Valhalla (pronounced "val-HALL-uh"; Old Norse Valhöll, "the hall of the fallen") is the hall where the deity Odin resides with the dead whom he deems worthy of his company.
The roof of the "gold-bright" Valhalla is composed of shields, and its rafters are spears, according to the Old Norse poetry Grmnismál ("The Song of the Hooded One"). The many eating tables of the enormous hall are surrounded by seats constructed of breastplates. Wolves defend the gates, while eagles soar above it.
The einherjar, the dead who reside in Valhalla, live a life that would be the envy of any Viking warrior. They fight each other all day, performing numerous valorous acts in the process. Every evening, however, all of their wounds are healed and they are fully restored to health. All those conflicts must work up quite an appetite, and their dinners do not disappoint. Their meat comes from the resurrected boar Saehrimnir (Old Norse Shrmnir, whose meaning is unknown), who is slaughtered and butchered multiple times. They drink mead made from the udder of a goat named Heidrun (Old Norse Heidrun, whose meaning is unknown). As a result, they have an infinite supply of their amazing food and drink. They are escorted by the lovely Valkyries.
The einherjar, on the other hand, will not be able to live this idyllic existence indefinitely. The denizens of Valhalla have been trained for war by Odin, who has gathered them for the sole purpose of having them come to his aid in his fated battle against the wolf Fenrir during Ragnarok – a conflict in which Odin and the einherjar are doomed to die.
How Did One Gain Entrance to Valhalla?
The Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, a thirteenth-century Icelandic scholar, is the only Old Norse text that directly states how people won access to Valhalla. Snorri wrote many generations after Norse paganism had been replaced by Christianity and had ceased to be a living tradition, and he went to great lengths to artificially organize the various material in his sources (many of which we, too, possess). Those who die in battle are brought to Valhalla, while those who die of sickness or old age are taken to Hel, the underworld, after leaving the realm of the living, according to Snorri.
Snorri, on the other hand, obviously contradicts this notion in his story of the death of Baldur, who was killed savagely and nevertheless borne to Hel. No other source makes this distinction, and several others provide additional evidence to the opposite, some of which we'll look at lower down. Snorri's nice, tidy division between Hel and Valhalla is undoubtedly his invention - a result of his desire to try to systematize Norse paganism, which was never a neat, tidy system while it was still in use.
Snorri, on the other hand, wasn't wholly wrong. While it appears that Odin and his Valkyries picked who would reside in Valhalla rather than any certain impersonal standard, it seems logical to assume that Odin would choose those who would best serve him in his last fight. As a result, Valhalla would mostly be populated by exceptional fighters, particularly heroes and rulers. And, when Old Norse sources name specific people staying in Valhalla, they nearly always meet that description — along with top practitioners of other vocations that a Viking Age chieftain's hall would have housed, such the poet Bragi.
Where Was Valhalla Located?
Grmnismál's most renowned portrayal of Valhalla in Old Norse literature depicts it as being located in Asgard, the celestial castle of the gods.
Other evidence suggests, however, that it was at least occasionally perceived as being subterranean, similar to the general underworld.
The constant combat that takes happening in Valhalla is one of the place's distinguishing traits, as we've already mentioned. Saxo Grammaticus, a medieval Danish historian, describes the hero Hadding uncovering such a place in the underworld. Furthermore, the name Valhöll, "the hall of the fallen," appears to be related to the name Valhallr, "the rock of the fallen," a label given to particular rocks and hills in southern Sweden, one of the most important historical sites of Odin worship.
To help illustrate how fascinating Viking Valhalla truly is, here is the most fascinating design you should take a look :
Vahalla Skull
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