VALHÖLL-VALHALLA.
Influence of the belief in “the hall of the slain”—A warrior’s
death a pass to Valhalla—Figurative offer of warriors to
Odin—Self-sacrifice to Odin—Entrance to Valhalla—Food and drink
in Valhalla—Odin’s welcome to warriors.
The belief in a Valhalla (the hall of the slain) by the ancestors of the
English tribes was destined to exert a most potent influence upon the
future history of Europe. It made the people of the North most powerful
and skilled warriors; it infused into their minds an utter disregard of
death, and led them to accomplish great deeds of valour in their own and
distant lands. To fall gloriously on a battle-field was held to assure a
certain entry to Valhalla; it was a sign of the favour of Odin. This
part of the Valhalla faith was so deeply rooted in the minds of the
people that it lasted to the very end of the Pagan era, or about the
12th century.
In Grinismal, which gives a description of the home of some of the gods
and of the goddesses, Freya and Saga, we read:—
_Gladsheim_[347] is the fifth called
Where the gleaming
Valhalla stands;
There Hropt (Odin) chooses
Every day
Weapon-dead men.[348]
That hall is very
Easily known to those
Who come to Odin;
The hall is roofed with shafts;
It is thatched with shields;
The benches are strewn with _brynja_.[349]
That hall is very
Easily known to those
Who come to Odin;
A wolf hangs[350]
West of the door;
An eagle hovers above it.
Five hundred doors
And forty more
I think are in Valhalla;
Eight hundred _Einherjar_[351]
Go through a door at once
When they go to fight the wolf.
To those men of old, death was but one of the phases of their lives; it
had no terrors for them, and they faced it smilingly, bravely, and
contentedly. It was in their eyes preferable to dishonour, or the
humiliation of defeat; vanquisher and vanquished when dying parted
friends, and praised the deeds of each other, one bidding the other
speed to Valhalla as the fire was lighted on the pyre, or as the burning
ship that was to consume the body sailed from the shore. The victor
often mourned that he had not been among the slain and chosen, and
consoled himself by thinking that he must obtain more renown and do
braver deeds before he could aspire to meet Odin. There is something
grand and noble in this despising of life, and in aspiring, during its
continuance, to do great and noble deeds.
Before the fight the combatants told each other that they would go to
Valhalla, and the hosts of the enemy were figuratively given to Odin by
throwing a spear over them;[352] King Vikar, of Hördaland, was thus
given to the god by his mother.[353] Odin himself steered Harald
Hilditönn’s war-waggon in the battle, and killed his favourites with
Harald’s weapons for he was old, and could not bear the brunt of any
more fighting. Eirik the victorious threw over Styrbjörn’s host the
spear which Odin gave him, accompanying the action with the words “Odin
owns you all.”
“King Vikar sailed from Agdir north to Hördaland with many men. He
stayed a long time in some islands and had strong headwinds. They threw
chips (sacrifice-chips) to get fair wind, and it fell thus that Odin was
to receive a man out of the host to be hanged by drawing of lots. The
host was divided for lot-drawing, and the lot of King Vikar was drawn.
At this all grew silent, and it was resolved that the counsellors should
next day have a meeting about the difficulty. About midnight
Hrosshársgrani (Odin) roused his foster-son Starkad, and asked him to go
with him. They took a little boat and rowed to an islet inside the
island. They walked up to a wood, and found a clearing crowded with men.
