What was valhalla to the vikings

Manage your newsletter preferences now. By entering your details, you are agreeing to HistoryExtra's terms and conditions. You can unsubscribe at any time. Larrington was speaking to HistoryExtra content director David Musgrove for an episode of the HistoryExtra podcast about Norse gods, which will air in January He butchered serpents, pillaged on an epic scale, laughed in the face of death — and, in doing so, helped forge the modern ideal of the archetypal Viking warrior, writes Eleanor Parker….

Vikings believed they could reach Valhalla if they died in battle — but what if they perished in some other way? He is in the hall of Hel because he was not killed in battle, and a hero called Hermod is sent them to get him back again. Hermod asks if they can have Balder back again and Hel [the goddess who presides over the realm of the same name] says they can — under certain conditions.

While entrance to Valhalla seems to have ultimately been a matter of who Odin and his Valkyries chose to live there rather than any particular impersonal standard, it seems reasonable to surmise that Odin would select those who would serve him best in his final battle. The ranks of Valhalla would therefore predominantly be filled with elite warriors, especially heroes and rulers.

And, indeed, when Old Norse sources mention particular people residing in Valhalla, they almost invariably fit that description — along with elite practitioners of other roles that the hall of a Viking Age chieftain would have contained, such as the poet Bragi.

However, other lines of evidence suggest that it was at least sometimes seen as being located underground, like the more general underworld.

The medieval Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus describes the hero Hadding discovering just such a place in the underworld. Evidently, the Vikings perceived no absolutely firm difference between Valhalla and the other halls of the dead. For more on this point, and for a discussion of Norse beliefs about the afterlife more generally, see Death and the Afterlife.

Looking for more great information on Norse mythology and religion? To the Vikings, fate was unchangeable and an integral facet of the Norse worldview. Not all Viking warriors were granted entrance to the mythical Valhalla, but ancient Norse poems describe heroes who were believed to be bestowed with the honor. I awakened the einherjar , asking them to get up to strew the benches and to rinse the drinking cups. I asked the valkyries to bring wine, as if a leader should come.

Viking sagas about Haakon the Good, king of Norway from to , describe preparations for his entry to Valhalla. Ragnar intended to sail for England and swore that he would conquer it with a fleet of just two ships.

The king had Ragnar thrown into a snake-pit, hoping he would suffer a slow and painful death. In this moment of what appeared to be an inevitable defeat, Ragnar composes a death-song about how Valhalla is awaiting his arrival. As Crawford notes, passages like these show how mythology ascribed a fearless mindset to Viking warriors.