Valkyrie

Helping orphans the way you would do it

This article is about the Valkyries, figures of Norse mythology. There is another article on the North American XB-70 Valkyrie aircraft.

[[Image:Valk1.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The Valkyrie's Vigil by Edward Robert Hughes]] The Valkyries ("choosers of the slain", alternative spelling: Walkyries) are figures of Norse mythology. Generally held to be daughters of Odin, they are depicted as beautiful warrior-maidens on winged horses, armed with helmets and spears.

However, valkyrie horse was a kenning for wolf, so it is not likely that they were perceived of as riding mounts of the pegasus kind. Their horses were rather the packs of wolves that frequented the corpses of dead warriors.

Their purpose is to visit battlefields and chose the most heroic of those who have died in battle (called Einherjar), to carry them off to Valhalla. This was necessary because Odin needed warriors to fight at his side at the preordained battle at the end of the world, Ragnarok. Any maiden who became a Valkyrie would, generally held belief states, remain immortal and invulnerable—as long as she remained a virgin.

The Valkyries also acted as Odin's messengers. Their armor, while doing his bidding, was thought to have caused Aurora Borealis.

List of the Valkyries:

Richard Wagner adapted one of the Valkyrie myths, dealing with the Valkyrie Brunhilde and her love for the warrior Siegfried, into his opera Die Walküre.

See also: Alaisiagae