Story 95: Storm Einherjar and Bloody Valkyries

“There’s always a prose section in these poems.”

We’ve come full circle to the topic that almost broke the podcast!

Other topics include Darien spending way too long trying to figure out why Gunilla turned into a swan, Rick Riordan skipping over a very important detail in the Helgi/Hunding “rivalry,” poetic devices that may be responsible for the rumor of valkyries riding on wolves, an uncommon example of incense in Norse mythology, Darien explaining why it’s silly for Gunilla to have turned into a swan, DJ giving a really good reason why Gunilla turned into a swan, and the first example of Swedish literature.

Spoilers for SMITE, Thor Ragnarok, Soul Music by Terry Pratchett, Warhammer: AOS, God of War (2018), God of War Ragnarok, Richard Wagner’s The Valkyrie, and “What’s Opera, Doc?”

Content Warning: This episode contains mentions of and conversations about death, incest, poisoning, physical violence, and the afterlife.

Moss Lawton’s Hellaween: Spellbent Patron-Voted Bonus Episode available now on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/musesofmythology

About Us

Muses of Mythology was created and co-hosted by Darien and DJ Smartt.

Our music is Athens Festival by Martin Haene. Our cover art is by Audrey Miller. Find her on Instagram @bombshellnutshellart

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Find us @MusesOfMyth on Instagram. Find all of our episodes and episode transcripts at MusesOfMythology.com

Darien (00:00.172)

Music of Mythology is a spoiler-heavy podcast.

That's an understatement.

DJ (00:15.948)

Vermont's boring as hell. Not visually, I bet it's stunning, but I just mean like culturally.

Darien (00:37.176)

Welcome to Muse's Mythology, a podcast where we explore how ancient myths become part of modern pop culture through the lens of Rik Rydin's Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard. This is story 95. Inhar ye and valkyries. I'm your co-host and podcasting muse, Darian Smart. Joining me is my co-host and brother, DJ.

How's everybody doing today? I'm DJ The Muse and I'm playing a lot of COD Zombies lately. You have? I have like 96 hours in that game right now. Nice. And it's only in Zombies. I'm not touched multiplayer? Uh huh. Period.

Like a lot. Like a lot.

Darien (01:05.87)

That's not what you're interested in. You're here for the zombies? Yeah. Nice. Well, let's go, you know, do a sweep at the garden, make sure there are no zombies there.

you

So DJ, I got my cat fixed recently. went to, it was called the Snip Clinic here in the Valley. And I mentioned it because I got a quote from my vet, which could have been as expensive as $500 to get my cat fixed there. No, and the Snip Clinic was able to do it for $75. And this is a very reputable place.

I don't want to do that.

DJ (01:42.286)

I've had cats down there before.

Yep, yep. I know that the price difference feels very like, whoa, a lot. But specifically, their mission is to offer affordable spay and neutering for

Quite literally they're called Snip Spay and Neutering Clinic. I'm pretty sure like that's the name of the place

Yes, they do one thing and it's this and they have a very like specific system in which they do this and I mention all this because it's also a new month which means it's time for a monthly patreon donation and so I would like to donate to the snip clinic. All right. Because I think it's a very good cause and it's important for the health of pets in general for the you know maintaining the population of animals in an area but I

Cool.

Darien (02:27.074)

would like to contribute locally to a good cause to hopefully help other pet owners and animals in the area with this much needed service. Yes.

Yeah, they're a very helpful service. Don't particularly want a bunch of stray cats and dogs running around. No! It's no-

it's no good. It's no good, because not every stray animal is going to get a warm and happy safe home. also, if you have a bunch of stray animals, it's not good for the local environment in general. Birds go extinct due to cats. Like, that's a thing.

Yeah, I believe so. We currently have 10 patrons, so we'll be donating an extra $10 to make it a nice clean 20. A crisp Jackson.

Chris Jackson. Definitely, we'll have a link below in the show notes for folks who are interested. Also, if we have listeners who are in the Treasure Valley area, also looking for a good place to get their pets spayed or neutered, highly recommend. It was a very positive experience. Taco has been healing very well. Thank you for our patrons who helped make these donations possible. And now, back to the show.

DJ (03:28.034)

us.

Darien (03:36.93)

DJ, we have come full circle.

have finally reached the episode.

the episode.

The episode that made us realize we got to restructure for Norse.

Hard pivot. I believe that episode is called Story 8X. An important announcement or something. And the first 10 minutes, I believe, are legitimately the Inheri episode. And then we cut back in to be like, OK, this is what we're doing now. And then the rest of that is the Green Night bonus episode.

DJ (04:03.308)

like yeah

DJ (04:14.51)

The movie wasn't good. It was a weird ass movie.

It was a really weird movie that seemed not interested in actually interrogating the theme of the poem, Sir Gowan and the Green Knight. I will say, weirdly, those notes disappeared that I made for the original episode. couldn't find them. also, I remember being very dissatisfied with them. So there was a lot of stuff about the Wild Hunt in there that I was just scraping.

I tried to put...

together. yeah. I don't remember what we actually covered in that episode, so if we repeat anything here, don't worry about it, listeners.

Like, it's a new episode.

Darien (04:57.996)

It's a brand new episode. So DJ, what do you know about the Inharie?

The Inheri are, they're the guys. They're the bros. They're, I mean, they're the warriors of specifically Odin. They fell in battle with a weapon in hand and were taken here, regardless of like what morals or side or whatever, as long as they kind of had a belief in Norse mythology, they came here to Odin or I guess to, what other place? don't remember its name. Folkvogner.

Hit the road!

Darien (05:31.31)

They're not in Har Yeh.

Yeah, I know there's something else because and here he I think specifically means like Odin's chosen or some shit like that. That might not be true. No, no, no, it's no, but they are Odin's chosen.

Darien (05:47.574)

Yes, the Inheri are Odin's chosen. I think there's some, where is it on my notes? Questioning about like. Yep, and blending them together, what do you remember about the Valkyries?

and happy are.

DJ (06:01.738)

They're the girls. They're the girls! No, the Valkyrie, Oris, well, owns other warriors, right? Specifically, owns, like, scouts and spies and...

Well, Spies was, yeah. Yeah, just-

Just doing missions for Odin, going out there, picking up also N. Harriyar. just that, yeah? Yeah. Everybody's got a magical cloak that's green. Is everybody's

No, we had a whole conversation about this. We could not figure out if everyone's was that shade of green or not. There's no evidence that says they're all that shade of green.

but it can make you go invisible? Yes. Did it make Gunhilda turn into a swan, or can she just do that?

Darien (06:58.126)

Sorry, that's from a thing I learned about today. Yes, she did turn into a swan. Why was she a swan?

I mean, she turned into a swan like right before she got caught, or I guess like, yeah, but got caught by the giantess's. Yeah. And she was doing it in order to like trick them and thinking, they just caught a normal swan, but like, we know it's you.

Yeah.

