
familial structure of beliefs.
The afterlife for warriors remains in Valhalla.
In Valhalla,
the men “…attended by Odinn’s valkyries, were to feast on board and mead, engaging in
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- Spring '08
- SANDS,TRAC
- Old Norse, valkyries
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