The valkyrjar had knowledge of the runes and would teach those they became attached to this knowledge. The valkyrja Sigrdrífa, after being awoken by Sigurðr, teaches him how to use the runes for victory and healing among other things. This is not the limit of their magical powers however. In many instances the valkyrja are said to be able to change into the shape of a swan by use of what is called a swan bag. In Völundarkviða, Völundr and his two brothers happen upon three valkyrjar and steal their swan bags so that they cannot fly away. There are examples of this in folklore as well. Once a man has possession of a valkyrja's swan bag he can force her to marry him, which is what Völundr and his brothers did. In Hrómundar Saga (VII), the warrior is protected by a woman in the shape of a swan, who flies over his head in battle and chants spells so that he cannot be vanquished. (61)

The descriptions of valkyrjar are many times very similar to the descriptions of dísir. In Hákonarmál valkyries are described as noble and dignified women, sitting on their horses in full armor, carrying out the orders of Othinn, giving victory according to his wishes. In Darraðarljóð they are much different; much more fierce. They are shown weaving a web of gore exulting in the blood and carnage. They are more akin to other depictions in the lore were valkyries are depicted riding a wolf, sitting in a house drenched with blood, waving blood stained clothes over those about to fight or to sprinkle blood over a district. (62)

“On good Friday it happened in Caithness that a man called Dorroth went out of doors. He saw twelve persons ride toward a stone hut. There they were lost to his sight. When he came up to the hut and looked through a chink in the wall he saw that some women were rinside and had set up a web. Heads of men served as weights, men´s entrails formed the woof and weft, a sword did as a weaver´s reed, and arrows as the rods. They sang this song, called Song of the Valkyries. Then they tore the web down and into pieces, and each one held on to what she had in her hands. Dorroth left the opening and went home; but the women mounted their horses and rode away- six to the north and six to the south.”

    - Darraðarljóð

In the Eddaic poem Helgaqviða Hjörvarðzsonar, for instance, the hero Helgi's female guardian spirit (fylgior) appears in the form of a woman riding a wolf with snakes for reins.” (63) Another interesting point is that the more harsh pictures of valkyrjar have much in common with skaldic descriptions of giantesses. There are references to giantesses in skaldic verse who are huge and sinister beings, their appearance in dreams foretelling slaughter to come. They hold troughs for sacrificial meat, throw a series of human bodies into the jaws of a wolf, jerk off the heads of their victims with a bloodstained cloth, or sprinkle blood over the land. (64)

Again, much like dísir, valkyrjar are many times attached to one particular person. Dubois says, ““In the Eddaic poems Hlegaqviða Hundingsbana in fyrri, Helgaqviða Hundingsbana önnor, and Sigrdrifomál, these valkyries appear as warrior princesses, taking human form but also assisting their chosen warrior-lovers on a supernatural plane during battle.” (65) This again is another common trait shared with dísir, in that they are the lovers or wives of the ones they watch over. In the Hrômundarsaga (Fornald. sög. 2, 375-6), the same Kâra, who the Edda says was a second birth of Svava, appears as an enchantress in swan-shift, (fiölkýngiskona î âlftarham), and hovers above the hero, singing. By her assistance Helgi had always conquered, but it happened in one fight, that he swung his sword too high in the air, and hewed off his lover's foot, she fell to the ground, and his luck was spent. (66) In Helgakviða Hjörvarðssonar II: Nine valkyres ride by the young Helgi and grant him his name. One among them stands out and becomes his guardian.

“Eylimi was the name of a king, and his daughter was hight Sváva. She was a valkyrie and rode through the air and over the sea. It was she who had given Helgi his name, and she often afterwards shielded him in battles. Helgi calls her his “radient bride.” In Helgakviða Hundingsbana II “Hogni was the name of a king whose daughter was Sigrún. She became a valkyrie and rode through the air and over the sea. She was Sváva born again.”

