Thou hast often given victory to those to whom thou
shouldst not give it, to the more cowardly"; this, no doubt, was in
order to secure the best fighters for Valhalla. That the defeated
side sometimes consoled themselves with this explanation of a notable
warrior's fall is proved by the tenth-century dirge on Eirik Bloodaxe,
where Sigmund the Volsung asks in Valhalla: "Why didst thou take the
victory from him, if thou thoughtest him brave?" and Odin replies:
"Because it is uncertain when the grey Wolf will come to the seat
of the Gods." There are similar lines in Eyvind's dirge on Hakon
the Good. In this way a host was collected ready for Ragnaroek:
for _Grimnismal_ says: "There are five hundred doors and eighty
in Valhalla; eight hundred Einherjar will go out from each door,
when they go to fight the wolf." Meanwhile they fight and feast:
"All the Einherjar in Odin's courts fight every day: they choose
the slain and ride from the battle, and sit then in peace together"
(_Vafthrudnismal_,) and the Valkyries bear ale to them _(Grimnismal_).
It is often too hastily assumed that the Norse Ragnaroek with
the dependant Valhalla system are in great part the outcome of
Christian influence: of an imitation of the Christian Judgment Day
and the Christian heaven respectively. Owing to the lateness of our
material, it is, of course, impossible to decide how old the beliefs
may be, but it is likely that the Valhalla idea only took form at
the systematising of the mythology in the Viking age.
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