![]() ![]() According to Snorri, those who die in battle are taken to Valhalla, while those who die of sickness or old age find themselves in Hel, the underworld, after their departure from the land of the living. Snorri wrote many generations after Norse paganism had given way to Christianity and ceased to be a living tradition, and he often went out of his way to artificially systematize the disparate material in his sources (many of which we, too, possess). The only Old Norse source that provides a direct statement about how people gained entrance to Valhalla is the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, a thirteenth-century Icelandic scholar. Valhalla’s battle-honed residents are there by the will of Odin, who collects them for the perfectly selfish purpose of having them come to his aid in his fated struggle against the wolf Fenrir during Ragnarok – a battle in which Odin and the einherjar are doomed to die. ![]() They are waited on by the beautiful Valkyries.īut the einherjar won’t live this charmed life forever. They thereby enjoy an endless supply of their exceptionally fine food and drink. For their drink they have mead that comes from the udder of the goat Heidrun (Old Norse Heiðrun, whose meaning is unknown ). Their meat comes from the boar Saehrimnir (Old Norse Sæhrímnir, whose meaning is unknown ), who comes back to life every time he is slaughtered and butchered. They surely work up quite an appetite from all those battles, and their dinners don’t disappoint. #VALHALLA HILLS ARMING WARRIORS FULL#But every evening, all their wounds are healed, and they are restored to full health. All day long, they fight one another, doing countless valorous deeds along the way. The dead who reside in Valhalla, the einherjar, live a life that would have been the envy of any Viking warrior. Its gates are guarded by wolves, and eagles fly above it. Seats made of breastplates surround the many feasting tables of the vast hall. Valhalla (pronounced “val-HALL-uh” Old Norse Valhöll, “the hall of the fallen” ) is the hall where the god Odin houses the dead whom he deems worthy of dwelling with him.Īccording to the Old Norse poem Grímnismál (“The Song of the Hooded One”), the roof of the “gold-bright” Valhalla is made of shields, and has spears for its rafters.
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