Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Qupperneq 137

Riti Kroesen
135
Þorgerðr Hölgabrúðr can only be treated briefly here.29 She is evidently a
goddess of the land of the Hálogar, and there must be a connection between her
and the ruler, the Hlaðajarl. Storm thinks that the Hölgi she is married to, must
have been the eponymical ancestor of the Hálogar and the mythical ancestor of
the Hlaðajarlar. If we must give a general name to Þorgerðr and Irpa, we would
call them dísir, fertility goddesses.30
When defeat threatened Hákon jarl during the decisive battle with the
Jómsvíkingar in Hjörungavágr, he prayed for victory to Þorgerðr and Irpa in their
temple. He promised to sacrifice his son to them, should he be favoured with
victory. After his return to battle, the goddesses were seen striding across the night
sky and sending arrows from every one of their ten fmgers at the same time!31
They seem to have changed into valkyries in this story!
From the poem Háleygjatal composed by Eyvindr skáldaspillir, in which the
genealogical line of the Hlaðajarlar started with Óðinn and Skaði, we know that
Hákon and his family were Óðinn-adherers.32 It appears from the argument
above, which has already been argued by Storm (see note 29) and also by
Steinsland33 that this could be a later development, and that the original adhe-
rence was to Þórr (and Týr). Probably the goddesses of fertility changed into
valkyries, when the jarlar started to occupy themselves with warfare and left Þórr
for Óðinn. Ström is of the opinion that a valkyrie represents the military aspect
of a dís.34 We agree with him, but think that a certain development was necessary,
before a dís could become a valkyrie.
It is a widely held thesis that Óðinn absorbed a great part of the domain of the
old god of heaven (Týr) and his son (Þórr) when he became the ruler of the Nordic
pantheon. If we accept this, we can readily understand that some of the charac-
teristics of the females who served the elder gods were transferred to Óðinn’s
valkyries. Consider for instance the swan-disguise. In order to be able to fly
through the air valkyries dressed themselves in the plumage of a swan; sometimes
they are named Svanhvít. A white swan sailing through the air seems more fitting
to be a servant to the god of heaven than to the god of the battlefield. Perhaps
this characteristic goes back to the time when swan maidens were the servants of
29 For a more extensive explanation see Storm (1885) and N.K. Chadwick (1950). In the Gesta
Danorum and in some of the heroic sagas we meet a woman called Þóra (Thora), who has either
got a father or a lover called Helgi. Chadwick sees a connection between these women and
Þorgerðr. Even in the Heimskringla Hákon jarl (of Hlaðir) has two lovers called Þóra, one of
whom he spends his Iast days with (pp. 248 and 295-97). See also Steinsland (1991).
30 Olsen (1915), pp. 184-201. According to Olsen there is a close connection between the god
Þórr and the dísar. However, Þórr’s name is not well represented in the district of Trondhjem,
the old Hlaðir. Olsen himself cannot explain this. Jómsvíkingasaga (Flateyjarbók I, pp. 191-92)
calls Þorgerðr a flagð (giantess); whether she originally was a giantess, as also N.K. Chadwick
and Steinsland think, seems doubtful.
31 Jómsvíkinga Saga, Flateyjarbók I, pp. 191-92.
32 Skjald, (1912), pp. 60-2.
33 Steinsland (1991), pp. 220-26.
3“* Ström (1954). See also Hempel (1939, 1966).