moreover, declare that Skuld,
the third Norn, was at times a Valkyr, and at others personated the
goddess of death, the terrible Hel.

CHAPTER XVIII: THE VALKYRS

The Battle Maidens

Odin's special attendants, the Valkyrs, or battle maidens, were either
his daughters, like Brunhild, or the offspring of mortal kings,
maidens who were privileged to remain immortal and invulnerable as
long as they implicitly obeyed the god and remained virgins. They and
their steeds were the personification of the clouds, their glittering
weapons being the lightning flashes. The ancients imagined that they
swept down to earth at Valfather's command, to choose among the slain
in battle heroes worthy to taste the joys of Valhalla, and brave
enough to lend aid to the gods when the great battle should be fought.

"There through some battlefield, where men fall fast,
Their horses fetlock-deep in blood, they ride,
And pick the bravest warriors out for death,
Whom they bring back with them at night to Heaven
To glad the gods and feast in Odin's hall."

Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).

These maidens were pictured as young and beautiful, with dazzling white
arms and flowing golden hair. They wore helmets of silver or gold,
and blood-red corselets, and with spears and shields glittering,
they boldly charged through the fray on their mettlesome white
steeds. These horses galloped through the realms of air and over
the quivering Bifroest, bearing not only their fair riders, but the
heroes slain, who after having received the Valkyrs' kiss of death,
were thus immediately transported to Valhalla.

The Cloud Steeds

As the Valkyrs' steeds were personifications of the clouds, it
was natural to fancy that the hoar frost and dew dropped down upon
earth from their glittering manes as they rapidly dashed to and fro
through the air. They were therefore held in high honour and regard,
for the people ascribed to their beneficent influence much of the
fruitfulness of the earth, the sweetness of dale and mountain-slope,
the glory of the pines, and the nourishment of the meadow-land.

Choosers of the Slain

The mission of the Valkyrs was not only to battlefields upon earth, but
they often rode over the sea, snatching the dying Vikings from their
sinking dragon-ships. Sometimes they stood upon the strand to beckon
them thither, an infallible warning that the coming struggle would
be their last, and