Another interesting note is that it appears from Óðinn's words that he considered marriage and victory in war to be mutually exclusive, but it is not yet clear whether she would be allowed to fight but not to win, or whether marriage precluded warfare altogether. (67)

The last type of supernatural females to be examined in this article are the Norns. “A hall stands there, fair, under the ash by the well, and out of that hall come three maids, who are called thus; Urdr (past), Verdandi (Present), Skuld (future); these maids determine the period of men's lives: we call them Norns; but there are many norns: those who come to each child that is born, to appoint his life; these are of the race of the gods, but the second are of the Elf-people, and the third are of the kindred of the dwarves, as it is said here:

 Most sundered in birth

  I say the Norns are;

  They claim no common kin:

 Some are of Æsir-kin,

  some of Elf-kind,

  Some are Dvalinn's daughters.”

“Good norns and of honorable race appoint good life; but those men that suffer evil fortunes are governed by evil norns.” p. 28-29 The Poetic Edda Gylfaginning (XV) (68)

Despite the fact that Skuld acts also as a valkyrja the Norns operate on a level above and apart of those of the dísir and the valkyrjar in general. Davidson says, “With the other company of supernatural women, the nornir, we are not at present concerned. They seem, in their connection with fate and the future, to stand a little apart from the guardian spirits we have been studying. All these terms for supernatural women, however, are liable to be freely interchanged.” (69) I am in much agreement with Davidson on this. Many of the terms for these supernatural women seem to be used interchangeably at times and it is only through an examination of their actions and attributes that a more definite decision can be made as to their actual identity. Associated with the Continental matres and parcae by the number three, the nordic norns also share with the dísir the role as goddesses of fate, but they are considered to be far more powerful. (70) This I think is the main distinction between the three norns and the lesser norns, dísir and valkyrjar, that is, the scope of their activity. The second group, which could be classified as guardian spirits, has a much more narrow focus in their activities than do the norns.

In Helgakviða Hundingsbana we find the norns acting very much like the valkyrjar in Darraðarljóð:

2. In the mansion it was night:

the Norns came,

who should the prince's

life determine.

They him decreed

a prince most famed to be,

and of leaders

accounted best.

3. With all their might they span

the fatal threads,

when that (he) burghs should overthrow

in Brálund.

They stretched out

the golden cord,

and beneath the middle

of the moon´s mansion fixed it.

4. East and west

they hid the ends,

where the prince had

lands between;

towards the north

Neri's sister

cast a chain,

which she bade last forever.

Davidson says of this: “Clearly these Norns, like the valkyries, are setting up their loom; this time it is not restricted within a house in Scotland, but stretches across the heavens. The beam which holds the threads of the warp stretches from east to west, across the realm which Helgi is to rule, and it is held up by a cord which will not break. There is no question of 'casting a chain' as in Bellows's translation of the passage; bragða can mean to braid, knot or bind, and festr a cord or rope, and tese are evidently weaving terms describing how the warp is set up and made secure. Since it is attached to the beam stretched from east to west across the heavens, the cord which fastens it as the top must be in the north.” (71)

There were besides the three main norns groups of lesser norns. These lesser norns were said to be born of different races and in their functions seem very much like dísir. Davidson says, “Sigurd is also told in Fáfnismál that the Norns are 'of different origins, not of one race: some akin to the gods, some to the elves, and some daughters of Dvalinn'. Those akin to the gods could be the great goddesses, Frigg and Freyja, mentioned in childbirth in Oddrúnargrátr….” (72) If there is so then it is but a small step to say that these lesser norns are yet another name for dísir. In Vafthruðnismal we find three of these norns who are descended from the jötnar:

49. “Much have I fared,        much have I found,

Much have I got of the gods;

What maidens are they,         so wise of mind

That forth o'er the sea shall fare?”

Vafthruthnir spake:

50. “O'er Mogthrasir's Hall        shall the maidens pass,

And three are their throngs that come;

They all shall protect        the dwellers on earth,

Though they come of the giants' kin.”

