Einherjar November 11

The Valkyries chose the Einherjar and carried them away. Some warriors who wanted to survive these battles did not roll their eyes so as not to attract the attention of the Valkyries who could kill them to take them away..

For their greatest satisfaction, they escaped "the straw death" that is to say the natural death in their bed which destined these spirits to take the path of Hel where the sweet Hela, goddess of death whose face is half immersed in the shadow of darkness and the other half in the light of life, led them on a vessel to follow the current of one of the twelve rivers, the Élivágar, one of which opened into the Gardens of Asgard. The Goddess Hela is not the horrible creature described in the texts.

A completely different destiny awaited these Einherjar. The warrior goddess Freyja mounted on her horse and accompanied by the Valkyries, raised these glorious fighters to accompany them to Ásgard. Half of these heroes went to Valhöll, to Odin's palace, the other part to Fólkvangr (the plain of troops) Freyja's palace.

The warriors assigned to Odin are those among them who devote their existence to war and battles, “the offensive ones”. The warriors assigned to Freyja are those among them who fight to protect their families, their clans and their property, “the defensive ones”. The historian Else Roesdahl has in fact noticed that, in burials containing weapons, the warriors had shields which she calls defensive ones, the others only had their attack weapons which she calls offensive ones..

Odin's warriors are awakened each day by the rooster Gullinkambi, to travel to the vast field of Idavoll located in the center of Asgard to fight against each other in joyful and deadly combat. At dusk, the dead come back to life, the wounded heal and everyone finds themselves at Odin's banquet, where they feast served by the delicious Valkyries. They drink mead from the goat Heidrun who herself feeds on the leaves of the Yggdrasil tree.

Andhrímnir, the cook of the Gods, prepared a sumptuous meal with the enormous pig Sæhrímnir. The animals of the Gods all have a name, which shows the importance they give to their companions, they are so concerned about their well-being that they go so far as to bring them back to life when they happen to consume them. Also the generous Sæhrímnir pork comes back to life every morning to be eaten every evening. Thor happened to keep the bones of one of his goats that he had been forced to eat, in order to bring him back to life as quickly as possible.