Darien (07:23.554)

We know that you that isn't that also super weird that she's turning into a swan when Like the child of Loki whole thing is like shapeshifting any animals Yeah, and then I think we just didn't really interrogate that it says hold. Okay. Go hold and grab the book I totally forgot about that

Yeah, that's it. They just, it just says that they see the swan and she's like, I'm pretty sure it's gonna la. Valkyries are excellent tractors, but it doesn't say how she's a swan. Okay. Yeah. It's she's just like, look, there's a swan. I'm pretty sure it's a Valkyrie, but it does, but no one asks how is she a swan? No, this is wild. Okay.

And I'm so obsessed with the swan thing because of the thing I found today in my research. And that's why I'm like really trying to figure out what justification Rye Arden gives for this. Because she's a swan. if anyone remembers if there's what the passage is where if there's any explanation about how she turned into a swan, I'd love to see it. Cause I just dug through all this and I couldn't find it. So that's interesting. Cause it does seem strange. Strange.

not have that and I know why it's there, but also I know more information about this one thing that is more Rick picking things and then like applying them and not doing it. Listen. OK. Yes, yes. OK. So we've actually covered almost everything there is to cover about

applying them strange.

DJ (08:59.276)

Well, we'll hear about it. Okay.

Darien (09:10.092)

the Inheri in our Valhalla episode. Because the times when they are mentioned is literally in connection to what Valhalla is for, like being the hall that Odin runs for the Inheri to go, for the fallen warriors to go. That is its whole thing. There are not a lot of other references to them that provides us with any more information than what

we covered already. I found that. I was like, oh, that's why I had such a hard time back because we just done the Valhalla episode before jumping right into that. And there was nothing new to talk about really because there isn't. Because like Unheri and Valhalla are intrinsically linked and there isn't a lot of reference to them as a separate entity. There is one time in the Lay of Grimir.

where Odin tells someone that the Inheri no longer look favorable upon you as a curse. But even then, that's not more information. I did discover, thanks to Snorri. One question we had kind of been pondering that we weren't sure of, and that's what happens to the Inheri after Ragnarok?

just die.

And this comes towards the end of the Gilfeningening. Enigengleri asked, what will be after heaven and earth and the whole world are burned? All the gods will be dead together with the Anheri and the whole of mankind. Specific confirmation, all of our friends from this book series do end up dying?

DJ (10:48.524)

Yeah, well all of our all of our friends from everything end up not

The problem with that one is we assume that in the other books, they'll go to whatever their mythological afterlife is. True.

But I mean, I guess you could view the mythological afterlives as part of Earth in terms of how the Norse might view the realms.

But like technically and.

Darien (11:15.788)

all the realms are destroyed.

Yeah, all the realms are destroyed, including Midgard, which you could view that the Underworld or Olympus are part of Midgard.

That's super interesting because it is like how much you have to assume

their entrance ways are just like right there.

yeah that's the

DJ (11:32.814)

I think for Greek, yeah, probably. I haven't read any of the King Chronicles, so I can't comment on... Yeah, I mean, obviously it's the Egyptian. I just wonder how it's like, how is it for them? Because I don't know any Egyptian tales of like a mortal just walking to the afterlife area where like Anubis is just chilling.

They have their own afterlife structure.

Darien (11:52.286)

No, that's not a thing they do. It's a bunch of steps in the burial rituals and the scrolls and the spells and things like that. yeah, that's not a mythology that they have. Because in that one, it's like, well, you go to your after. There's no coming. You don't want to come back from that because you

Yeah, it's like specifically.

DJ (12:10.83)

This is is the end point

So the cultural relationship is distinctly different. yeah, no. It's an interesting thing that Rick has never fully grappled with is if they had failed, what would that mean for everything else? it reminds me of this episode of Supernatural where they're doing the End Times Book of Revelation shit in season five. And all of the pagan gods get together. And they're like, what's with these?

These Christian upstarts don't get to end the world. Like, Odin's even like, everyone knows that the world will end when I am eaten by the wolf. Like, we all know this.

Well, I always like to imagine it that had Magnus failed at that same time Apollo was

See that's another fun theory in the Egyptian.

DJ (13:06.146)

happens in like relatively the same time doesn't it like June that's when Tower of Nero takes place doesn't it when he's fighting against Nero and

Yes.

Darien (13:17.166)

little

Like that's that's what that's what I like to think is like actually happening. Is that they're like they're coming like every time is the chaos from all. Yeah. Pantheons are just like crazy and like waves going like, fuck, we averted it. And everybody avert it.

There was an early fan theory that the Battle of Manhattan was happening the same time as the cumulative events of the Kane Chronicles And so because their timelines roughly add up and so like that two threats were happening at the same time I really like that I think at this point in time though with the deepest respect and and readers of Triple goddess will know exactly what I'm talking about no spoilers, but It does not seem

like Ryarden is super great at keeping track of his own internal time. Yeah, but in a way that seems worse.

it seems kind of disrespectful at this point.

Darien (14:16.352)

It's like, we all know that the passage of time in the books do not reflect the passage of time in the workbook. And that's not a problem, we're fine with that. We also know that somehow Percy just completely skipped over sophomore year of high school.

in between the last Olympian and Heroes because all of a sudden he missed his junior year. it's like, OK, OK. That's why. OK. But then there is a line in Triple Goddess that just entirely breaks the line. And so that's the point where

I hate to see it.

wanting these things to have lined up in an overall intentional way feels like it's completely off the table if we aren't necessarily paying attention to these things. And this is a thing, people, so listeners who have read the book. And this isn't like, this doesn't ruin the book. Like I really like Triple Goddess, like beyond that. But like that, that's a thing. That was a thing that you're just like, okay, so we don't care. We hate to see it.

Go ahead. Just if not, have five credits.

Darien (15:31.55)

So everyone's gonna die and we don't even know what afterlife they get to go to eventually and that's a bummer and a half. There's no after- this is their afterlife!

There's no after.

This is the afterlife. There is no, it's oblivious.

we're getting too existential we have to pull away from that cliff because I'm about to go over it

You could have it.

Darien (15:50.776)

Damn it, TJ.

Darien (15:54.89)

So one thing I did want to talk about since most of it's like, okay, they're the warriors of Odin. They get chosen by the Valkyrie. There's a bunch of them. They're going to go fight in the end times and they're all going to die. This is what we know about the Inheri. Like that's that's the beginning and end that we have. And we've discussed all of those details in previous episodes at different times. So I wanted to know if we had tales of figures that were specifically Inheri, like ones we know.

go to Valhalla, who will be fighting in Ragnarok. And there are a handful of poems in the Eddas that we get figures who we know for a fact are in Valhalla. one that's a big one that we actually see in the books comes from the poem of Helgi Hunding's Bonnie.

And so this is a tale, which we may have talked about this in original and hurry episode, I can't remember that. But we know Helgi and Hunding are the two, like Helgi is like the Mr. Mosby type who runs it. And then this is like the bellhop almost, who just has to do all the dirty work. He's the Esther. Yeah, yeah. And Magnus is like super sympathetic towards Hunding.

do is actually kind of a shitter.

So the thing about this is the reason that the figure's name is Heldy Hunding's bounty is because he's literally the killer of Hunding because Hunding killed this guy's dad. Yeah. And so when Helge was 15 years old, he avenged his father. And then he goes on and has a whole like life. He's very heroic life, right? Which does include him falling in love with a Valkyrie. Nice. And doing some stuff there. for him. Good for him. We'll talk about that.

