Citation: Einherjar

Tags: Never-ending battle

Description:

Einherjar, meaning "lone fighters" or "one man armies," are warriors who died in battle and thus earned a place in Valhöll (LINK), Óðinn's (LINK) hall. They can be chosen either by Óðinn or by the valkyrjur (LINK), valkyries, whose name literally means "choosers of the slain." Óðinn's goal in choosing battle-tested warriors who die in battle is to amass a peerless army to do battle against jötnar (LINK) and monsters during Ragnarök (LINK). Before that final battle, the Einherjar spend their time fighting and killing each other each day, and then reviving and sharing benches inside Valhöll to feast on an endless supply of meat and mead. Vafþrúðnismál (LINK) stanza 41 says: All the Einjerjar / in Óðinn's fields / hack each other every day / the dead they choose / and ride from the field / (and) sit more at peace together. Grímnismál (LINK) also has some information about them, including what they eat. Stanza 18 has: Andhrímnir (a cook) / has Sæhrímnir (an animal, possibly a boar) boiled/ in Eldhrímnir (a cauldron) / the best of meat / but few know that / on what the einherjar feed. Stanza 23: Five hundred doors / and forty / I believe to be at Valhöll / eight hundred einherjar / go all at once out of each door / when they go to fight the wolf (Fenrir (LINK), who is Óðinn's main opponent at Ragnarök). Stanza 31: Hrist and Mist / I want to bring me a horn / Skeggjöld and Skögul / Hildr and Þrúðr / Hlökk and Herfjötur / Göll and Geirölul / Randgríð and Ráðgríð / and Reginleif / they bring the Einherjar ale. (These are all valkyries' names) Eiríksmál ("The Words of Eiríkr") (LINK), a fragment of an anonymous poem about the arrival of king Eiríkr blóðøx Haraldsson, Erik Bloodaxe, king of Norway and Northubria, to Valhöll. Óðinn senses the imminent arrival of the slain king Eiríkr, and awakens the Einherjar, asking them to spread out the mead-benches and to wash out the beer vats in preparation. Hákonarmál (LINK), which is influenced by the earlier Eiríksmál, is likewise about the arrival of a Norwegian king to Valhöll, this time Hákon Haraldsson the Good, younger brother of Eiríkr blóðøx. The full poem survives in 22 stanzas, and mentions Hákon's wariness of the wrath of Óðinn before arriving at Valhöll, but Bragi tells him that all the Einherjar will swear oaths (of peace) to Hákon, and tells them to share the æsir's ale. As usual, the Prose Edda (LINK) attributed to Snorri Sturluson gives a comprehensive treatment, but which needs to always be taken with several grains of salt; see the entry on Prose Edda for a description of the large degree of editing and alteration of its own sources is carried out for the sake of presenting a coherent narrative of Norse mythology. In the part of the Prose Edda called Gylfaginning (LINK), Óðinn is also known by the name Valfóðr, "father of the slain," with the explanation that all those who die in battle become his adopted sons. These fallen are given a place in Valhöll and Vingólf (another hall building, which only appears in the Prose Edda and Hrafnagaldur Óðins, "Óðinn's Raven-charm", a post-medieval 16th/17th century poem), and they are called Einherjar. Later, it describes that the number of the Einherjar is not known, and references that they may still be too few when the wolf, Fenrir (LINK), breaks free during Ragnarök. It reiterates that they eat the meat of the boar/animal Sæhrimnir, boiled by Andhrimnur in Eldhrimnir. It adds that they drink the endless mead which flows from the udders of a she-goat named Heiðrún (LINK), who stands atop Valhöll and eats the leaves of a tree called Læraðr. It reaffirms that for entertainment, the Einherjar equip all their war-gear and go out and fight each other until they all lay dead, but when dinnertime approaches they get up and ride back to the hall. There is also a detailed account of Ragnarök in Gylfaginning, and the events leading to it and following it. When the forces that threaten the Æsir and the world are all gathered (jötnar, Loki and Hel's people, the wolf Fenrir, the Miðgarðsormr (LINK), and the sons of Muspell (LINK)), The Æsir and the Einherjar put on their war-gear and ride to meet them. Óðinn faces Fenrir, and presumably this is what the Einherjar are gathered to help against, but Óðinn is devoured by the wolf nonetheless. Everyone, gods and men, including the Einherjar, die in this conflict, except for a few of the gods children and two humans, a man and woman, who hid from the flames and will repopulate the earth. However, no further information on the fates or deeds of the Einherjar is given in this account. As John Lindow summarizes: "The emphasis in the sources is twofold: the eternal fighting and revival of the einherjar, and their special relationship with Odin, which is manifested in part by their feasting endlessly with him and in part by their sharing in his grace" (2002, 104–105). There are parallels with other 'eternal fighters' in this sense, fighting, dying, and then reviving in a never-ending battle, in several versions of a story, as well as in Celtic literature. The story is known on its own as the Hjaðningavíg, "the battle of the followers of Héðinn" (LINK), and is given in a handful of sources in varying versions. The most complete version, in Sörla þáttr (LINK) ("the Tale of Sörli"), tells how Óðinn blackmails Freyja (LINK) into causing a never-ending war between two kings to get her precious necklace back (likely Brísingamen (LINK)). The kings, Högni and Héðinn, meet on an island and start fighting, being revived by magic every night to begin the bloodshed again the next day, lasting until Ragnarök. In this version, the arrival of a servant of King Óláfr Trygvasson, known for being the first to try and enforce Christianization in Norway and Iceland; the servant's intercession on behalf of his Christian king breaks the curse, and the weary combatants are grateful.