They wore helmets of silver or gold, and blood-red corselets, and with spears and shields glittering, they charged boldly through the fray on their mettlesome white steeds.

These maidens were pictured as young and beautiful, with dazzling white arms and flowing golden hair. The ancients imagined that they swept down to earth at Valfather’s command, to choose among the slain in battle heroes worthy to taste the joys of Valhalla, and brave enough to lend aid to the gods when the great battle would be fought. They and their steeds were the personification of the clouds, their glittering weapons being the lightning flashes. Odin’s special attendants, the Valkyrs, or battle maidens, were either his daughters, like Brunhild, or the offspring of mortal kings, maidens who were privileged to remain immortal and invulnerable as long as they implicitly obeyed the god and remained virgins. The third of ten Norse myths tells of the story of the Valkyrie, Odin’s shield maidens who bring the fallen heroes of battle to the everlasting rewards of Valhalla.

Balder the brave covers