However, the depiction of Valkyries in Old Norse literature is rarely one-dimensional. Though they are creatures of carnage in many texts, they too are shown to be gracious, well-intentioned shieldmaidens, faithfully carrying out Odin’s commands on the battlefield, and conveying dead heroes to the skies.

In the Hákonarmál, a 10th century memorial poem contained in the Heimskringla saga, Odin sends two Valkyries, Göndul and Skögul, to attend to the Norwegian king Haakon I, who dies on the battlefield. Leaning on her spear shaft, Göndul declares, “groweth now the gods’ following, since Hákon has been with host so goodly bidden home with holy godheads”. Not only do they make preparations for Haakon to be given a hero’s welcome, but they reassure him that as a Christian, he will receive a warm reception from the company of pagan warriors waiting to receive him in Valhalla.

The choosers of the slain had another important role after deciding who would die in battle. In several poems in the Poetic Edda, the Valkyries are described as serving food and mead to the fallen in the halls of Valhalla. In the poem Grímnismál, for instance, Odin lists 11 valkyries who “bear ale to the einjerjar”.

Meanwhile in the book Gylfaginning in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, the enthroned figure High informs Gangleri of “others whose duty it is to serve in Valhalla. They bring drink and see to the table and the ale cups.” Then there is the Skáldskaparmál, a book of skaldic poetry, in which an anonymous 10th century poem, Eiríksmál, describes Valkyries preparing Valhalla for the next cohort of dead heroes: “I aroused the Einheriar, bade them get up to strew the benches, clean the beer-cups, the valkyries to serve wine for the arrival of a prince.”

The mead-pouring wasn’t purely for civil hospitality. As Robert Blumetti observes in The Norse Gods and Their Myths, the Valkyries’ duty to nourish and revive means that they are “not only the collectors of the dead, but givers of life.”

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