A _Thing_ was held there, and eleven men sat on chairs, but the twelfth
was not occupied. They went forward to the _Thing_, and Hrosshársgrani
(Odin) sat down on the twelfth chair. They all greeted Odin. He said
that the judges should judge about the fate of Starkad. Thor said:
‘Alfhild, the mother of Starkad’s father, chose a bad Jötun as father
for her son instead of Asathór, and I forecast for Starkad that he shall
neither have a son nor a daughter, and thus end his kin.’ Odin answered:
‘I forecast for him that he shall live as long as the lives of three
men.’ Thor said: ‘He shall do a _nithing’s_ deed in each of the three
lives.’ Odin answered: ‘I forecast for him that he shall have the best
weapons and clothes.’ Thor said: ‘I forecast for him that he shall
neither own land nor sea.’ Odin answered: ‘I give him that he shall have
very much loose property.’ Thor said: ‘I lay on him a spell which shall
make him think he never has enough.’ Odin answered: ‘I give him victory
and skill in every fight.’ Thor said: ‘He shall become maimed in every
fight.’ Odin said: ‘I give him skaldship so that he shall make poetry as
quickly as he talks.’ Thor said: ‘He shall not remember the poetry he
makes.’ Odin said: ‘I forecast for him that he be thought the greatest
by the most high-born and best men.’ Thor said: ‘He shall be disliked by
all people.’ The judges judged all that they had said of Starkad to be
his fate, and then the _Thing_ was dissolved. Hrosshársgrani and Starkad
went to their boat. Hrosshársgrani said to Starkad: ‘Now thou must
reward me well, foster-son, for the help I gave thee.’ Starkad assented.
‘Then,’ said Grani, ‘thou shalt send King Vikar to me, and I will tell
thee how to do it.’ He handed Starkad a spear, and said it would look
like a reed. They came back to the host when it was nearly day. The next
morning the counsellors of the king met to take counsel, and agreed to
make some semblance of sacrifice, and Starkad told their counsel. There
stood a fir-tree near them, and a high stump near it; low on the fir was
a slender shoot which reached up to the limbs. Servants prepared the
food of the men, and a calf was killed and cut up. Starkad had the
entrails taken out, mounted the stump, bent down the slender twig, and
tied the entrails to it. Then he said to the king: ‘Now a gallows is
ready for thee, king, and it will not seem very dangerous for men. Go
hither and I will lay the string round thy neck.’ The king said: ‘If
this contrivance is not more dangerous than it looks to me, then I do
not think it will hurt me; but, if it is otherwise, then fate will rule
it.’ Then he mounted the stump, and Starkad laid the string round his
neck, and stepped down from the stump. Then he struck him with the reed,
and said, ‘Now I give thee to Odin.’ He let go the twig, and the reed
changed into a spear which pierced the king; the stump sank down under
his feet, the calf’s entrails were turned into a strong withy, and the
twig rose and lifted the king up to the limbs, and there he died”
(Gautrek’s Saga, c. 1).
Men occasionally sacrificed themselves by throwing themselves from
cliffs so that they might be acceptable to Odin and go to Valhalla.
“Once King Gauti, of Vestr Gautland, was hunting and lost his way; he
found a small farm where the people were afraid of him. When he went to
bed a girl came to him, and when he asked about her family she answered:
‘My father is called Skafnörtung (pincher), because he is so stingy that
he cannot bear to see food or anything else which is his decrease; my
mother is called Tötra (tattered), because she never wants to wear any
clothes but those which are worn and in tatters; she calls that thrift.’
The king asked: ‘What are the names of thy brothers?’ She answered: ‘One
is called Fjölmódi, the second Imsigul, the third Gilling.’ The king
asked: ‘What art thou and thy sisters called?’ She answered: ‘My name is
Snotra,[354] because I was thought the wisest of us all; my sisters are
called Hjötra and Fjötra. There is a rock close to our farm called
Gillingshamar, and near it a steep rock, which we call Ætternisstapi
(family rock); it is so high and so steep that anything alive falling
down from it is killed. We give it the name Ætternisstapi, because by
its help we reduce our family in number when it seems to us that some
great wonders happen. All our forefathers died there without any
sickness, and then went to Odin; we need not have any burden or
sulkiness from our fathers and mothers, for this place of joy has been
equally easy for all our kinsmen to get to; we need not live with loss
of property, or want of food, or any other wonders or portents that may
happen. Now my father thinks it the greatest wonder, that thou hast come
to our house; it would have been a very uncommon thing even if a man of
low birth had taken food here; but this is most strange that a king,
chilled and without clothes, has come to us, for that has never before
happened. To-morrow my father and mother intend to divide the
inheritance, among us their children; they will then with the thrall go
down the Ætternisstapi, and journey to Valhalla. My father will reward
the thrall for his goodwill, in intending to drive thee from the door,
with nothing less than that he shall enjoy the happiness with him, for
he is sure that Odin will not go to meet the thrall unless he is in his
company.’[355] Then she slept with the king, who when he took leave
asked her to let their child, if a boy, he called Gautrek.
