RaSchi’s Valhalla

Well, what’s in a name? Especially, what’s in my name and why is this called “Valhalla”?

First of all, RaSchi is simply my nickname, made up as an abbreviation of my first and lastname: Ragnar Schierholz. As such, there’s not much to it.

So why is this place called Valhalla and what is this subtitle supposed to mean?
First of all, Ragnar is a Viking name¹⁾. Since the Viking’s weren’t christianized until the 9^th century, they had their own dieties and mythologies, commonly referred to as the Norse mythology. The gods are called Æsir and they lived in Asgard (heaven). Odin was their chief. Valhalla is the name of Odin’s hall, where all the warriors who died honorously (esp. in battle) were brought to after death. The valkyries were Odin’s servants. Their purpose was to select those who were eligible to enter Valhalla and bring them there. Also, the valkyries served the einherjars, as the dead are called when they reach Valhalla. Einherjars means “one-army-ers” or “those who are all [now] in one army”. This refers to the fact that Odin calls the brave warriors to Valhalla after their death in order to build an army for the final battle of god versus evil, where the Æsir will fight the forces of Hel, the hell of the Norse mythology, and the Jotun (giants). This final battle is called Ragnarök, which is derived from the old norse words “ragna” (gods) and “rök” (fate). Other sources call it Ragnarökr and claim it’s derived from “ragna” and “rökr” (doom) and thus translate it as the “doom of the gods”. Whichever, the course of the Ragnarök battle is well known to the gods. They know who will be slain by whom and that they are all going to die eventually. The gods in Norse mythology are all mortal and only retain their youth as long as they eat Idunn’s apples. This is another hint at the fact that dying in combat was considered an honor in the Vikings’ culture.

Now that should be enough of Viking background and Norse mythology to explain why I called this place Valhalla. I am somewhat fascinated by the Norse mythology, my name got me interested in it in the first place of course.

¹⁾Actually, the Minnesota Vikings’ mascot is called Ragnar for that reason. For other occurences of the name, see the Wikipedia entry for “Ragnar” (or if you wish to, check the entry in Norwegian or Swedish :-)).