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Valhalla

Did drugs fuel Viking social gatherings and make them formidable and fearless warriors? Source: ContentHub / Adobe Stock.

Viking Drug Use: From Riotous Parties to Berserker Fury

The Vikings stand as legendary figures, their exploits on the seas and battlefields shrouded in myth and mystery. Yet beyond their tales of conquest and exploration lies a lesser-known aspect of...
The funeral rites of a mummy on the Nile, by Frederic Arthur Bridgman (1876–77). Speed Art Museum, Louisville (Public Domain)

The Dead Below Deck: Funerary Boat Customs

Archaeologists discovered a 5,000-year-old Egyptian funerary boat, measuring 60 feet (18 meters), that was so well preserved that it still had intact plant fibers attached to it, in 2016. Found near...
Viking warriors facing the fire. Source: Hui / Adobe Stock / Insert Button Play Video by Dehweh

5 Dramatic Deaths of Viking Warriors (Video)

The Viking Age , spanning from the late 8th to the mid-11th century, was a time of conquest, exploration, and mythic heroism. At the heart of this age of adventure was the warrior culture of the...
Representation of a Valkyrie

The Bold and Beautiful Valkyries and Their Mortal Lovers

In Norse mythology, Valkyries were originally sinister spirits that would fly above the battlefield in search of the dead, deciding the fate of the fallen for Odin . The word “Valkyrie” means “...
Screenshot of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Source: Ubisoft

Brutal Viking World Recreated in New Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

A hair raising, exciting, and emotionally charged game trailer has been released for the next installment of the mega-popular computer game franchise Assassin’s Creed . In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla...
Ismantorp House Walls.

Ismantorp Fortress: An Ancient Ringfort Surrounded by Nine Worlds

The Ismantorp fortress on Öland, has been described as one of the most interesting prehistoric defensive structures and one of the most remarkable ringforts in Sweden. Not the largest of the forts,...
Valhalla

Denizens of Valhalla and the Transient Afterlife of Norse Myth

The ancient Norse were one of the few cultures to create a mythology that did not necessarily promise eternal life of any kind for the souls of the deceased. The world was believed to be heading...
Folkvangr.’

If Not Valhalla, Goddess Freyja Welcomed Viking Warriors to Folkvangr

Folkvangr (translated from Old Norse to mean ‘field of the people’, ‘field of the warriors’, or ‘field of the hosts’) is one of a few places where the dead could go to their afterlife in Norse...
Elkhound, a Viking Dog.

Viking Dogs Followed Their Masters to Valhalla

By THORNEWS Large amounts of animal bones have been found in Viking Age ship graves. For example, there were eight large sighthounds (Old Norse: mjór) buried on both sides outside the ship In the...
Dream Idyll (A Valkyrie) by Edward Robert Hughes

The Slain Will Rise Again: Lost Valkyries Remembered

“Brothers shall fight | and fell each other, And sisters' sons | shall kinship stain; Hard is it on earth, | with mighty whoredom; Axe-time, sword-time, | shields are sundered, Wind-time, wolf-time...
The Nine Worlds of Norse Mythology

The Nine Worlds of Norse Mythology

Modern heathenism has been fascinated by the concept of the Nine Worlds of Norse mythology and readily provides the names of these worlds and their meanings. Academics are equally guilty. Whereas...