Valhalla

Valhalla is the conventional English-language rendering of Old Icelandic Valhöll (The Hall of the Slain), which, according to Nordic mythology of the Viking Age, is a paradise reserved for warriors who died in battle, presided over by Odin, the god of war. There they feast every night, while by day they fight to the death, reviving at nightfall to feast together once more. These pleasures will continue until the end of the world, when they will join the final battle, fighting alongside the gods against giants and monsters. The evil forces will be destroyed, but so will the earth itself, most of the gods, and presumably the warriors from Valhalla. This cosmic catastrophe is Ragnarök, “The Doom of the Gods.”

The concept of Valhalla was essentially aristocratic and probably meant little to people of other classes. The basic image comes from the real-life situation of a war band gathered around the leader to whom they have given allegiance, living in his hall and feasting at his expense, and eventually risking their lives in his service. The earliest mentions of Valhalla are in poems honoring the deaths of two kings in battle—Eirík Blood-Axe, a Norwegian who ruled the Viking Kingdom of York (d. 954), and Hákon the Good of Norway (d. 961). They were composed by Icelanders in the service of these kings and are authentic heathen texts, for Iceland and Norway did not accept Christianity until the end of the 10th century.

The first poem, Eiríksmál, describes Odin telling the dead einherjar, “chosen champions,” in Valhalla to prepare to welcome Eirík; they should spread rugs on the benches and bring drinking horns, and the valkyries must proffer wine. When one of the other gods asks why such a fine king was not granted victory, Odin replies that “the grey Wolf gazes upon the homes of the gods”—implying that Ragnarök is drawing near, and Eirík will be needed there.

Hákonarmál opens with a battle scene; at first King Hákon is winning, but then he is summoned by a valkyrie, who tells him it is time for him and his men to go to “the green world of the gods” to join Odin's forces. The gods welcome King Hákon into Valhalla and assure him that although Odin decreed his death, this does not mean that the god has any ill will toward him.

More details about Valhalla itself can be found in Grímnismál and Hávamál, poems that cannot be precisely dated but are entirely related to topics from heathen mythology. Valhalla is a huge building, gleaming with gold, with 540 doors, and at Ragnarök 800 warriors will go out from each door to face the Wolf (stanza 23 from Grímnismál). Other early sources say it is roofed with shields or thatched with spears, and that armor and weapons are piled on its benches.

Over two centuries later, when Iceland had long been Christian, the scholar Snorri Sturluson (1178–1241) wrote a treatise on myths (the Prose Edda, ca. 1220) in order to explain the heathen allusions in Iceland's older poetry. Quoting various references to Valhalla, he described its size, the unending supplies of boar meat and mead produced by a supernatural goat, and the pleasure its warriors took in perpetual [Page 974]fighting and feasting. He also regarded it as the place where the gods assemble, led by Odin.

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