Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Valkyries




The Valkyries were warrior maidens who would go to battlefields and pick through the bodies of those who had fallen. After finding the most worthy of the dead, they took the warriors' souls to Asgard, where half would go to Valhalla and half to Freya's hall, Sessrumnir. Between battles, the Valkyries served Odin in his hall, serving food and drinks. They are often portrayed in art as riding on winged or flying horses, but that is due to a mistranslation of "Valkyrie horse," which was actually a metaphor for a wolf. Some of the Valkyries are given names in Norse mythology, although they seldom play individual roles.

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