“When Snotra came home, her father said: ‘A great wonder has happened
that this king has come to our farm and eaten up a great deal of our
property which we least of all wanted to lose. I think we cannot
maintain our family on account of poverty, and therefore I have brought
together all my property, and want to divide the inheritance between my
sons. I and my wife and my thrall intend to go to Valhalla. I cannot
reward the thrall better for his faithfulness than by taking him with
me; Gilling together with his sister Snotra shall get my good ox;
Fjölmódi and his sister Hjötra shall have my gold-bars; Imsigul and his
sister Fjötra shall have all the corn and the fields; but I ask you, my
children, not to increase your number so that you cannot preserve my
inheritance.’ When Skafnörtung had said what he liked they all went up
on Gillingsrock, and they led their father and mother down on the
Ætternisstapi, and they went cheerfully and merrily to Odin. Now when
they came home they consulted how to manage; they took wooden pins and
pinned the vadmal (thick woollen cloth) round every one, so that none of
them touched the other naked; they thought this the best way of
preventing their number increasing. Snotra became aware that she was
with child; she moved the wooden pin in the vadmal so that she could be
touched with the hand, and affected sleep. When Gilling woke he touched
her cheek with his hand, and said: ‘This is bad that I have hurt thee;
it seems to me thou art much stouter than before.’ She answered: ‘Hide
this as well as thou canst.’ He said: ‘That shame I will not have, for
this cannot be hidden when our number is increased.’
“Two black snakes crept on the gold-bars of Fjölmódi, who therefore with
his wife threw himself down from the Ætternisstapi. Imsigul saw a bird
take corn from his field; therefore he and his wife went down from
Ætternisstapi. Gilling, the third brother, did the same after Gautrek,
Snotra’s boy, had slain his ox. Snotra being left alone went to King
Gauti” (Gautrek’s Saga, c. 1, 2).
The scald Eyvind composed a poem on King Hakon Adalsteinsfostri after
his death in the battle of Stord against the sons of Eirik Blood-axe,
and in this poem we see how he made his entrance into Valhalla, and how
Odin sent Valkyrias to choose those he loved.
“The body of King Hakon Adalstein’s foster-son, after the battle, was
carried to Sœheim in Lygrisfjord, in North Hördaland, and a mound thrown
up over it. Before he fell eight sons of Harald (fair-hair) had been
slain in light, as Eyvind has told, and he has said that the king went
to Valhalla, for it was the belief of the heathen that all who died of
wounds were taken to Valhalla.”[356]
Göndul and Skögul[357]
Gautatýr[358] sent
To choose among kings
Who of Yngvi’s kin[359]
Should to Odin go
In Valhalla to dwell.
They found the brother of Björn[360]
Putting on his mail-coat,
The well-endowed king
Stood under the war-banner.
The battle-oars drooped,[361]
The spear trembled,
And then the battle began.
He called to the Halogalanders
And the Rogalanders;
The only slayer of jarls[362]
Walked into the fight;
The generous one had
A good host of Northmen;
The frightener of Eydanir
Stood early under a helmet.[363]
The chief of the host
Ere he began the fight
Stripped himself of his war-dress,
Flung his mail-coat on the plain.
He played with the sons of men;[364]
He had to defend his land;
The merry king[365]
Stood under a gold helmet.
Thus did the sword
In the king’s hand
Cut the cloth of Váfad[366]
As if it cut water.
The spears cracked,
The shields were broken.
The clashing swords rattled
Upon the heads of men.
The shields and heads
Of Northmen were trodden
By the hard feet
Of the warriors’ hilts.[367]
There was fray on the island,
And the kings reddened
The shining shield-burgh
With the blood of men.