Darien (17:51.636)

is the Valkyrie stuff. Then at the end of his life when he dies, he does go to Valhalla and Odin puts him in charge of all of Valhalla. And like the first thing he does is he looks at hunting. It's called the second poem of Haldi, huntings, Bonnie, hunting. You shall fetch the foot bath for every man and kindle the fire. Tie up the dogs, watch the horses, give the pig slops before you go to sleep.

You guessed that motherfucker.

It's like, you're mine now.

DJ (18:20.354)

Yep. mean, hey, don't kill the guy's dad. You might meet him in the afterlife.

Also kind of wild because it's like, okay, we talked about the whole in the Balder episode that like blood debt thing. And it's like, okay, but this should have kind of maybe should have been resolved because yeah, he killed her dad, but then you killed him. So it's like.

The blood debt was resolved, but the resentment still there. If I like the like, yeah, sure. I would get revenge on a guy who killed like family member, right? But I'd still be like, I still hate the guy. He killed my family member. It doesn't matter if I killed him. I still hate him.

Yeah, and I wonder if

Darien (18:49.719)

for

Darien (18:56.61)

I don't believe in capital punish, but I do believe in vigilante justice. What I'm saying is I wonder culturally, what was the takeaway from this part of the poem where if that element of like the legalese around like the vengeance and that balance thing and then getting to the afterlife and still being like, fuck you, I'm giving you all of the most menial labor. And if it was like, yes. Yeah, was the audience supposed to be like, hell yeah, or was it supposed to be.

It's just catharsis like.

Darien (19:24.256)

read as petty. And I don't think it's meant to be reading as petty because there are three poems. This dude is our hero. It's the first poem of Haldi Hundingsbonnie. There's just a poem called Haldi Hundingsbonnie. And then there's the second. It's crazy. And they're all kind of recaps of each other. Then there's maybe even a fourth one. But like that one's been lost to time. I'll talk about that one later.

but I would think that it's not meant to be viewed as a negative decision on the part of our hero. And then after he's in Valhalla, he does go back briefly to see his wife one more time. We'll get to that later. So it's super interesting that Rick decided that, and of course Magnus would be sympathetic to this dude who's being made to do all these terrible like.

If he doesn't know the story.

And that it was never addressed. It's just described as they were rivals in life.

We're intact.

DJ (20:25.422)

This motherfucker killed his dad. Yeah

Like that's not, I mean, he killed her. Like, that's not, anything minus would have a very different opinion on the situation if we knew the whole thing. But that is an example of they both died in battle. Like Helgi killed Hundings, and then he himself dies in battle later on. So died in battle, got to Valhalla. But that's not always the case for figures that we know are referenced or believed to be in Valhalla. There's another poem.

And it is called, it's in one of the King's sagas written about, written about 1220 and it's called Far Schema. And this, there's a prose section within this poem, because there's always a prose section within these poems. And it is, tells the story of Gunnhild mother of Kings who had a poem composed to honor the death of her husband, Erik Bloodaxe. Such a good name. And the poem features Erik being welcomed to Valhalla.

which such fanfare that Bragi himself says it's like Balder is returning. Yep, it's such a big deal. fact, Odin welcomes him as do the Germanic heroes, Sigmund and Sigmund's son slash nephew, Sinzforti. Yes, I did say son slash nephew because I felt like I had to mention this because it came up in my research. We talked a lot about how...

Gosh.

Darien (21:52.204)

Yeah, incense didn't seem to be a thing that we're having the Norse gods This one. And this and this and there's in the Volsang Saga. Throw some incense incense incense incest. Thank you. I was stuck.

Humans aren't perfect, okay?

incest.

DJ (22:10.594)

You're like incense like like the smoke that I like incense, right?

flavor. and it essentially is that it's still like, it's the the the saga is about the decline of this family in general that was once great. And so this woman is married to this king who's a shithead who has all of her brothers and her father killed. Yeah. And so she is able to help one of her brothers escape. And she is sending her sons out to go help him but they all proved to be weaklings like all of her the sons that she had.

by her husband are all just too fucking weak and she's having her husband killed, or not her husband, God, her brother kill them, because they're too pathetic, and she's like, listen, the only way we're gonna have someone who is strong enough to continue the line of our great grandfather who is this great king has to be through my brother's bloodline. So she does switch forms with the Volspa and then goes to her brother for three nights. And so Sigmund, who is the hero in this context, does not know about this.

And then she does have a son who is this other hero. So Sigmund, I don't know how he dies, probably in battle, but the son nephew actually in the saga, he's poisoned by Sigmund's wife after he killed the wife's brother.

to battle against cancer.

DJ (23:32.194)

battle of being poisoned. don't know your is fighting the poison, right?

I mean I guess but also he his body is actually taken away by Odin who's disguised as a ferryman so you know these sagas

Real recognizers real, Darren.

Talk about the sagas very much because they're bizarre. But anyway, these two noted Germanic heroes are mentioned in this poem that this woman had to honor her husband and talk about him being welcomed into Valhalla. So that just actually gives us a little insight into the overall cultural idea of what figures get to be in Valhalla, even if it's never stated in the poems that they go there. If they were heroic, then you probably just assume, yeah, they went to Valhalla.

One last example I have is from the Song of Hekhan. This is a Scaldic poem that tells the story of the Norwegian king Hekhan the Good falling in the battle at Fitchiar. And even though the king converted to Christianity, in the poem it tells how Odin sent the Valkyries Gondol and Skogul to collect him when he died and he was welcomed into Vahal.

DJ (24:47.278)

Okay. Yeah.

And I don't know. And that just is interesting.

So how do you get into Valhalla? Be madly respected or die in battle.

Well,

Yeah, I think that's it.

Darien (25:00.972)

And it does feel like probably in the Nordic culture, those two things are probably pretty tightly intertwined.

Arguably, it's if you die in battle, it's a 50-50 chance if you're going to Volkvogner or Valhalla. But Odin can just be like, I liked you. You were sick. Come on.

Yeah, and continues specifically. And so it's interesting because the tales of the Valkyrie and Odin in the Inheri, they always mention Valhalla. But it's just in this passage regarding Freya, where she also goes to the battlefield and collects half. We talked about that in the Freya episode, how it's like we don't have any more context in that or understand what makes it different than Valhalla and how she's maybe represented as a Valkyrie. And there's some space to like.

Interpret yeah work with that or were they one in the same did they get separated over time? We we don't really know we also don't really know where the Concept of the N. came from for the Nordic people So several scholars have commonly connected the N. Hari to the Hari which is a Germanic tribe mentioned by Tatechus

E.

DJ (26:01.357)

Yeah.

Darien (26:12.8)

in his first century work, Germania, which is something we mentioned way back when we were talking about the Eddas and where do we get any information about it. This dude was a Roman historian. This is what he wrote. As for the Hari, quite apart from their strength, which exceeds that of other tribes that I have just listed, they pandered to their innate savagery by skill and timing with black shields and painted bodies. They choose dark nights to fight, and by means of terror and shadow of a ghostly army, they cause panic, since no enemy can bear a sight so unexpected and hellish.

