Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 135

Riti Kroesen
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inspired by the valkyries,15 as are the nine dark women who fought against the
nine white women in the Þiðrandaþáttr,16 As there are also good women in both
cases, who bear a striking resemblance to angels, the result is a quaint mixture
between pagan and Christian symbols.17
The “choosing of the dead” must originally have been a very primitive kind of
choosing. None of the synonyms given for valkyrie above could be used for these
carrion-eaters. In Vólnspá 30 and Grímnismál 36 (Edda, p. 7 and 64) valkyrie
names appear in a group, some of which reveal the primitive feelings of terror
they must have inspired.18 For instance:
Hlökk-. “chain”, Skögul, Geirskögul: “shaker, spear shaker”, Skeggöld: “axe-age”,
and especially Herjjöturr: “warfetter”, which is thought to refer to the paralyzing
fear that sometimes overcame warriors, a fear that Óðinn was known to have
spread around him.
This terrifying aspect also gave rise to the many kennings for weapons, battle,
blood and the animals of the battlefield (wolves, ravens, crows), in which the
names of valkyries are used as a determinant. In kennings that indicate earthly
women a valkyrie’s name can also be a determinatum.1 9
Special mention is deserved by those women who were weaving the terrible
web of death on the evening preceding the battle of Clontarf (1014) in the Njáls
saga.20 In the famous Darraðarljóð that they sang on that occasion they called
themselves valkyrjur.
Fierce battle-sprites were also known in England. This is tesdfied by the English
glossal words wœlcyrige (“chooser of the slain”) and wœlceasige (“carrion picker,
raven”).21 The case is perhaps also the same in Germany: the famous “idisi” from
the First Merseburg Charm, who bind and fetter warriors, seem to be valkyries.22
3. From the pages of the Snorra-Edda a different picture emerges:
Enn eru þær aðrar, er þjóna skulu í Valhöll, bera drykkjur ok gæta borðbúnaðar ok
ölgagna... þessar heita valkyrjur; þær sendir Óðinn til hverrar orrustu, þær kjósa feigð
á menn ok ráða sigri.23
Róum vit ok róum vit, rignir blóði,
Guðr ok Göndul, fyr guma falli.”
15 ÍF VI, pp. 70-77, 94-96, 102-118.
Flateyjarbók I (1830), pp. 418-421.
17 Guðrún Ingólfsdóttir (1990), pp. 226-240.
18 Boyer(1977).
19 Meissner (1921).
20 íf XII (1964), pp. 454—58. Perhaps they have been fúsed here with the Norns, due to Irish
influence. See Goedheer (1938).
21 Clark Hall and Meritt (1961), p. 393. In Christian times the velcyrige becomes a witch. See
Philipsson (1929).
22 De Vries (1956).
23 Ed. Finnur Jónsson (1900). See also EiríksmáL, Skjald. B I (1912), pp. 162—64.