The wound-fires[368] burned
In bloody wounds.
The halberds sunk
Into men’s bodies;
The wound-drops gushed[369]
On the cape of swords;[370]
The flood of arrows (blood) swelled
On the shore of Stord.
The gales of Skögul (fights)
Were mingled together
Under the reddened sky of shields;
The clouds (arrows) played about the shields.
The sea of sword-points sounded
In the tempest of Odin;[371]
Many men did sink
In the stream of the sword.
Then sat the chiefs
With drawn swords,
With broken shields
And coats-of-mail cut.
The host that had to fight
For Valhalla
Was not in high spirits.
Then Göndul said,
Leaning on her spear-shaft:
“Now the following of the gods increases;
For the powers have
Bidden Hakon home
With a great host.”
The king heard
What the Valkyrjas said.
The high ones on horseback
Bore themselves handsomely
And sat helmeted
With shields in front.
_Hakon._
Why didst thou decide the battle
As thou didst yesterday, Skögul?
We surely deserved
Victory from the gods.
_Skögul._
We have caused
Thee to keep the field
And thy foes to flee.
Now we shall ride,
Said the mighty Skögul,
To the good homes of the gods
To tell Odin
That the All-ruler is coming
To see him.
Hermód and Bragi,
Said Hroptatýr,[372]
Go you to meet the king
As one[373]
Who is thought a champion
Comes this way to the hall.
Thus spoke the king
As he came from the battle
All bespattered with blood:
Odin to us
Sullen seems
If we can read his mind.
(_Bragi._)
Thou shalt have peace
With all _Einherjar_
And get cheer from the Asar;
Fighter of jarls,
Thou hast here within
Eight brothers,[374] said Bragi.
Our war-dress,
Said the good king,
Will we keep ourselves;
Helmet and coat-of-mail
Must be well cared for;
It is good to have them ready.
When it was known
That the king had
Respected well the temples,
All the powers and gods
Did Hakon
Welcome bid.
On a lucky day
Is the king born
Who has a mind like this;
His time
Will always
Be mentioned for good.
The Fenrir-wolf will be
Let loose
Upon the seat of men[375]
Before as good
A king arises
In the empty land.
Cattle die,
Kinsmen die,
Land and ground are laid waste.
Since Hakon went
To the heathen gods
Many men are mournful.
The warriors who went to Valhalla were named _Einherjar_, and their food
and drink are thus described:—
“Then said Gangleri: ‘Thou sayest that all men who have fallen in battle
since the beginning of the world have now come to Odin in Valhalla: what
has he to give them to eat? It seems to me that there must now be a
great multitude.’ Hár replied, ‘Thou sayest true that there are very
great hosts of men there; but there will be many more, nevertheless they
will be thought too few, when the wolf comes; but there are never such
hosts in Valhalla that there is not more than enough of the flesh of the
boar called Sæhrimnir. He is boiled every day, and every night he is
whole again. As to this question which thou now askest, I think few are
wise enough to be able to tell the truth about it’” (Later Edda).
“Then Gangleri said: ‘What have the Einherjar[376] to drink which may
last as long as the food? Is water drunk there?’ Hár answered:
‘Strangely dost thou ask; as if Allfödr (Allfather = Odin) would invite
to him kings or jarls or other powerful men and give them water to
drink; and, by my troth, many of the comers to Valhalla would think the
drink of water dearly bought if no better cheer were to be had there,
and they have before suffered pains and wounds unto death. I can tell
thee another thing. The goat Heidrún stands on the roof of Valhalla, and
bites buds off the branches of a very famous tree, Lerad, and from her
teats flows a mead which fills a large vessel every day; the vessel is
so large that all the Einherjar may get quite drunk out of it.’ Gangleri
said: ‘That is an exceedingly useful goat for them; the tree on which
she feeds must be very good.’ Hár said: ‘Still more remarkable is the
stag Eikthyrnir which stands on Valhalla and feeds on the branches of
this tree. From his horns there falls such a large drop that it comes
down into Hvergelmir, and thence fall the rivers named, Sid, Vid, Sekin,
Ekin, Svöl, Gunnthró, Fjörm, Fimbulthul, Gipul, Göpul, Gömul, Geirvimul,
which run through the Asa-land’” (Later Edda, Gylfaginning, c. 39).
