Study › Runes & Norse › The Weaving Valkyries
In the poem Darraðarljóð, twelve valkyries weave the Battle of Clontarf on a loom made of the battle itself: entrails for thread, heads for weights.
What is Darraðarljóð?
The grimmest picture of the valkyries is the poem Darraðarljóð, kept in chapter 157 of Njáls saga. On the morning of the Battle of Clontarf, fought outside Dublin in 1014, a man named Dörruð sees riders go into a hut, and looks in. Inside, twelve valkyries are weaving on a loom — and it is made of the battle itself. Its warp and weft are human entrails, its weights are men's heads, its beaters are swords and an arrow. As they weave they sing of the fighting to come, and of who will fall and who will win. When the song is done they tear the cloth apart, each keeping the piece in her hand, and ride away, six to the south and six to the north. For the Norse, fate was woven, and here the weavers of war are the valkyries.
Read the valkyries and the Web of Wyrd.
Questions
Where is Darraðarljóð kept?
In chapter 157 of Njáls saga.
What battle do the valkyries weave?
The Battle of Clontarf, near Dublin, in 1014.