Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 158

Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 158
156 The Valkyries in the Heroic Literature him, intending, no doubt, to become his successor. Only they are both burned to death by an Yngling king, Ingjaldr, who tries to expand his territory in another way. AIl these women are only puppets in a political play. The only one to become alive to us for a moment is Hildr, who pledges to her future bridegroom (as the valkyries did with their heroes) and remembers the illustrious family to which he belonged with the remarkable words: “Allir heilir Ylfingar at Hrólfs minni kraka”. Perhaps it is not irrelevant to remember, that also Helgi Hundingsbani belonged to the Ylfingar. Reading about another woman, Asa hin illráða (Asa the ill-minded) reminds us vividly of the valkyries. But there is another constellation here: she takes the part of her father against her husband and also has her father kill his own brother. However, she is as determined as the valkyries to take her life into her own hands. All these women become a part — a vital part - of the political plans of the conquerors. The Ynglinga Saga sdll remembers the motifs of heroic literature. And where heroic literature still has the stature of myth, the heroes reach kingship through their valkyrie, Óðinn’s handmaiden. 3. We have still another problem to discuss. Dagr slays Helgi Hundingsbani in violation of the oaths that bound him, because he had his father and brothers to revenge. This is a clear case of blood feud, but at the same time it reminds us of an ancient ritual connected with human sacrifice. Helgi Hjörvarðsson sets off to face an assignment with his enemy, with the intention to die. Gehrts compares this gesture to the Roman devotio as reported by Livy. Helgi’s voluntary death is a kind of sacrifice, and perhaps it is still seen as a sacrifice. Yet both cases can also be easily interpreted in another way. That a war leader should die a violent death - nothing is more to be expected than that, and he himself would be very much amazed and even dismayed, were he to die on his bed of sickness and old age. Also Óðinn expected him to die in another way. Yet must he die in order to give a young and vigorous leader to his people? This, Fraser made clear to us, is the central idea of sacral kingship. The Helgi Lays still seem to recall that there once was a time when the king had to die for the benefit of his people, but in a dark, veiled way. Not everybody need be conscious of it. 4. What happens to the valkyrie? Either she survives and finds a new lover, or her dead body is soon put beside his. The last alternative is found in some of the most poignant stories: Sigrún dies of grief, and Svanhvita dies soon after her husband Regnerus. Brynhildr lies down on Sigurðr’s pyre and lets herself be burnt to death. (Cp. Nanna, who died of grief, and whose body was put on the pyre next to the dead Baldr.) But the valkyrie can also survive: Ulvilda is married three times all 79 Gehrts (1977).
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