The warriors in Valhalla appear to have divided their time between
drinking and fighting.
_Odin._
Tell me,...
Where men in the grass-plot
Fight every day?
They slay whom they choose
And ride from the fight
And sit together well agreeing.
_Vafthrudnir._
All the _Einherjar_
In the grass-plot of Odin
Fight every day;
They slay whom they choose
And ride from the fight
And sit together well agreeing.
(Vafthrudnismal.)
In Grimnismál we are told that the cook in Valhalla was called
Andhrimnir, and the cauldron Eldhrimnir:—
Andhrimnir does
Cook Sæhrimnir
In Eldhrimnir;
The best of pork,
But few know
By what the Einherjar live.
“Then Gangleri said: ‘A great many men are there in Valhalla; surely
Odin is a very great chief, as he rules over such a host. What is the
entertainment of the Einherjar when they are not drinking?’ Hár
answered: ‘Every day after having dressed they put on their war clothes,
and go out into the enclosure and fight and slay each other. This is
their game; near day-meal[377] they ride home to Valhalla and sit down
to drink[378]’” (Later Edda, c. 40).
Odin did not eat, for wine was to him both food and drink.
“Then said Gangleri: ‘Has Odin the same fare as the Einherjar?’ Hár:
‘The food which stands on his board he gives to his two wolves, Geri and
Freki;[379] he needs no food, for wine is both drink and food to him.
“King Eirek (blood-axe of Northumberland), son of Harald Fairhair, one
summer made warfare west of Scotland, and in Ireland, and in Bretland
(Wales), and did not stop before he came south to England, and ravaged
there as in other places, because King Adalstein (Ethelstan) was then
dead, and his son Jatmund ruled England” (Fagrskinna, c. 27).
“Eirik had a host so large that five kings followed him. As he was a man
of great bravery and a victorious man he trusted so well himself and his
host that he went far inland with warfare. Then King Olaf, King
Jatmund’s tax-king,[380] came against him; they fought, and Eirik was
overpowered by the land-host, and fell there with all his men. Arnkel
and Erlend, the sons of Torfeinar (jarl in the Orkneys), fell there with
him” (Fagrskinna, c. 28).
After the death of Eirik, Gunnhild (his wife) caused a poem to be made
on him, how Odin welcomed him, which gives us an idea of the belief of
people about the Valhalla.
What dreams are those?
Methought a little before day
That I made Valhöll ready
For slain people;
I bid the valkyrjas carry wine,
As a king (visi) was coming;
I expect
From the earth
Some famous warriors;
Therefore is my heart glad.
What is thundering, Bragi,
As if a thousand were moving,
Or a multitude of men?
The wainscot walls do creak (Bragi answers)
As if Baldr were coming
Back to the halls of Odin.
Foolish talk (said Odin)
Sayest thou, wise Bragi,
Though thou well knowest all things
It is thundering for Eirik
Who will come here
The chief into the halls of Odin.
Sigmund and Sinfjotli!
Rise quickly
And go meet the chief;
Bid him come in
If it be Eirik,
For him I now expect.
I awakened the Einherjar;
I bid them rise
To spread the benches with straw,
To wash the beer-vessels,
Why expectest thou Eirik (Sigmund said)
More than other kings? (konung)
In many a land (said Odin)
Has he reddened the sword (mœkir)
And carried the bloody blade.
Why didst thou then deprive him of victory
As thou thoughtest he was brave?
Because it is uncertain
When the grey wolf looks
To the seat of the gods.
Hail now, Eirik (said Sigmund),
Thou shalt be welcome here;
Enter the hall, wise man;
I would ask
Who follows thee
Of kings (jöfr) from the thunder of edges (battle)?
There are five (said Eirik).
I shall tell the names of all.
I am myself the sixth.