Study › Runes & Norse › Valhalla and Folkvangr
Valhalla is Odin's hall in Asgard, the "Hall of the Slain", where warriors who die in battle feast and fight until Ragnarok. But only half of the fallen go there: the other half go to Folkvangr, the field of the goddess Freyja.
What is Valhalla?
Not all the honoured dead go to the same hall. Valhalla, the 'Hall of the Slain', is Odin's hall in Asgard. The poem Grímnismál tells that it has five hundred and forty doors, a roof thatched with shields and rafters of spears, and that through each door eight hundred warriors will march out together at Ragnarok.
Life in Valhalla
Its warriors, the einherjar, fight each other every day and rise healed each evening to feast on the boar Saehrimnir, cooked anew each night, and to drink mead that flows from the udder of the goat Heidrun.
Folkvangr, Freyja's field
But half of those who fall in battle are not Odin's. Freyja chooses half of them each day, and takes them to Folkvangr, the 'Field of the People', and her hall Sessrumnir. What the chosen do there the poems do not say. Those who die of sickness or old age go to Hel, and the drowned to the hall of the sea goddess Ran.
The warriors are chosen by the valkyries, in Odin's home of Asgard, to fight at Ragnarok.
Questions
What does Valhalla mean?
"Hall of the Slain", from the Old Norse Valhöll.
Who goes to Valhalla?
Half of the warriors who die in battle, chosen by Odin's valkyries. Freyja takes the other half to Folkvangr.
Where do people go who do not die in battle?
Those who die of sickness or old age go to Hel, and the drowned go to the sea goddess Ran.
What is the difference between Valhalla and Folkvangr?
Valhalla is Odin's hall for half of the fallen; Folkvangr is Freyja's field for the other half, and she chooses first.