In every battle, the eyes are the first to be conquered. And so one of such scholar we've referenced often, John Lindau, stated, quote, many scholars think that this may be the basis for the myth in an ancient Odin cult, which would be centered on young warriors who entered into an ecstatic relationship with Odin and that the name of the Hari has been etymologically connected to the Hari element of N-Hari. And so it's kind of

Nice.

Darien (27:11.054)

like they may have a dramatic tribe that did exist at one point in time and became part of like the cultural tradition.

loosely connected.

DJ (27:20.95)

sense. I could see it.

And that part of the root word of Inharie is connected to Inyar, which is tied to the words meaning bold and valor. this kind of, wherever it came from, it was a good thing to be. Like the presence of the Inharie in the North stories as this like, with words meaning good things, tell us a whole awful lot about like the day-to-day belief system of the Nordic people.

There you go. Okay.

Darien (27:53.388)

Like this is your afterlife and this is what you wish to attain and this is a good thing. That tells us a lot about how they viewed being alive in general. So with that, now I get to talk about the Valkyries. There is a little more on those. There is. It was interesting to dig into the Valkyrie and I'm like, this could have been in some episode. like, yeah, but Dan Harry needed to be part of this.

Whew, I there's a little more on those.

DJ (28:22.026)

In here, couldn't have been a stone.

as we discovered an early spring holy cow DJ.

last year. March of last year.

March of this year. That's **** this year. Yeah.

So weird. is... Okay. So, DJ, what makes a Valkyrie? Like, when you picture Valkyrie, what do you see in your head?

DJ (28:48.28)

Flying Battle Maiden.

What weapon do you think Valkyries tend to have? Sword is good.

Do they have like pitchforks?

So funny. No. So when you see Valkyries depicted, we don't get a lot of description of Valkyries in that. We get Valkyries mentioned a whole lot in the end. In fact, I have a ton of names and we're going to talk about these names in a bit.

Mostly the Valkyrie that comes to mind really is just Freya in Smite. I believe she is described as like the leader of the Valkyries in Smite specifically.

Darien (29:23.052)

I remember that because I was like, wow, what a great thing. Weird that Riordan didn't pick this. So odd.

Hate to see it. Anyway.

Anyway, what I was saying is, we have a lot of like archeologic, arche, what is wrong with me tonight? Archeology, yeah, like carvings and a little bit of things that depict Valkyries. And so I asked about the weapon because we do know Valkyries most commonly, okay, most commonly they're actually just showed depicting a mead horn that they're giving to a warrior as he arrives in Valhalla. But second most commonly, they have a spear because it demonstrates.

Archaeological.

DJ (30:02.104)

would have been my next guess. Honestly. It's the spear with the axe at the

Yeah, Halbert.

Okay, thank you. thank you. It is a spirit because it illustrates their connection to Odin. Because Odin has a spirit. Yes. Also, riding a horse. Because, of course. If you look it up, there were an awful lot of sites that said that Valkyries were also known to ride wolves, which is metal as hell. It's awesome. Don't get me wrong.

got gung-near.

Darien (30:36.942)

And their source for this is an artifact called the Rock Stone, which is a rune stone from the early 9th century. And it's actually the earliest known example of Swedish literature. It's considered the start of Swedish literature, which is really cool. On the stone, there is the Keening Horse of Gunnir. as we talked about, a Keening is specifically that poetic device used in the Scaldic poems. The actual...

passage is, say this the 12th, where horse of Ganyr sees fodder on the battlefield where 20 kings lie. And Ganyr is a Valkyrie. That's something we're going to talk about later. I've gotten this a little bit out of order, I'm realizing. But in the Eddas, there Odin gives a whole list of Valkyries, and one of them is Ganyr. So in this, saying horse of Ganyr. Ganyr means war.

And so scholars interpreted as meaning a wolf because a horse of the battlefield is a wolf.

I guess would probably make sense for like Nordic tradition. We just got like war horses and like almost any other, you know, any other culture truly did ride horses into the battlefield.

Yeah, and I think they did too. It was saying the like horse of the field, horse of the battlefield is wolves coming up after the battle where the bodies lie. So some sites when talking about Valkyries will say, well, if a horse of Ginear, and we know Ginear is the name of Valkyrie and the horse of war is a wolf, that must mean her horse was a wolf. That's probably not it. It is probably totally poetic.

Darien (32:29.27)

just literally meaning like her, this is the Valkyrie, her name means war, her horse is a wolf, that's being used poetically here to describe wolves on the battlefield. That is likely not a belief that Valkyries rode wolves. Now, but to be clear, there are examples of female figures in Norse stories in which they are riding wolves. In the Lay of Hildna, the Cirrus,

who is the title character who is Hinda rides a wolf. And Jotun woman actually arrives on a wolf when going to Baldr's funeral. So that's not completely out of the question. It's like, this is the thing, but neither of those two are Valkyries. And in this specific case, it's probably just being used totally poetically to mean a wolf, not necessarily to mean anything about the belief regarding Valkyries.

Now, to give you some other names, when we have the Valkyrie thing is also a tighter spot because we talk about how I've actually mentioned a lot about Valkyries already in the Valhalla episode because they're the ones who take the warriors who live in Valhalla and they like serve the meat. Yes, right. Like this, maybe, maybe from the jump, I would have tied all these three things together. And I really like how the Valkyrie, yeah, I like how the

is very interconnected.

DJ (33:53.268)

been a long episode now.

Darien (33:57.48)

no, was the... For some reason, get in my head, conflate the research I did for Valhalla with the research I did with the World Tree. I don't know, my brain is doing that. But the...

Maybe it's because logically you know that the World Tree is what like ties all of Norse together but like Valhalla

Yeah, I don't know. just remember being- I just- I have- I-

Or it's because the fucking world tree runs through Magnus's room?

It does, and we don't really talk about how that's kind of, does it run through everybody's room? You're right. I don't know. I don't think so. So we talked about, I think, in the Volspa, the seer in describing the world. Valkyries are mentioned in this poem. She saw Valkyries coming from far and wide, ready to ride to the gods realm. Skulls shouldered one shield.

Darien (34:57.812)

Skogul was another, Gunhild, Gondol, and Gyrskogul. And now the general's ladies are counted up. Valkyrie is ready to ride over the earth. And this is part of the next thing she mentions how she sees Balder. The previous one was talking about Odin and Mimir. Like this is just her cycling through everything she sees in the history of all things. So that's a handful of Valkyrie names. So Ingramir Sayings is the poem that Odin and Freyr

Not Freya. Odin and were talking about this king that Odin thought was super cool, and Frigg is like, no, he sucks. And so he disguises himself to go to the king's house, and the king is a bad host and torments him. So at one point in time, he is so thirsty that he says, I wish Hrist and Mist would bear a horn to me. Segold and Skogul, Hild and Thrand, Holc and Hefnorth, Gull and Geralt, Rangrid and Ragrid and Ringlif.

They bear ale to the Inherjar. And so literally he's being like, wish the Valkyrie, I'm so thirsty. I wish the Valkyries themselves would bring me something to drink. So we get names total of 12 Valkyries and their names all mean specific things. fun. We have Future Shaker, War Battle, Wand Wielder.

Nice.

