Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1997, Page 159

Riti Kroesen
157
in all, and Hjördís lets herself be carried away by a new lover. Lathgertha even
assumes government herself without remarrying.
The fates of Ruta and Skuld after the death of their husbands are unknown. It
is also unknown what became of Sváva, although the poem seems to hint at the
possibility that she will accept Héðinn at some indefmite point in the future, after
he takes blood-revenge. Maybe Kára is killed by her lover’s incautiousness. But
the scene is characterized by such a zest for the ludicrous, that it seems doubtful
that this was her original story, and it is difficult to guess its meaning.
In the old agricultural scenario the woman had to take another husband, and
he had to be the new king. This sequel in itself does not seem impossible, where
the woman has become a war-bride. One remembers the Irish Queen Medhb and
her many husbands. However, with the exception of Hlathgertha and Skuld and
with the possible exception of Sváva, the valkyries of the most typical stories grieve
themselves to death or commit suicide.
How is this to be explained? Engström has plausibly argued that suicide of
widows was not customary amongst Germanic peoples, although the possibility
of individual cases is not ruled out.80 The death of the heroic valkyries is
something unusual in this society.
Phillpotts explains this as follows: Originally the young hero had to die at a
certain time after the passing of the hieros gamos, and the maiden, who only
represented the land, was sacrificed together with him. In this way myth and its
ritual expression get mixed up and a new agricultural rite makes its way to the
battlefield. Perhaps we had better look for another explanation.
We have explained these stories as transformations of old agricultural tales. But
we have also seen in them the will of the conquerors to legitimize the claim to
their new lands by marrying a relative of their predecessors, thus trying (at least
during one generadon) to replace the principle of patrilineal with that of
matrilineal succession.
Sometimes this went wrong, but the valkyries at least did go over wholly to
their lovers’ sides, supporting them with full loyalty against their own clans. They
have became dedicated to the service of Óðinn, the god of their lovers. The only
exception is Hildr — if the story of the eternal battle is original: she stands between
the two parties of her father and her lover and will not negotiate between them.
The gift that a valkyrie, and she alone, can bestow on a warrior is that she can
satisfy his need for glory by making him a king. This gift is an unconditional one,
and she will even follow him into death, must it so be. And if he is no longer alive
she can not again bestow her person and her country on another man. This must
have been deeply satisfying to the Icelandic public, even if it went entirely against
the tradition which determined the place its own women occupied in society.
80
Engström (1979).