Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 154

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The Valkyries in the Heroic Literature
Heinrichs does not mention the valkyries especially, but her conclusions do
have some bearing on the present problem. “Prepatriarchal” seems a very fit
epithet for the valkyries! Could the stories about the giantesses also have been a
source of inspiration for those about the valkyries?
Valkyries and giantesses have something in common: both can act against the
interest of their families. When the hero ventures into the world of chaos, where
the giants live, a friendly female, although she remains dangerous, can be ofgreat
help and comfort to him. A link between giantesses and valkyries seems not to
be entirely impossible, but it cannot explain everything. The heroic valkyrie
usually is the daughter of an earthly father, and she usually brings her hero into
great trouble, instead of helping him to find a way out of it. Trying to find another
explanation, we will look at the way the valkyries behaved and acted within the
world that was their own, and which by now must have become abundantly clear
to have been the world of the Vikings.
We started our analysis with the Helgi Lays. They have an important place in
a famous book by Phillpotts.70 Her idea that some Edda texts (written in
Ijóðaháttr) could represent early Scandinavian drama, has for a long time been
treated with great scepticism; yet recently Gunnell has argued convincingly that
there has been drama in medieval Scandinavia, and some of the Edda Lays may
well be the result of it. 1 Yet he is rather averse to Phillpott’s idea that these plays
originated in pagan ritual, and he does not use the Helgi Lays to support his thesis.
And as far as the Helgi lays are concerned, Phillpotts does not take notice of the
fact that they feature warrior kings and valkyries, and that the setting is the
battlefield. That is a long way off from fertility rites!
And yet Phillpotts was not all wrong. Helgi Hundingsbani seems to die a
sacrificial death. This could be related to the way the sacral kings of agricultural
societies were put to death, and Schlesinger has pointed out that leadership in
war among the Teutonic peoples could have its sacral aspects.72 Stanley Martin
does not seem aware of the fact that one should not look for reflections of
agricultural rituals on the battlefield, but that reflections of other rituals could be
present there.73 It could be maintained that the story about Helgi Hundingsbani
contains a transformation of stories with an agricultural setting. After all, these
vikings came from farming communities and the stories that farmers told each
other must have been familiar to them. In addition, the story about the other
Helgi has its sacral aspects.
Sacral kingship, as far as the classical formula goes, had to renew and to
reinvigorate itself perpetually. A hero, who had proved himself to be stronger than
his antagonists, could be called upon to be the new king. During the ceremony
of the hierosgamos\\e. had to marry the land, sometimes represented by a mortal
70 Phillpotts (1920).
71 Gunnell (1995).
77 Schlesinger (1954).
7^ Stanley Martin (1988).