Valhalla- Norse LocationLocation · Landmark"Hall of the Slain"

Spears and Shields

The Grímnismál describes Valhalla in detail. Its roof is thatched with golden shields. Its rafters are spears, and coats of mail hang on the benches. Five hundred and forty doors line the walls, each wide enough for eight hundred warriors to march through abreast. Before the western entrance, a wolf hangs above the door and an eagle hovers over it.

Outside stands the grove Glasir, whose trees bear leaves of red gold. The Skáldskaparmál calls it the fairest grove among gods and men. The hall sits within Gladsheim in Asgard, near the high seat Hliðskjálf from which Odin watches over all the worlds.

The Valkyries

The Valkyries ride over battlefields and choose which warriors will die and which among the dead deserve Odin's hall. They carry the chosen to Valhalla and seat them on the mead-benches. Not all the battle-slain come here: Freyja receives half in her own hall, Sessrúmnir, within the fields of Fólkvangr.

Once the dead have arrived, the Valkyries serve mead-horns at the nightly feast. The same women who plucked warriors from the press of battle carry their drinks in the hall of the dead.

The Daily Cycle

Each dawn, the einherjar arm themselves and march to the courtyard. They fight. The combat is real: warriors fall, blood runs, death comes as it did in life. At evening, every one of them rises healed and whole. They walk back into the hall.

The cook Andhrímnir slaughters the boar Sæhrímnir and boils him in the cauldron Eldhrímnir. The einherjar eat until nothing remains. By morning the boar is alive again. The goat Heiðrún stands atop the hall, grazing on the branches of the tree Læraðr, and from her udder flows mead enough for every warrior to drink his fill. Odin sits at the head of the table, giving his meat to the wolves Geri and Freki. He drinks only wine.

Ragnarök

When Heimdall's Gjallarhorn sounds, the einherjar will arm themselves one last time. They will pour through the 540 doors, eight hundred abreast, and march to the plain of Vígríðr. There they will stand beside Odin against Fenrir, against Jörmungandr, against Surtr and the hosts of Muspelheim, against the dead of Hel sailing on Naglfar.

The old world will end. The gods will fall. Surtr will cast fire over everything. The Völuspá says the earth will sink into the sea and the sun will go dark. When a new world rises green from the water, Baldr will return from Hel. But Valhalla will be gone. The hall was built for the end.