Warriors of the Viking Gods

It is written over and over again in the Eddas about the Einhärjar, who are warriors of Odin.
To become a warrior of Odin, you must first be picked up from the battlefield by the Valkyries. The Valkyries are women, sent by Odin and Freyja to bring the brave warriors who fell in battle directly to Valhalla or Sessrumnir.

Those who enter the halls of Valhalla then become great Einhärjar.


It is then that each morning, the Einhärjar put on their armor and collect their weapons, then they gather outside of Valhalla. Outside, they fight again until the setting sun.

In the evening, all the Einhärjar gather around a table and taste the famous Särhrimner wild boar. It is said that the curved horns fill until dawn, and the songs of the warriors make the shields hanging from the ceiling of Valhalla tremble !

Svinfylking is an offensive combat strategy used by the Vikings.
The old Norse word "Svinfylking" translates to "boar's snout", and if you look at the formation of this technique, you will understand why.

He was said to be as powerful as an angry boar.

The triangular shape of the formation was a successful tactic for breaking through enemy armies.

There are several signs that boars played a huge role in the Viking era, and they are often found in connection with war and warriors.

Even though the tactical movement Svinfylking is not a type of warrior per se, it tells us how connected these animals were to war.

The god Freyr is strongly related to boars and has his own war boar named Gullinbursti. There have been archaeological discoveries of helmets decorated with wild boars, such as the Vendel helmet discovered in the region which gave its name to the period: Vendel.

This helmet is decorated with a large boar that transforms into a human face on the front.
We think this helmet might be related to the depiction of Freyr and Gullinbursti in battle!

"I will ask the berserkers, you tasters of blood,
These fearless heroes, how are they treated,
Those who flounder in battle?
They are called bear skins. In combat
They carry bloody shields.
Red with blood are their spears when they come to fight.
They form a closed group.
The prince, in his wisdom, trusts these men
which pierce enemy shields."

The Haraldskvæði is a skaldic poem written by the Norwegian skald Þorbjörn Hornklofi in the 9th century. It's supposed to play out like a conversation between a raven and a valkyrie, talking about how brave and amazing Harald Finnehair was during his reign.

From this fragmented poem, we discover the berserkers and their unique character. Berserkers are usually called "bear warriors", as their name comes from the old Norse words: bear and shirt.

Berserkrs ​​could become so crazy that they didn't care about being hit by an arrow or spear. This can also be seen in Hornklofi's poem, where the berserkers who while protecting kings, princes and jarls before the battle smeared blood on their armor and weapons sang frightening songs to scare their enemies. . Berserkers are generally also linked to animistic and shapeshifting rituals, where the boundaries between man and animal have theoretically become blurred. There are also old sagas with examples of warriors transforming into bears, as is the case with the saga hero Bödvar Bjarki. They are also sometimes depicted as biting their shields in such a way as to psychologically terrify their enemies as in the Lewis Games:

What is written about the Ulfhednar is that they wear wolf pelts (ulfhednar translates to wolf cloaks), where berserkers are usually depicted wearing bear pelts. In the Egil Skallagrimssons saga (c. 850-1000) there is a part telling the story of the man Kväll-Ulf. Ulf was a man from Fjärdafylke, Norway, who had become a Viking with his friend Kårem who is described as a berserker, and Ulf had subsequently become a man rich in both wealth and children. He was also related to Harald Finnehair, King of Norway. Ulf had a quirk though, every night wise Ulf would turn around and become incredibly aggressive and he would change shape. The name Ulf is a Nordic name linked to the wolf, and Kväll-Ulf means the evening wolf or werewolf.


Berserkers and ulfhednar are also closely linked to Odin, both through discoveries and sagas.

In the Ynglinga Saga it is written:

Helheim is not only a horrible realm that you would never want to visit, but the greatest realm of the dead also has another purpose (than just being horrible to the poor dead and keeping the god Baldur hostage).

Since Hel is the largest and most inhabited kingdom, there's no denying that creating an army from all those deaths would be smart in a time of need. And a need does indeed exist.

A huge ship is being built, made of dead men's nails. It is described as a huge vessel decorated with creature heads. It is this boat that will transport the army of the dead to the last battle of Ragnarök, it is called Naglfar.

The army of Helheim will be joined on the day of Ragnarök by Loki, Garmr, Jörmungand and Fenrir. They will also have reinforcements from the Jötunns emerging from the frost of Jotunheim, and from Surtr with his army of fire emerging from Muspelheim.

As mentioned before, these armies are much needed in the final battle, Ragnarök.

Eventually, chaos and darkness will be cast upon the creation of the world, it is inevitable. The apocalypse in Norse mythology is called Ragnarök. But this isn't just something that happens overnight, it will creep up on both humanity and the gods.

First there will be three very harsh winters in a row, where fierce wars will break out in Midgard. These wars will be all against all, brothers will turn against each other as well as fathers and sons. Humanity will become bitter, angry, violent and greedy. When this phase is over, eternal winter will come, the Fimbulvetr. This winter will last for three years straight and kill most living creatures with its icy grip.

The next phase of Ragnarök is introduced when Sköll finally catches up to the sun and swallows it whole. At the same time, Hati will overtake the moon and devour it. This leaves the world cold and in total darkness. Fenrir, Garmr and Loki by breaking their chains to finally be free again causes great repeated tremors and this will cause the awakening of the Midgard serpent Jörmungand he will destroy Midgard in small pieces coming out of the sea, which will delight Fenrir who will swallow large pieces with its big jaw.

Then there's a rooster waking up all the living dead in Helheim, and the massive Naglfar leaves its harbor early. When the army of Helheim, Muspelheim and Nifelheim marches against Asgard, the huge rainbow bridge Bifrost shatters in an instant. Meanwhile, Heimdallr has already blown the gjallarhorn to warn the gods, the Einhärjar & the Valkyries of the beginning.

Everyone prepares for the final battle because Ragnarök is the end of most gods and their evil enemies.

Then Odin dies fighting Fenrir, who is killed by Vidarr avenging his father.
Thor finally successfully defeats Jörmungand, but also dies after the huge serpent poisons him during the battle.

And poor Freyr falls face to face with Surtr during a fight without his magic sword.

Garmr and Tyr kill each other, as well as Loki and Heimdallr kill each other after an epic duel.

At the end of the battle, Surtr cuts open the world with his huge fiery sword, and the world returns to the same chaos and nothingness as before.

A new creation will finally rise from the chaos. The sun will rise once more in the sky and the world will no longer be shrouded in darkness.

Odin's sons Vidarr and Vali survive Ragnarök, Thor's sons Modi and Magni as well.

And since Helheim has been left unguarded and almost empty, Hödur and Baldur escape to join their brothers in continuing to rebuild Asgard. The world tree itself survived, Yggrasil hid two creatures from Midgard, so even two humans did, Liv and Livtrasir.

It's not just the gods and humans who survived Ragnarök, the evil Nidhöggr is also still alive and is expected to be the cause of the next apocalypse.

But do we still have traces today of this Ragnarok And
on What this article has summer built ?

Today, fortunately, we still have writings of this Ragnarok :