What is Valkyrie?
[[Image:Valkyrie horseback.jpg|thumb|200px|Valkyrie.]] [[Image:The Valkyrie's Vigil.jpg|thumb|right|180px|''The Valkyrie's Vigil'' by [[Edward Robert Hughes]].]] The '''Valkyries''' ([[Old Norse language|Old Norse]]: ''Valkyrjur,'' singular ''valkyrja'' - “choosers of the slain”) are female figures in [[Norse mythology]]; they are a group of female [[Warrior|warriors]] of [[Odin]] who do not get married. ==Profile== Alternatively the Valkyries are servants to [[Freyja|Freya]]. She negotiated with [[One Eye]] that her [[shield maidens]] would sort the [[Honour|honourable]] dead on the [[battlefield]]. Freya had first choice of half of the dead to come to [[Sessrumnir]], the other half were to be delivered to One Eye at [[Valhalla|Valhall]]. Freya had fierce and respected warriors. They are responsible for choosing who lives and dies in battle, [[singling out]] those worthy of [[paradise]]. After battle, the Valkyries carry those whom they have chosen off to [[Valhalla]], an enormous and majestic hall that lies in [[Asgard]]. Once there, these [[einherjar|eïnherjar]], as they are now called, are shared between Odin and [[Freyja]], with half of them going to Valhalla and the other to [[Folkvang|Fólkvangr]], Freyja's realm. In Valhalla, the eïnherjar [[feast]] as they are served and cared for by the Valkyries themselves. The old Norse people thought that Valkyries rode giant [[Wolf|wolves]], and that they had black wings like [[Raven|ravens]]; these two creatures both [[Scavenger|scavenge]] [[Corpse|corpses]] on the battlefield symbolizing death and destruction. With the spread of [[Christianity]] the idea of what a Valkyrie was like changed more and more to a [[Romanticism|Romantic]] description of a beautiful woman. ==Operas== [[Richard Wagner]] composed some [[opera]]s featuring Valkyries ([[German language|German]]: ''Walküren'', singular: ''Walküre''). These operas are ''[[Die Walküre]]'', ''[[Siegfried (opera)|Siegfried]]'', and ''[[Götterdämmerung]]''. They feature a story of a Valkyrie [[Brynhildr|Brü