Darien (36:26.612)

Spear Soul Gold, which is essentially Spear Shaker, Shaker, Cloud, Axe Age, Power, Noise, Hostfeder, Turmalt, Spearfighter, Shield Truce, Council Truce, and Power Truce. Yeah. Sick. also, mentioning earlier how we mentioned how Gunir's name means war. All of the Valkyries who are named...

Nice.

Darien (36:56.086)

their names reference, their names all reference elements of battle, basically. Yeah. There were scholars who specifically, Rudolf Schimek and Hilda Ellis Davidson noted that they suggested the Valkyries don't contain any sense of individuality, but they're just descriptive traits of war goddesses or

More to the point, might just be poetic devices being used by the writers. circles back to the Rockstone and how we see it used as a Keening. They're just personifications of elements of war. But by and large, the Valkyries don't have individual traits. Save for...

when this one Valkyrie shows up to be Helgi's wife. So the first poem of Helgi, he meets several Valkyries and the passage is, then light shone from Longofel and from the radiance came bolts of lightning. Wearing helmets at Himmingvani came the Valkyries. Their brines were drenched in blood and rays shone from their spears. And Helgi refers to them as southern goddesses.

I think is very interesting. And he falls in love with one of them, the Valkyrie named Sigrun. And she is the daughter of a kink, like a human kink. And he learns that she has been betrothed to a man that she deems as being unworthy of her, or just unworthy in general. So Helgi responds by saddling up, getting some forces together, and going and declaring war to get her out of this betrothal.

Okay.

Darien (38:55.04)

And during the battle, Valkyries come- I know, right? Actually. The Valkyries protect Helgi. Helm of the Valkyries came down from the sky. The noise of spears grew loud. They protected the prince. Then said Sigrund, the wound giving Valkyries flew and the troll woman's mount was feasting on the fodder of ravens. Then Helgi is actually successful and Sigrund pledges herself to him like they get married.

romantic.

you

Darien (39:21.836)

And that's the poem that is the first poem of Heldi Hunring Bonnie. And then we have the second one, which basically follows the first one, except it does contain an element of Syngron being torn between her love for Helgi and also the loyalty she has to her family, feeling like she needs to go through with the patrol, even though she doesn't like the guy. She doesn't like the guy. She doesn't think he's worthy of this match in general. Yeah.

But the poem actually continues past their union and continues on to Helgi dying on the battlefield. to see it. yeah. And we talked about that earlier. He gets to Valhalla. Odin puts him in charge. He immediately turns to the man that killed his dad and is like, you're going to be the janitor, but worse. And then he returns from Valhalla to spend one more night with

later on Sigrun actually dies from her grief. And there is a prose section at the end, because as I said, there's always a prose section at the end, that says that the two were reincarnated. And that Helgi, you know, was reincarnated into another name, Helgi, who loved a Valkyrie named Kara. And their tale is said to be from a poem called The Song of Kara. And that poem is not survived to the modern day.

But hey, that's not the only time Helgi fell in love with Valkyrie and said they were reincarnated. Because in between the two poems in the Edda, there's another one that is called the Poem of Helgi Horevard's son. So not the same Helgi. A different Helgi. This poem features a silent nameless son of a king. And it just says names slid off of him. Like they could not find a name that actually suited him.

So he is sitting on a burial mound and sees nine Valkyries fly by. And then the most beautiful one speaks to him and gives him the name Helgi, and that sticks. And now he speaks and learns that her name is Svava, and she is the daughter of another king. And she would often go on to protect Helgi in battles, as said in the poem later on. Three times nine girls, but one girl rolled ahead, white skinned under her helmet.

Darien (41:42.476)

The horses were trembling from their mains do fell into the deep valleys. Hail in the high woods. Good fortune comes to men from there. All that I saw was hateful to me. a troll is speaking at this point in time relaying information. She doesn't like the fact that the Valkyries protected him. But so Helgi and Svava were married, but Helgi's jealous brother, Hendy, kills Helgi in order to have Svava. And she refuses to have him. And the poem is noted as being like

Yeah, that's how that works.

Darien (42:12.174)

kind of incoherent. And so it's very unclear like what, how that resolves itself. But there is once again a final prose line that says, quote, Helgi and Svava are said to have been reincarnated. So, no, no, no, why? Because reincarnation doesn't seem like it's an element of Norse thing.

So it could have been the, and again, this is a prose line. So whoever was compiling the poem made that note. So it could be someone trying to like connect or cope with the fact that there were so many poems of a Helgi, a prince falling in love with a Valkyrie. And so they've just decided it's the same couple being

Over and over and over again. You to yourself to situation having here fellas.

Kind of, yeah. It's a yellow, it's a little bit of situation except they do always have a romantic pairing with each other and they're kind of following the same thing.

Hey, we don't see what happens after the games. Well, very loosely in some games we do, but sometimes we don't.

Darien (43:20.728)

That's.

Darien (43:24.462)

think it's like in Twilight Princess, and Lincoln Zelda don't have a thing, it's Lincoln Midna.

She goes to another world, but she's still a princess. But it's like, and also in Ocarina of Time, the kid ending, young ending, you don't end up with.

It's a tragedy.

Darien (43:38.606)

She's not Zelda!

Darien (43:48.718)

No, that goes on to Majora's. So that is the most common Prince ends up with a Valkyrie. It's Helgi over and over again. So again, it kind of sucks that Helgi is framed as just this like mean boss because... Yeah, like that wouldn't that be so interesting if we had mentioned his like Valkyrie wife.

This dude courted a development career.

DJ (44:16.15)

Yeah, Valkyra ref comes up and hangs out and also like, boss is funding her. He's like, why do you guys like that? He killed my dad. Fuck him.

The class is

Darien (44:25.898)

I'm gonna need my chocolate bar back. Also, that would have given us a little bit more Valkyrie stuff. Because it is interesting how the Valkyries are just... Exactly. Non-San Valkyrie stuff, because she and Ganello are the only named Valkyries we get. And then after Ganello, we don't engage with any other Valkyrie. They're just kind of referenced as sometimes being involved in bigger battles. Yeah, they're just

non-sam Valkyrie stuff.

Darien (44:53.784)

They're just there. so we don't, cause Sam doesn't decide to become the captain of the Valkyries. She's Odin's like special. Yeah. Yeah. Special ops. And it's cool. And I love that for her, but like, think, yeah, Valkyries are very interesting and there's a lot of space to play in that space. Space. Yeah. Okay. Yes. And a lot of like,

Special out.

DJ (45:05.549)

bummer.

DJ (45:11.692)

room to play.

There's a lot of toys to play with when it comes to Valkyr.

Not to and it was even weirder is when we get to this bonus like okay wouldn't fit in the Main thing okay fine, but then in the bonus thing where it's also just like the Valkyries still don't have a captain and Odin just hoped they would resolve that but I guess they didn't I don't know so that would have been an interesting thing to have Freya being queen of the Valkyries would have been an interesting thing to have like

That's how she gets half. She actually is the one who trains the Valkyries for their missions. But it is interesting how the Valkyries are cited as being like the daughters of kings, which gives us this like the joke I made about like Samira being like a Kim Possible totally spies type double agent. Isn't so weird because apparently the Valkyries were just cited as being. Yeah, like princesses.

how it was.

