Valhalla (Old Norse Valhöll, “hall of the slain”) is the most famous afterlife in Norse mythology. It is Odin’s great hall in Asgard, roofed with golden shields and raftered with spears, where the bravest warriors who fall in battle are brought by the valkyries. There they fight each other every day for sport, rise healed every evening, and feast every night on boar’s meat and mead, waiting for the last great battle of Ragnarök.
Valhalla has become a byword for a warrior’s paradise. But the medieval sources present a more complex picture. Valhalla was not the only destination for the dead, and it was not simply a reward. It was a training ground for an army that Odin was gathering for a battle the gods knew they would lose.
Where Is Valhalla?
Valhalla stands in Asgard, the realm of the gods, in a place called Glaðsheimr, “bright home.” The Eddic poem Grímnismál, in which Odin himself describes the dwellings of the gods, gives the most detailed picture:
Easily recognizable to those who come to Odin
is the hall when they see it:
its rafters are spears, its roof thatched with shields,
its benches strewn with mailcoats.
A wolf hangs at its western door, and an eagle hovers above it.
The Doors
Valhalla is vast. According to the Grímnismál, it has 540 doors, and through each door 800 warriors will march out together to fight the wolf at Ragnarök. That makes 432,000 warriors — a number that has intrigued scholars, since it matches the number of years in the Hindu Kali Yuga, the final age of the world. Whether this is a coincidence or a trace of a shared Indo-European tradition of cosmic numbers is uncertain.
The Einherjar
The warriors in Valhalla are called the einherjar, a word usually interpreted as “those who fight alone” or “the once-fighters” — the unique champions. They are chosen by Odin and his valkyries from among those who die bravely in battle.
Their days follow a fixed pattern. Snorri Sturluson describes it in the Gylfaginning: “Every day, after they have dressed, they put on their war gear and go out into the courtyard and fight and kill each other. That is their sport. And when it is time for the evening meal, they ride back to Valhalla and sit down to drink.”
Those who were killed rise up healed, and all return to the feast.
The Endless Feast
The einherjar eat the meat of the boar Sæhrímnir. The cook Andhrímnir boils it every day in the cauldron Eldhrímnir, and every evening the boar is whole again, ready to be slaughtered and cooked the next day.
They drink mead that flows from the udders of the goat Heiðrún, who stands on the roof of Valhalla and eats the leaves of the tree Læraðr. Her mead fills a vat so large that all the einherjar can drink their fill. From the antlers of the stag Eikþyrnir, who also eats from the tree, flows so much liquid that it becomes the source of all the rivers of the world.
The valkyries serve the drink. Odin himself sits at the head of the hall but does not eat. He gives his food to his two wolves, Geri and Freki, and lives on wine alone. His ravens Huginn and Muninn sit on his shoulders and tell him the news of the world.
Who Went to Valhalla?
A popular modern belief holds that any Viking who died with a sword in his hand went to Valhalla. The sources are less generous.
- Odin chose. The dead were selected by Odin and the valkyries. Not every warrior who died in battle was taken. Odin, in the sagas, is notoriously capricious — he gives victory and takes it away, and sometimes he abandons his favourites so that he can bring them to his hall.
- Freya took half. The Grímnismál says that Freya chooses half of the slain for her own hall, Fólkvangr, “the field of the people,” and Odin takes the other half.
- Other afterlives. Many of the dead went to Hel, the realm ruled by Loki’s daughter, which was not a place of punishment but a shadowy land of the dead. Those who drowned were said to go to the sea-goddess Rán, who caught them in her net. Some sagas describe the dead living on inside their burial mounds or in sacred mountains. Some are said to go to Thor’s hall.
Valhalla was, in short, an afterlife for a warrior elite. It is also mainly attested in poetry associated with Odin’s cult and with royal courts, and it may not reflect the beliefs of ordinary farmers.
A Purpose: Preparing for Ragnarök
The einherjar are not only enjoying themselves. They are an army in training. Odin gathers them because he knows Ragnarök is coming, and he needs warriors for the final battle against the giants, the wolf Fenrir, and the forces of Surtr.
The tenth-century poem Eiríksmál, composed for the dead Norwegian king Eric Bloodaxe, makes this explicit. Odin dreams that he is preparing Valhalla for a great king’s arrival. When the god Bragi asks why Odin took victory away from so brave a king, Odin replies that no one can know the future: “The grey wolf is watching the dwellings of the gods.” He needs heroes for the day when Fenrir breaks loose.
This gives Valhalla a tragic undertone. The einherjar are training for a battle they will lose. At Ragnarök, they march out through the 540 doors, and Odin is swallowed by the wolf.
The Warriors’ Welcome
Poems like Eiríksmál and Hákonarmál (composed for King Hákon the Good, who died in 961) describe a hero’s arrival in Valhalla. Odin sends the heroes Sigmund and Sinfjötli to greet Eric Bloodaxe. In Hákonarmál, Hákon is at first reluctant, fearing Odin’s hostility, but the god welcomes him and offers him the peace of the einherjar.
Picture stones from Gotland in Sweden show scenes that seem to depict this welcome: a rider, often on an eight-legged horse like Odin’s Sleipnir, arriving at a hall, where a woman greets him with a drinking horn.
Valhalla and Viking Society
Valhalla expressed the values of the Viking-Age warrior aristocracy: courage, loyalty to one’s lord, generosity with drink and treasure, and a good death in battle. A king’s hall, with its feasting, its drinking horns carried by women of the household, and its warriors on the benches, was an earthly image of Valhalla. A warrior who served his lord well could hope to serve Odin in the same way after death.
Valhalla in Modern Culture
The German neoclassical temple Walhalla, built by King Ludwig I of Bavaria above the Danube in 1842, honours great figures of German history. Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle ends with Valhalla consumed in flames. The phrase “going to Valhalla” has become a way of describing a heroic death, used in films such as Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). The video game Assassin’s Creed Valhalla (2020) introduced a new generation to the idea.
Last reviewed: September 2026.