"These maidens are norns who assist at childbirth. See 'Fáfnismál,' Sts. 12 and 13. 'Mogthrásir,' "Desirous of Sons," is a symbolic designation for mankind, "Mothgrásir's thorp,' for the world" [F. Jónsson].  (73) Though the word norn is used it is obvious that these lesser norns are meant, those norns, who, in function, could just as easily be called dísir. The Old Norse word used and translated as norns in the strophe quoted above is hamingjur. This would tend to support the idea of more dísir like beings as well. Another thing that may connect these lesser norns to the dísir is that in Norway the porridge known as 'childbed porridge' was called none-graut in certain areas and norna-greytur in the Faroes, meaning 'porridge of the Norns'. Again this connection to childbirth supports the connection to the dísir. (74)

We have seen how the delineations between dísir, fylgjur, hamingja, valkyrjar and the norns can sometimes be blurry because of how these titles seem to have been used interchangeably in the lore. This makes it difficult to place these supernatural ladies in definite categories judging solely from the titles used to describe them. Beings performing the exact same functions might be described by three or four different names. It is only through a comparison of their functions and descriptions that we can possibly hope to come to any fairly certain conclusions. Although these conclusions cannot be, by any means, 100% certain, they are perhaps certain enough to satisfy us within a reasonable doubt.

We see that the dísir were often involved in deciding the outcome of a battle. They were generally attached to one person and upon his death could be passed on to another person, generally someone in the same family line. These dísir were thought to be dead ancestors themselves of the person they were attached to. The dís was many times considered to be the wife of the person she was attached to and would be received in the abode of the dís upon their death. Although the dís was generally protective to the one she was attached to, one could loose the support of one's dís, often with disastrous effects. Some dísir could be downright hostile to the person they were connected to for seemingly no reason. We see also that the dísir were, like Freyja, very much connected with childbirth. Also there was shown through common methods of worship of the dísir and Freyja perhaps signifying a connection between the Vanadís and the dísir.

We have seen how fylgjur share many of the same characteristics of the dísir, so much so, that we could be justified in saying that fylgjur and fylgjukonar are the same as dísir. They were involved in battle, could be passed on and to see them, like the dísir could signify that one was fey. And also like dísir they were considered the wives or lovers of those they were attached to. The animal fylgja was most likely not connected to the dísir as they did not survive the life of the person they were attached to. The health of the person these animal fylgjur were attached to depended on the health of the animal fylgja itself.

In hamingja we have seen possibly two different concepts under the same name. One which was very much the same as the dísir in every way and the second an impersonal quality or force that could be passed on to one's descendents by declaring it before or after death or by having a child named after the deceased person.

The valkyrjar, despite having many commonalities with the dísir were separate beings. They were not the objects of worship as the dísir were and the valkyrjar are strongly connected with Othinn. Valkyrjar were never passed along ancestral lines as the dísir were.

And lastly the three norns themselves despite the role of Skuld, are neither valkyrjar nor dísir, although they may work closely with one or the other and share some functions. The lesser norns, that is those descended from the gods, giants, álfar or the dwarfs could indeed be seen as dísir possibly, as their functions in child birth and setting of wyrd are very much in line with functions of the dísir.

61. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. 70. Back

62. Ibid., p. 69. Back

63. Nordic Religions of the Viking Age by Thomas A. Dubois. 1999.p. 52. Back

64. Roles of the Northern Goddess by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1998, p. 179. Back

65. Nordic Religions of the Viking Age by Thomas A. Dubois. 1999, p. 53. Back

66. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology by Jacob Grimm 1883. Back

67. Old Norse Images of Women by Jenny Jochens 1996, p. 91. Back

68. Dictionary of Northern Mythology by Rudolf Simek 1996. Back

69. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968, p. 137. Back

70. Old Norse Images of Women by Jenny Jochens 1996, p. 39. Back

71. Roles of the Northern Goddess by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1998, p. 120. Back

72. Ibid., p. 146. Back

73. The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature by Hilda Roderick Ellis (Davidson) 1968. Back

74. Roles of the Northern Goddess by Hilda Ellis Davidson 1998, p. 145-146. Back

Bibliography

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15. The Prose Edda trans. by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur 1923.