Valkyrie

Origin and myth

The valkyries - Old Norse "valkyrja", chooser of the slain - are the warrior spirits who serve Odin. They ride over battlefields, decide which fighters will fall, and carry the bravest of the dead to Valhalla, where they serve mead and the warriors train for Ragnarok. The earliest references are in skaldic poetry of the 9th and 10th centuries, and the fullest accounts are in the Poetic Edda and Snorri's Prose Edda from 13th-century Iceland.

The Eddic poems name many valkyries - Hildr, Gunnr, Skogul, Gondul and others - and most names mean "battle" or "spear". In the earliest layer of tradition they are grim, almost demonic: the poem Darradarljod describes them weaving a web of war from human entrails on a loom weighted with severed heads. Later poems soften them into shield-maidens who love human heroes. The Volsunga saga and the Eddic poem Sigrdrifumal tell of Brynhild, a valkyrie who disobeyed Odin, was pricked with a sleep-thorn and laid in a ring of fire until Sigurd rode through it to wake her. Her story became the seed of the Nibelungenlied and later of Wagner's operas.

Valkyries could also take swan form: the poem Volundarkvida tells of three valkyries who lay their swan-cloaks aside to bathe and are captured by men who hide the cloaks.

Appearance

The valkyrie is a tall, athletic woman in the armour of a Viking-age warrior. There is no historical basis for the winged helmet - that is a 19th-century stage invention - so a sculptor working from the sources should give her a simple conical or rounded iron helmet with a nasal guard, or leave her bareheaded with long braided hair. Armour is a mail shirt over a tunic, with a round wooden shield painted in bold quarters, a spear as the principal weapon, and a sword at the hip. A cloak, often described as red or white, streams behind her.

She rides a horse, and the horse should be as carefully sculpted as the rider: a sturdy Nordic breed, sometimes given wings in later art. Many valkyries also carry a drinking horn for the welcome at Valhalla. The face is stern and beautiful, the pose commanding. For the swan-maiden version, a feathered cloak spread like wings from the shoulders gives a very different and equally authentic silhouette.

In modern fantasy

Valkyries appear as playable classes and enemies in God of War, Smite, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, various tabletop and card games, and in Marvel's films. Modern designs almost always add large feathered wings and often the winged helmet; some make her a heavily armoured knight. Both the winged and wingless interpretations of the general Norse figure are open to a sculptor, provided the design is original rather than lifted from a specific franchise.

3D printing notes

A valkyrie is a human figure with weapons, which prints well, and possibly a horse and wings, which need planning. At 28-32 mm, resin is needed for the face, the mail texture and the spear. A standing valkyrie with shield and spear at 75 mm is a comfortable FDM print at 0.1 mm layers if the spear is printed separately and the cloak hangs close to the body.

Wings, if included, are the largest print and support problem. Print them as separate parts lying flat with the inner surface down, and key them into the back under the cloak. Spread wings at 75 mm and above should be hollowed or printed in resin to keep the weight off the joint. A mounted valkyrie should be split into rider and horse at the saddle, with the horse printed on its feet or side and pinned to the base by two legs. A rearing horse always needs a rod through a hind leg.

Pose ideas: standing on a rock with spear planted and shield forward, which is stable and needs almost no supports; a mounted charge with cloak flying, split into four or five parts; a swan-maiden with feathered cloak spread, which prints as a cone with wing-like extensions. For a 150 mm or larger piece, hollow the torso and the horse's body and add drain holes in the base.

Painting and display

Historical colours suit her best: iron-grey mail with a dark wash and a light silver dry-brush, a natural linen or wool tunic in ochre or blue, and a shield in a bold two- or four-colour quartering - red and white, or yellow and black. The cloak is the accent: a deep red or a clean white. Braided hair in blonde or auburn, and a warm skin tone with a stern expression picked out by shading the brows. Wings, if present, are white with grey shadows toward the roots, or grey-brown like a hawk for a darker interpretation.

For display, a battlefield base of trampled earth with a fallen shield and spear, or the rocky edge of a fjord. A Valhalla scene with a doorway of carved wood is a rewarding diorama. A warm LED behind a Brynhild figure, lighting a ring of clear-resin flame around the base, is the obvious lighting choice for that story.

Related creatures

The valkyrie's counterpart in Celtic lore is the Banshee, who mourns the dead rather than choosing them. In later art her horse is often winged, borrowing from the Greek Pegasus. At Ragnarok the warriors she gathers will face Fenrir and Jormungandr.

For a valkyrie in historical Viking gear or a winged fantasy version of your own design, ask Fantasy Lab 3D for a custom print.