Einherjar

What it is

In Norse mythology the einherjar are the warriors who fell in battle and were gathered into Valhalla, the hall of the god Óðinn. The singular form is einheri, and the name is glossed as 'army of one' or 'those who fight alone'. They are a host of the dead, not living fighters. The texts describe them feasting on the boar Sæhrímnir, which is renewed each night, and drinking mead brought by valkyries, the female figures who decide who dies in war. Their existence looks forward: they train and fight one another so as to be ready to march out with Óðinn at Ragnarök, the foretold end of the world.

Where it comes from

The einherjar are known from Old Norse texts written down in the 13th century. The Poetic Edda was compiled then from older traditional poems, and the Prose Edda was set out by Snorri Sturluson. Other witnesses are Hákonarmál, a poem by the 10th century skald Eyvindr skáldaspillir, kept in Heimskringla, and Eiríksmál, an anonymous 10th century poem on the death of Eric Bloodaxe, preserved in Fagrskinna. Where the idea first arose is not settled. Some researchers look for its root in an old cult of Óðinn; others point to the Harii, a Germanic tribe of the 1st century AD, whose name may share an element with einherjar.

How it is done

Gylfaginning, the first book of the Prose Edda, gives the routine of the hall. Each day the einherjar arm themselves, go out into the courtyard and strike at one another until they fall. The narrator calls this their sport. At the meal hour the host comes back into Valhalla and the drinking begins. Their number is never too great for the food, since the boar Sæhrímnir is boiled every day in the pot Eldhrímnir and is whole again by evening. They will not stay in the hall forever: at Ragnarök they put on their war-gear and ride to the plain of Vígríðr.

Tools and materials

The hall runs on a small set of named objects and animals. Andhrímnir is the cook, Eldhrímnir is the vessel he uses, and Sæhrímnir is the beast, called a boar, that feeds everyone and is restored each night. The drink comes from Heiðrún, a goat standing on the roof who eats the leaves of the tree Læraðr; mead flows from her udder into a vat large enough for the whole host to drink its fill. The einherjar themselves wear war-gear, and the valkyries who serve them are pictured with helmets, shields and horses.

What it is for

The einherjar exist for a coming war. The texts say Óðinn gathers the slain so that he will have a host when Ragnarök arrives, the events in which the gods and their enemies destroy one another. Their daily combat is training for that day, and their feasting keeps them strong until it comes. In Gylfaginning, when Gangleri asks whether Valhalla can hold so many, the answer is that more are still to come, and that the host will look too small when the wolf comes. Their final task is to march beside the Æsir to the field of Vígríðr.

Who does it

Nobody joins the einherjar by choice. Óðinn, called Valföðr, 'father of the slain', is said to treat every warrior who falls in battle as an adopted son, and to give them their places in Valhalla and Vingólf. The choosing belongs to valkyries, who are sent to every battle, allot death and govern victory, and then serve the drink in the hall. Grímnismál names a long list of them, and the prose account adds that they keep the tableware and cups. In Hákonarmál, Óðinn sends two valkyries, Göndul and Skögul, to pick from among the kinsmen of kings.

Peoples and places

The einherjar belong to the mythology of the Norse-speaking peoples, and the surviving accounts come from medieval Iceland and Norway. One poem that mentions them, Hákonarmál, is tied to a Norwegian king: Haakon I, who died of wounds in battle. The saga says he asked for a burial suited to the heathens among whom he had fallen, and he was laid in a mound at Sæheim in North Hordaland with his armour and best clothing, and no other valuables. Away from Scandinavia, the Harii are described by Tacitus as a Germanic tribe, and their name is one of the threads scholars follow.

What people believe

The world behind the einherjar is one in which death in war is not simply an end. Fallen fighters are thought to become Óðinn's adopted sons, and the valkyries who take them are said to govern both victory and death. The hall is a place of endless supply: a beast killed each day and restored each evening, and a goat whose milk is mead. Óðinn himself takes no food, living on wine, and his share is given to two wolves, Geri and Freki. Everything is arranged around one future event, Ragnarök, after which the world is said to emerge again.

When it is done

Their time is measured in days, not in seasons or festivals. Fighting fills the daylight hours, and the meal and the drinking come in the evening, when the host is back inside the hall. Nothing in the accounts ties the einherjar to a holy day or a yearly rite. The one date that matters is the end of the story. At Ragnarök, Heimdallr sounds the horn Gjallarhorn, the gods meet in council, Óðinn consults Mímir at the well Mímisbrunnr, the world tree Yggdrasil shakes, and the einherjar put on their war-gear to ride out.

How scholars and sceptics see it

John Lindow, Andy Orchard and Rudolf Simek all note that the einherjar have often been linked to the Harii. Tacitus, writing in the 1st century AD, says this tribe fought on dark nights with black shields and painted bodies, causing panic by the look of a ghostly army. Lindow suggests the myth may rest on an old cult of Óðinn whose young warriors entered an ecstatic relationship with the god, and points to a shared root between the name Harii and the -herjar part of einherjar. Simek holds that the comparison has become so widespread that such hosts of the dead are read as religiously motivated war bands. Guðbrandur Vigfússon, in 1874, took the Old Norse name Einarr to mean the same as einheri.

Compare and confuse

The Harii are the group most often placed beside the einherjar, because of a possible shared word element and because Tacitus describes them as a warrior band that fights at night. Simek also ties the einherjar to the Wild Hunt. Reports of Hjaðningavíg, a fight that never ends, and a passage in book I of Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum offer comparable images of warriors who fall and rise. In onomastics, Vigfússon took the personal name Einarr to carry the same sense as einheri.

Questions people ask about Einherjar

Good reading and sources

• Einherjar on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data