DJ (46:06.968)

humans.

But even when Helgi and Svalbard are married, and he continues to go on raiding, she is just as much of a Valkyrie as she ever was, she still goes out to protect him. I have one more example of Valkyries as the wives to princes and daughters of kings. In the prose introduction, again, there's always a prose introduction, of the poem of Vold, it tells of three princes who marry three women they found on a lake shore.

Near them were their swan garments. They were Valkyries. And the text later states that after they spent seven winters with their husbands, the women flew off to battle and never returned. Hate to see it. Hate to see it. So that's where that swan thing comes back, that I was like,

It's a swan garment, so guess they could just turn into swans.

So in the translation we have from Caroline Larrington, and she has a note on this, like a footnote where it says, there were their swan garments. They were Valkyries. She makes a note saying, these are swan maidens. that, actually, let me get this specifically, because it's very interesting. This is what she says. The women are swan maidens, women who can fly with the aid of quotes of swan feathers.

Darien (47:26.894)

Valkyries are not normally imagined as swan maidens. Perhaps the two kind of beings have been conflated here since both can fly and both askew domesticity. Meaning, know, Valkyries and swan maidens can both fly. And in this instance, after a certain amount of time, the women all leave their husbands and Valkyries also being these like warrior women of the battlefield don't pay a traditional domestic role.

They have ordinary human names, but two, swan white and strange creature have by names that indicate their supernatural qualities. So what I think Larrington is arguing is that these are not Valkyries. They're swan maidens, a totally different kind of fantastical mythic female figure from Norse. that for some reason in this prose, someone said they're Valkyries, even though

No other place does it ever say Valkyries need the swan garment to fly. They can just fly. So that's where Ganilla turning into a swan is coming from. This one passage that says they are also swan maidens. And so it would imply they have this like swan cloak garment that can chase. But here is a scholar in this being like actually

funny.

Darien (48:50.702)

I don't think these are Norse Valkyries. But again, that puts us into this interesting thing with the Eddas, wherein they are our primary source for what these beliefs were. And even when scholars are examining it being like, this doesn't track, it's still what we have. So I'm not saying it's like totally wrong for a Raritan to be like, ah, Valkyries can turn into swans. But like, it is interesting where it feels like maybe in this element they were conflated.

Maybe it's a square and rectangle thing where swan maidens are valkyries, but valkyries aren't technically aren't necessarily swan maidens.

that very much. I think that would be interesting. Yeah, they are swan maidens and Valkyries. They can turn into swans and fly. Also, they will go to battle and never come back. So not all. Yeah, I like that. I like that, DJ. I like that square and rectangle. That does square it up for me. All right. I have one more Valkyrie for you. And so in the lay of Sigrfrida, no Sigrdrifa.

Awesome.

Darien (49:55.574)

Sigurd, who we mentioned recently, he is the hero who killed the dragon Fafnir. And he was got the ability to talk to birds. Did I mention that? Did I mention he got the ability to talk to birds after he killed Fafnir and accidentally got his blood in? and and that's what I think. Yeah, because Ryron is referencing when Magnus can suddenly he accidentally consumes the blood of Dr. not Dr. Mr. Alderman's heart. Now he can hear birds.

was mentioned. It sounds familiar.

Darien (50:24.142)

He's like, why can't I hear birds? And they're like, I don't know, your dad's got a summer. Maybe that's it. And it's like, no, it's because apparently that happened to this other hero. And I don't know why we didn't just mention that and acted like it was something totally. This is what happens when you consume the blood of a dragon. You can talk to birds now. So the birds told him to go wake this sleeping woman. And so he does in this other poem, he finds her completely in battle armor and he cuts the.

can hurt jackass

Darien (50:53.194)

a corset. not that's the right word it. It's like almost attached to her skin and he cuts that free of her and then she is able to wake again. And we find out that she is a Valkyrie and she is it's she's the titular figure thus she is Sigrid Deerfra.

Sigridirfa.

I love that. Thank you, DJ. And so she brought down a man in battle that Odin had promised victory to. And quote, Odin pricked her with a sleep thorn in revenge of this and said she would never again fight victoriously in battle and that she should marry. And then she countered that she had taken an oath to never marry a man who knew fear, which kind of is a connection to Brunhilde, who I think I talked about.

ages ago with Sigrund and he went through a circle of fire and then he said no that my brother did that because he was already married. Don't worry about that. Because in this poem she just goes off and gives him a bunch of wisdom and teaches him a bunch of runes and doesn't go on to marry him and that's the end. It's not we don't have a complete poem for this too but that's the Valkyrie. Sometimes the Valkyries disobey orders and the punishment is now you have to get married.

You gotta sleep forever and then you get married.

Darien (52:13.806)

And then you get married. it's like, oh, okay. One last Valkyrie note, as from a witchcraft trial held in 1324 in Norway. And the accused was a woman named Ranghild Tre Gagas. And she wrote out a charm because she wanted to end the marriage of her former lover. Okay.

I send out from me the spirits of Gundul. Valkyrie mentioned earlier. May the first bite you in the back. May the second bite you in the breast. And may the third turn hate and envy upon you.

Which is just a very interesting cultural insight into the prospect of Valkyries. Yeah. But also, as mentioned earlier, like this is one of the named Valkyries. This is actually the Valkyrie who was sent to go get that Christian king.

Get the fucker.

No, like get him and she brought him. The. He died in battle. She's the one Odin mentions also in the lay of the air. Her name is one wielder. And just apparently we were using Valkyries to go after our ex boyfriends because we were mad they got married, which come on, Ranghild. I just wish you had better friends.

DJ (53:19.342)

You

DJ (53:27.563)

Okay.

Darien (53:41.462)

I you have a lot of feelings and you just don't have girls to drink some boxed wine and talk about your feelings. I'm sorry you didn't have that. I did do a little bit more digging. The bishop decided to go easy on her because he believed she was not in her right mind and under the influence of the devil. So he chose not to judge her too harshly, which is way different than you think that was going to play out. Essentially, he just said she had to...

repent twice a week on only water and bread for the rest of her life and in conjunction with religious designated fasting days. And she would also have to leave Norway and embark on a seven year long pilgrimage to experiences places holy to Christianity. And if she broke either of the sentences, she would be guilty on all charges and a new punishment would be determined by the royal court, likely death by burning at the stake. And that is the end of the records. We don't know what happened after that. I think

I'd like to assume it all worked out. I mean, going on a seven-year journey and just getting away from her ex helped her. yeah. We had some eat, pray, love going on. Or fast, pray, love. Yeah, right. But I really wanted to mention that because the idea of someone using a Valkyrie to revenge was just very interesting and shaped a little bit of like, this is the talking a little bit about like, by this time Christianity was like,

all the rage and had been for hundreds of years in the Nordic countries. reminder of the fact that these stories were so important to the folk culture and that is how they were able to survive a lot, whereas other pagan beliefs really, really didn't get a hold or like, we don't know anything about like the original Celtic stuff. Like what we have is written by conquerors. Like we don't have any of that, it didn't hold.

for XYZ reasons. So that's something I think is really interesting that I like to observe when we have the opportunity to do so. much like how there is a little bit of like, hey, maybe the idea of the Inherit came from this dramatic tribe of badass, insane warriors. I also want to do a little bit on what scholars thought is the original history of Valkyries. And so good old Rudolf Semet.

