Vikings were some of the fiercest
fighters in human history using their
impressive battle prowess to spread
Norse influence between the 8th and 11th
centuries their bravery as Warriors was
driven by one ultimate desire to join
Odin in Valhalla only the most worthy
Vikings would get to spend their
afterlives in that hallowed Hall and the
choice of who made the cut fell to a
group of powerful but mysterious women
I'm talking about the Valkyries
oh
most of what we know about the Valkyries
comes from the prose and poetic ettas
collections of Mythology and heroic
Tales written down in the 13th century
in the text these powerful women were
often described as beautiful maidens
decked out in battle gear and armed to
the teeth with brutal weapons using
their powers of foresight and mystical
abilities to sway the tides of War the
Valkyries were said to fly over
battlefields on horses or sometimes they
would sport their own wings like the
goddess Freya who may have been the
first Valkyrie the Valkyries were at
least as deadly as they were beautiful
and were said to be blessed with
superhuman strength and speed in some
stories they could even shapeshift into
different birds most Valkyries went
unnamed but those who weren't were given
War themed monikers like skogle sigrun
or lock which means Shaker Victory Rune
and clashing battle
the word Valkyrie means Chooser of the
slain and they were indeed as selective
as the name implies only half of the
Norse Warriors who died in battle were
carried by the Valkyries to Valhalla the
rest were Spirited Away to falkwanger to
spend their afterlives with Freya once
in Valhalla the dead heroes are on
heriar as they were called would spend
their days fighting in Knights feasting
preparing to defend ozguard in the
world's last battle
despite the power they wielded on the
battlefield the valkyrie's role was
relegated to that of servant in Odin's
Hall the me that the anheriar drank to
heal their wounds from training was
served by the very same hands that
plucked them away from midgard in
addition to deciding individual Warriors
Fates the Valkyries were sometimes said
to determine the outcome of entire
battles an Old Norse poem called
hakunarm recounts how two Valkyries
named skogel and gondal influenced the
Battle of fitchar fought in Norway in
961 CE King Hawk on the good faced an
army led by his nephews who wanted to
take his throne the poet who
immortalized The Clash wrote that hawkon
tore off his male suit and with his
sword hacked through his opponent's
armor as if it were cutting through
water the woodmeuse Surfers were
defeated but King hakun suffered moral
injuries and when the Valkyries appeared
to take him away he asked skogel and
gondal why they came for him when he
fought so well and defeated his nephews
the Valkyries replied that it was only
because they were with him in battle
that he was able to hold the field and
his enemies fled way to kick a man while
he's down in their capacity to predict
and sway the outcome of war the
Valkyries were similar to norns deities
of Destiny who you may remember from our
episode on the Greek faiths a poem found
in Niel Saga from the 13th century makes
this comparison abundantly clear when
the titular darud happened upon a group
of Valkyries weaving the fate of a
battle later that day darood spied 12
Valkyries working around a gruesome Loom
with human heads for weights and swords
for shuttles the thread was made from
Human entrails and the Valkyries sang
while they wove their war-winning wolf
the Nords weren't the only mythical
figures who blended with the Valkyries
by the time the atas were written the
Valkyries had taken on characteristics
of the German Swan Maiden like selkis
from Celtic folklore Swan maidens were
able to shift from their animal form
into beautiful women their good looks
were often their downfall however as was
common in stories for men to steal a
maiden Swan suit and without her
feathers she was stuck in human form
even Braun Hilder one of the most famous
Valkyries fell prey to this avian theft
while the man involved suffered very
little consequence of course brunhilder
went on to live a life of punishment for
his foul deed according to the volsung
Saga brunhilder was the human daughter
of King budley lovely enough that Odin
picked her to be one of his Valkyries
one day brunoilder and her sisters were
out bathing in a pool with their Swan
suits tucked away on the bank to stay
dry unbeknownst to the young Valkyries a
prince named agnar was hiding waiting
for them to be distracted so he could
steal the maiden's feather suits
brnhilder and her sisters were stuck
with agnar for years and whether through
coercion real love or some Twisted
combination of the two Brynn Hilder
ended up making an oath of fealty to
agnar later after he returned
bernhilder's feathers agnar fought
against jagner king of the Goths who was
favored by Odin to win the battle but
when Hilder used her Valkyrie powers to
uphold her both and sway the outcome
agnar emerged a Victorious Underdog and
Odin was Furious his punishment for Bryn
hilder's betrayal was to banish her to a
fully mortal life slumbering in a castle
guarded by a wall of fire an early
Sleeping Beauty if you will maybe you
can guess what happens next a hero named
sigard AKA Siegfried the dragon slayer
was brave enough to pass through the
flames and immediately fell in love with
Bruno but left her behind while he ran
an errand in burgundy while there he met
a jealous sorceress who wanted him to
marry her daughter so she cast a spell
on him and sent her son Gunner to Mary
brunhilder instead except gutter was too
much of a coward to walk through her
protective fire and sigured how to do it
disguised as Gunner renhilder married
Gunner based on that lie and when she
found out the truth she arranged for
Sigrid to be murdered and then threw
herself onto his funeral pyre I swear
modern-day soap opera should dip into
Norse folklore for inspiration Brent
Hilder is fascinating albeit tragic life
illustrates the Mysteries surrounding
the mythical Valkyrie she was a human
woman trained to be a shield Maiden
granted Divinity by Odin who made
herself vulnerable by shifting into a
swan scholars believe that the basic
idea of a Scandinavian War goddess is
quite old but that these varying
characteristics were added to the
mythology over time they all would have
been written down together when the atas
were composed in the 13th century but
that begs the question where did the
Valkyries come from one hypothesis is
that the legend arose from the totally
mundane phenomenon of the Norse Shield
Maiden these were warrior women who
fought alongside male Vikings in battle
modern scientists have used DNA evidence
to confirm that Norse women did indeed
fight with men and it's not too
difficult to see how this practice might
lead to myths about ferocious women who
decided the fate of War it would also
explain why so many Valkyries are said
to have human parents another idea is
that the stories were inspired by
priestesses of Odin and the early Viking
age these women would have overseen
sacrificial rituals in Odin's honor
literally choosing who would be slain in
his name this sounds familiar and it
would explain why Valkyries were
described as the physical manifestations
of Odin's will in the older mythological
poems of the ettas we may never know the
valkyrie's true Origins but we can say
for certain that they have made a large
impact on our popular culture Valkyries
can be found in comics anime television
and video games in the 1850s Richard
Wagner composed his Opera di valkara or
the Valkyries which was one of his four
music dramas inspired by Norse mythology
this one Loosely follows brunhilder's
story and features the absurdly catchy
tune The Ride of the Valkyries and of
course we can see Valkyrie on the Silver
Screen played by Tessa Thompson and
Marvel's Thor franchise the valkyrie is
depicted as a strong powerful woman with
influence over life and death even today
it may seem strange that a culture so
Infamous for its physical dominance
would hold women in such high esteem but
women had more rights in Scandinavian
culture than you might think their
gender roles were typical with men doing
most of the physical labor and women
taking care of the home but women could
own property divorce their husbands and
often had a say in who their parents
marry them off to naturally people with
so many Fierce female figures in their
mythology would have respect for Mortal
women we clearly haven't forgotten the
valkyrie so let's not forget this lesson
they teach us
[Music]