Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 136

134
The Valkyries in the Heroic Literature
Here the valkyries are handmaidens of Óðinn, the glorious ruler of Valhöll.
They still choose the dead, but they no longer feast on corpses. Their rnuch nobler
task is to decide who will die and who will gain victory. They accompany those
who are found worthy to stay in Valhöll, where they will serve them with good
food and drink if not for ever, then at least until Ragnarök.
On the picture-stones of Gotland, female figures are depicted that have also
been interpreted as valkyries. Dead warriors enter Valhöll, and (female) beings
offer them objects that could be drinking horns.24 Who could they be but
valkyries, who do service in Valhöll?
The offering of a drink can be seen as a gesture of welcome: Scandinavian and
English housewives and daughters did exactly the same thing for their honoured
guests, and even queens — for example Wealhtheow in the Beowulf— hand round
the cup. On the other hand it could perhaps also mean a dedication of the warrior
to his future status as Óðinn’s chosen one, as Doht will have it.25
The prevailing opinion of scholars is that during the Viking time the percep-
tion of Valhöll as a paradise for warriors developed from the notion of Valhöll as
an underground abode for the dead, perhaps nothing more than the grave.26 On
the whole Valhöll was a very masculine kind of paradise. But still these men could
not wholly do without women.
Why a link developed between Óðinn, lord of the battlefield, and the valkyries
is easy to understand. Once Óðinn was elevated to be the glorious lord of Valhöll,
the character of the valkyries’ service changed, too. Now they became the
performers of Óðinn’s will concerning the dead.
4. From this stage on, whenever a valkyrie appears, Óðinn will hover somewhere
in the background. Yet in some texts connections with other gods seem possible
as well, as has been pointed out in an interesting article by Krappe.2
According to him the valkyries originally had connections both with Þórr and
with Týr. Part of his material is rather dubious, however. It is not certain at all,
whether the two AJaisiagæ, who appear together with Mars Thincsus (generally
identified with Týr) on a number of English stone monuments, but about whom
no further data are known, can be interpreted as valkyries, as De Vries rightly
remarks.28 It is very doubtful whether they may be called valkyries. What Krappe
has to say about the temple at Hlaðir, however, is more promising. The Brennu-
Njáls saga states that Þórr’s statue is standing there between those of the two
goddesses Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr and her sister Irpa. (p. 214) (The first part of
Þorgerðr’s name might point to a connection with Þórr!)
2Lindquist (1941), fgs. 85 and 86.
25 Doht (1973).
26 Schröder (1924), pp. 30 and 44, in opposition to Neckel (1921).
27 Krappe (1926), pp. 56-73.
28 De Vries (1957), p. 12: “ . . . die bildliche Darstellung ist zu diirftig . . .”