Darien (56:00.022)

says that the Valkyries were originally likely, demons of the dead to whom warriors slain on the battlefield belong. But in time, it shifted to being the Valkyries we recognize now when, quote, the concept of Vahalla changed from a battlefield to a warrior's paradise. And this is kind of echoed by Hilda Ellis Davidson.

who says that it appears the early times in the dramatic people, quote, believed in the fierce female spirits doing the command of the war gods, stirring up disorder, taking part in battle, seizing and perhaps devouring the slain. And a lot of them and then other scholars cite the shift in this idea of these like female supernatural spirits going from demonic, malevolent,

figures harmful on a battlefield to being the ones who choose the fate of the fallen, maybe due to them becoming more attached to or perhaps conflated with the idea of the Norn. And I'm going to put a pin in that until we get to our Norn episode for digging more into that. I thought that was interesting. That's fun. And that is what I have for you tonight. DJ, what do you got from Smite?

well, I don't have any gods.

No, we didn't do any gods.

DJ (57:21.262)

But there actually was an event in 2016 called the Viking invasion and it's something I wish they did a lot more of Where it was they had skins for gods that aren't a part of the Norse pantheon That are like a Nordic skin, right? It's in honor of Smite Masters tournament at Dreamhack Junkunping Something like that. I don't know. I assume some Swedish city

The Vikings have invaded Smite. Take part with the Viking invasion pass. You're ticketed to limited items, special quest, and Chalk and Kali we imagined as Norse gods. That's a fucking joke. The Viking, yeah. They were really cool. had actually, and Hairyard Chalk.

for us.

Darien (58:10.816)

Whoa!

and Valkali.

Valcoly is very good.

lot of fun. You had like quests that you would undertake like just you know, in games to do a certain thing and whatever you would complete it. And you would upgrade the skins. Talk would become the storm yarl.

Show me.

Darien (58:38.976)

Ooooo

And Kali would become the blood Yaro.

That's co-

Really fun event that I truly wish they did more along the same vein. think it was I think it's really cool to take these other like Chakras, Maya and Kali is Hindu, right? It's really cool to take these gods and theme them around another pantheon. I really do desire they did that like with Zeus in like a Maya outfit would have been kind of fucking sick.

Yeah, I how you dance along the cultural appropriation line. I think everyone gets it.

DJ (59:18.924)

you do it in like any way. It's smite, cultural appropriation. People got mad at Collie's original design, even though it's how she's depicted in every image she's in.

Yeah. Yeah, but like, that's fine when we do it. We, not, don't mean we, but like you get it. like, but when someone else is going to come in, it's like, how dare? Like I get that. Um, it's, very interesting that it's the, in Harry is like the storm and then the blood, because it kind of reminds me of a couple of examples from Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Some of us would be like, what the f- wait, wait, does Darien know about Warhammer?

Which

DJ (59:54.382)

I was more hammer-friend.

Yeah, so I do another podcast. mentioned a couple times Bad Noon's Orbit, the whole thing is my buddy Dalton knows all about the Warhammer lore is telling me about it and I just get to be DJ and crack jokes and overreact to information. But that does mean that now I'm in a place where I do get to kind of mention Warhammer when it comes up. And in this specific one, there is a servant of the Chaos Demon Korn whose name is Valkia the Bloody.

And she was, she's this warrior chaos demon with like wings and stuff, right? So you can fly. And I wasn't gonna mention her, because it's not enough for her name to sound like Valkyrie and stuff, but she was specifically gifted with the ability to bring those who impress her on the battlefield back to life so they can continue fighting. And that's very fucking blood for the blood god, skull for the skull throne. Some fucking corn bullshit. It's very, yeah.

And then simultaneously, I have an example of someone who's very in or some organization that's very in here. And this is the Stormcast Eternals. You cannot tell me that someone out in Smite is not also a Warhammer fantasy fan. Specifically being store was just Storm and Bloody was just a little too specific. So the Stormcast Eternals are humans who

Maybe.

Darien (01:01:24.514)

died fighting chaos and chaos demons. The whole thing is that the chaos demons, if they are allowed to take hold, they will destroy everything in reality. That's they do. They go to reality and they destroy it over and over and over again. And so you are trying, well, not you, anyway, whatever. So the characters are trying to stop this from happening. But you can also decide if you want to fire on the side of chaos if you want. Whatever money you want to spend on little plastic figures is what you

The Royal You.

DJ (01:01:53.662)

I'm a big fan of the orcs. I think they're funny. The are really funny. Red makes things stronger, so we paint shit red to make it stronger.

KAAAA-

So good! They're so crazy!

Darien (01:02:05.262)

can't argue. And they're also from, like, moss. They're basically fungus, is what the reproductive cycle They're so good. But the Stormcast, specifically they are chosen with a die-fighting chaos. They are chosen by the god Sigmar. And he gives them the offer to join his, like, elite fighting force where they are literally, their soul is reforged with some of his, like,

I love I love the Yorks. They're so funny.

Darien (01:02:35.298)

divinity to continue fighting over when they die, they are reforged. But unlike the NRE where if they die, they just come back and whatever reforging takes a little bit of themselves away over and over and over again. And eventually they will only be this empty shell that continues to fight. It's very interesting. It's not all like warriors. There was once a doctor who became one of the best Stormcast because he died defending his patients.

just with a scalpel from Chaos Demons. He's very cool. And he's like, he has to believe that they will be able to fight off chaos so he can go back to being a doctor again. But yeah, that was pretty good. DJ, do you have any others?

I know Valkyries show up in God of War. You fight them. I haven't played it. I don't know if I'll ever get around to it because I have no interest in the series at this point. I'm just kind of settling in and coming to terms with, I really don't.

They do! I have them!

Darien (01:03:31.616)

And

Darien (01:03:36.11)

I mean, that's fair. It's not for everybody. Everything doesn't have to be for everybody. I'm really into what we've engaged with with the lore. We've talked about enough that you just, like, for example, there's a ton of Valkyrie stuff in anime, but not a single example is from any anime I've interacted with. I'm not citing it a bit. Flip side, you and I are not going to play God of War, but I still like talking about it because I find it so fascinating. And so the Valkyrie Sigrund.

who we mentioned earlier is the Valkyrie who specifically appears in God of War. You fight her in the first, like the 2018 game, after you fight the eight other Valkyries she's running with, and apparently that battle's considered one of the hardest in the franchise. And in the second game, God of War Ragnarok, she's on your side because apparently she's no longer under the influence of Odin's corruption, so her and her Valkyries are just rolling with you. And that's pretty great.

In Thor Ragnarok, obviously we have the character Valkyrie, who is named Valkyrie, also was a Valkyrie who saw her comrades all die. I think fighting Hela? But I can't remember for sure. In the comics, she's based on the figure from the comics, who is also an actual Valkyrie who is Brunhilde, the Valkyrie referenced earlier, who's another name for the Valkyrie who's...

in the, barely in a ring of fire. We didn't get into that. And then Jane Foster herself takes on the mantle after her time as the mighty Thor. Which I dig very A lot of fun. A lot of fun. I have an example. It's, it's, the Inherit one is a little bit harder to track down, but I kind of have one that's a little bit, it's from an episode of Hilda, the animated series on Netflix.

