There is something to this story that resonates with me, deeply. Howard tapped into this vein of true myth deeply, striking a femoral artery with “Marchers of Valhalla.” Howard wrote “Marchers” sometime in 1933 but it did not see print in his lifetime, finally appearing in 1972 in Marchers of Valhalla (Donald M. The myths are what give life meaning, what motivate us to action, and thus have a reality of their own. There is far more to life than observable phenomena and cold materialism. If not reliable conveyors of historical fact, myths reveal emotional truths, in their way as important as recorded history. Valkyries dispatched to the battlefield to retrieve the souls of slain warriors, taking them to the great roaring hall of Valhalla, where bitter enemies by day drink and debauch by night.ĭo we believe this actually happened? Valhalla is of course just a myth.īut, how to explain dying warriors on corpse-choked battlefields clutching notched swords to gasping chests, praying to Odin through blood-flecked lips to bear them to his golden hall? It was certainly tangible enough for these raiders from the likes of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and integral to how they lived their lives.
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