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 an allusion to a valkyrie's horse on the Rök runestone in Sweden (early 9th century) and skaldic poems of the 9th and 10th centuries such as Hrafnsmal and Eiriksmal; the fullest accounts are in the Poetic Edda and Snorri's Prose Edda, compiled in 13th-century Iceland.

The Eddic poems name many valkyries - Hildr, Gunnr, Skogul, Gondul and others - and many of the names are words for battle and weapons: Hildr and Gunnr both mean "battle" or "war", Geirskogul is "spear-Skogul". At their grimmest they are almost demonic: the poem Darradarljod, preserved in Njals saga, has twelve women weaving the Battle of Clontarf (1014) on a loom whose weights are men's heads and whose warp and weft are entrails. Later poems soften them into shield-maidens who love human heroes. The Eddic poem Sigrdrifumal tells of the valkyrie Sigrdrifa, whom Odin pricked with a sleep-thorn for killing a king to whom he had promised victory; Sigurd finds her asleep in armour inside a tower of shields on a mountain lit by a fire-like glow and wakes her. Later tradition, including the Volsunga saga, identifies her with Brynhild, whose legend also lies behind the German Nibelungenlied and Wagner's Ring cycle.

Valkyries could also be swan maidens: the poem Volundarkvida tells of three valkyries found spinning by a lake with their swan garments beside them, who live with Volund and his brothers for seven winters before flying away to battle.

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. The Helgi poems describe valkyries riding in helmets, with blood-spattered mail and gleaming spears; a cloak streaming behind her is a fair artistic addition.

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. Viking-age silver pendants show women offering a drinking horn, usually interpreted as valkyries welcoming the dead, so a horn is a well-grounded prop. 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 bosses in the God of War series, in Marvel's Thor films, and as heroes and enemies in many video, tabletop and card games. Modern designs usually add large feathered wings and often the winged helmet; keep any design original rather than lifted from a 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.

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. 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 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 Banshee of Irish folklore is a loose Celtic parallel: a female spirit tied to death, 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.

Sources

• Sigrdrifumol, Poetic Edda (trans. H. A. Bellows, 1936), https://mythopedia.com/library/poetic-edda-bellows-1936/sigrdrifumol/
• Wikipedia, Valkyrie, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valkyrie

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