Think I've seen it in passing. Yep.

Darien (01:05:24.558)

Where there are these Viking warriors from rival clans who are fighting over the medallion of Sigurd that makes them fearless and So every night so they go to battle they one side gets the medal goes in and Then they're just fearless, but then the other clan is resurrected

they fight and then the other clan who won the night before dies and then this clan gets the medal back. find out Sigurd's one who's bringing him back to life because he's pissed they stole his medallion but he also doesn't want it back because it makes you foolish because then suddenly you have no fear which is why the one that wins the medal always loses the next night. And so when Hilda and her friends reveal this the Vikings aren't mad they're like

well, we love fighting. So they just take the potion and just continue to fight and just going to resurrect each other. They don't want the medallion. just, but this is great. cause fun. And I got it. And now another thing in addition, Darren just going to mention Warhammer occasionally. Now we've got Darren mentioning Terry Pratchett's Discworld occasionally. Cause hey, guess who's also listening to all the Discworld books right now. They're fucking great.

was sick dude.

Darien (01:06:36.332)

There's 40 of them and I've listened to I think 20 as of now. Nice. It's a good time. In the Discworld, there's a lot of different gods, there's a lot of different belief systems. Usually, I mean, there's also literally Death himself, the Grim Reaper. He shows up at every book. There are also Valkyries who are depicted as large armored singing women who go onto the battlefield and get the warriors and take them off to their Valhalla. In one of the books, Soulman,

One of the Valkyries offers to recruit Susan, Death's granddaughter, but only if she's a soprano because they need more sopranos. Which ties us into the last...

You'd think they need some bass in there, but I guess not.

yeah, they're just missing sopranos. So DJ, that idea of Valkyries as large singing women, do you know where that comes from? Yes. OK, good job. Do you know from where specifically?

Of I don't. I just I just know the depiction of the opera lady in like Viking garb.

Darien (01:07:45.602)

Yep, the opera lady, it's not, yep.

It's actually a it's actually a Bacchus skin in Smite. I can't remember what it's called, but it's a funny name. It might be like Boomhildr or something.

Nice.

Darien (01:07:59.051)

that's funny. Let me play something for you.

okay. Flight of the Valkyries. Ride of the Valkyries.

right of the Valkyries.

DJ (01:08:11.318)

Anytime I hear this song, think of... What is it? It's Brynhildr is the name of the Bacchus skin. think of there's this flash game that was for Codename Kid Next Door and you would...

get to that part. Okay, go on.

DJ (01:08:36.782)

think hit the hamsters with like a plank and you would send them flying and it would have that song on the

Uh-huh.

Darien (01:08:44.59)

Yeah, which makes sense because it's a public domain song. Specifically from 1851. So the composer is Richard Wagner. He's a Germanic composer and conductor. wrote a, he wrote several operas. But the one that Ride of the Valkyries is from is from his opera that the name translates to The Valkyrie. And this is about, hey,

That's all the shit.

Darien (01:09:13.71)

Do you remember that incest I mentioned earlier? That's what this opera is about. Except the siblings don't know their siblings. They were separated as children. They may know before they hook up, though, I think. I'm not entirely sure. Nope. the... No. They do... So the Rite of the Valkyries is the opening number of the third act.

Isn't that it? It's about that?

DJ (01:09:31.735)

Haven't seen it. Probably never will. Opera is not for me.

Darien (01:09:43.566)

And the play follows the titular character, the Viking Brunhilde, who, to punish Sigmund and his sister for their incest, Odin is going to have him die on the battlefield. And Brunhilde disagrees with this. And so she actually goes and, like, protects Sigmund and is going to fight the guy who is going to kill him and then...

Odin steps in. And this is where we get the, what I mentioned earlier, that other Valkyrie who Sigurd wakes up where her whole thing is they strip her of her Valkyrie stuff and then put her in a ring of fire, which is not how Sigurd finds that one Valkyrie, but don't worry about it. And so this poem is all about, not the poem, the opera is about that wild. But I would think the reason

you

DJ (01:10:40.023)

Thanks.

The image of the singing Valkyrie is still so prominent, it's probably because of Bugs Bunny. There's a Looney Tunes, Mary Melodies cartoon called What's Opera, Doc? And it features the ride of the Valkyrie's song, along with

Yeah, I definitely believe that.

Darien (01:11:09.556)

other songs because it is Bugs Bunny, who's often dressed as Brunhilde, being chased by Elmer Fudd, who is dressed as Siegfried, through a number of Wagner's operas. Not just this one, but a number of them. And in this, Elmer Fudd famously sings

Darien (01:11:37.102)

And this cartoon in 1992, the Library of Congress deemed it culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. this, what's opera, Zoc, is considered to be sincerely culturally important. it is, animation is beautiful, the music is great, it's really funny. Elmer Fudd wins at the end, he does kill Bugs Bunny.

Let's go.

DJ (01:12:03.867)

Ha

And he's so sad, he carries him to Valhalla and Bugs briefly comes back to life to look at the camera and say, it's an opera. Were you expecting a happy ending before dying?

That's great, that's fun

Way more impactful than Space Jam 2 A New Legacy. So, yeah. And that is the pop culture highlights I have for Valkyries and Inheri. I did save the Bugs Bunny one for last.

funny.

DJ (01:12:38.318)

That's all I got.

That's all I got! It's... Listen.

Valkyries are used a lot throughout. We could probably have a whole other hour and a half just quite literally listing off every time we see a Valkyrie in media.

Yeah, that was the other thing. I went on TV troops, I scanned over all of them and those are the ones that I'm like, these are the ones that I feel like I have enough to say and also could do my little through line of like, let's do this and this and this and all the way and then I get to talk about Bugs Bunny. We haven't talked about Bugs Bunny since our Hermes episode.

Yeah.

Darien (01:13:09.806)

I mentioned earlier how we were going to hold off on exploring more of that Valkyrie-Norn connection till later. But, dear listeners, you won't have to wait that long because our next episode is going to be on the Norn. So that episode is going to come out on Tuesday, December 3rd. And DJ, do know what? We should also be excited for coming up

Musemas is coming. You better believe it. We're super excited. We got a lot of fun choices this year. I'm actually kind of excited for some of them. It's going be a lot of fun. It's going to be really good. We're at this point kind of scraping a little. Scraping the bottom, it's going to be a good time. No, it's fine.

DJ still won't let us through the My Little Pony episodes, so we scraped to bottom just yet.

I've never even known. You have. I don't think you have because we probably would have done it year one. Thank you guys so much for joining us.

I suggested it every year! I have!

Darien (01:14:03.074)

And until next time, don't be like Zeus.

Tim O'Connor. The Crystal Conman. Nicholas Miller. Our music is Athens Festival by Martin Hayne. And our cover art is by Audrey Miller. You can find her on Instagram at Bombshell Nutshell Art.

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DJ (01:14:47.736)

Thanks for listening.