Valhalla

**Hotel Valhalla** is the paradise for warriors, or einherjar, in the service of Odin, located in the Grove of Glasir in Asgard.

## Layout

### Outside

The Midgard entrance to Hotel Valhalla is located on Beacon Street in Boston, Massachusetts. From the outside it looks like an eight-story mansion of white-and-gray stone. The double front doors are made from dark heavy wood bound with iron, with a life-size wolf’s-head door knocker in the center of each wing. In order to prevent mortals and non-einherjar from trespassing, the hotel’s front garden is completely enclosed by a fifteen-foot-tall limestone wall with no entryway. The courtyard area behind the wall is called the Grove of Glasir, where birch trees with pure white bark and leaves of gold grow. Next to the tree, a bronze plaque was affixed to the wall. The inscriptions are in both English and the Norse alphabet.

### Lobby

The foyer of Hotel Valhalla was compared to the world’s largest hunting lodge – a space twice as big as what the exterior would indicate, with an acre of hardwood floor covered with exotic animal skins: zebra, lion and an unknown forty-foot-long reptile. Against the right wall of the lobby, there is a hearth the size of a bedroom. Over the mantel hangs the stuffed head of a wolf. In the far corner of the room stands an overturned boat’s keel, which serves as Helgi's reception desk.

Columns supporting the ceiling are made from rough-hewn tree trunks, and the ceiling held itself is lined with spears for rafters. Polished shields gleam on the walls and the entire place seems to be illuminated from every direction. In the middle of the foyer, there is an announcement board displaying the activities for the day. The lobby and the entire hotel has a dark red floors to hide blood stains.

### Lounge

One of the many lounges in Hotel Valhalla has sofas and fireplaces all around, with various activities such as board games, pool, card games, arcade machines, and dice games, and Monopoly. Hunding says the lounge is a "No Impaling" area.

### Feast Hall of the Slain

The hotel's dining area is the size of a concert hall, with a hundred doors circling the perimeter. Tiers of long tables curve downwards in a bowl-like manner, until they reach the center of the hall, where the tree Læraðr grows. The tree rose taller than the Statue of Liberty. Its lowest branches were maybe a hundred feet up. Its canopy spread over the entire hall, scraping against the domed ceiling and sprouting through a massive opening at the top. Above, stars glittered in the night sky. In the tree live immortal animals, each assigned to a particular task. Somewhere high up in the tree lives a stag named Eikthrymir, whose horns spray out water that runs down the tree's branches and falls into a pond at its roots. It flows down the branches into that lake. From there, it goes underground and feeds every river in every world. The long tables have golden plates and jewel-encrusted goblets. In the place of honor stood an empty wooden throne with a high back, where two ravens perched, grooming their feathers. A roasting pit is located at the end of the room.

### Battlefield

Valhalla’s battlefield offered maybe three square miles of interesting places to die, all contained within the hotel like an interior courtyard. On all four sides rose the walls of the building – cliffs of white marble and gold-railed balconies, some hang with banners, some decorated with shields, some fitted with catapults. The upper floors seem to dissolve in the hazy glow of the sky, as blank white as a fluorescent light. In the center of the field loomed a few craggy hills. Clumps of forest marbled the landscape. The outer rim was mostly rolling pastures, with a river as wide as the Charles River snaking through. Several villages dotted the riverbank, maybe for those who preferred their warfare urban. From hundreds of doors in the walls around the field, battalions of warriors were streaming in, their weapons and armor glinting in the harsh light.

### Gift Shop

The gift shop is a five-level department store combined with a convention-center trade show. The gift shop has a supermarket, a clothing boutique with the latest in Viking fashions and an IKEA outlet. Most of the showroom floor was a maze of stalls, kiosks and workshops. Bearded guys in leather aprons stood outside their forges offering free samples of arrowheads. There were specialized merchants for shields, spears, crossbows, helmets and lots and lots of drinking cups. Several of the larger booths had full-size boats for sale. The gift shop even has a riding ring where a dozen horses are tethered. The Nordic Knick-knacks aisle has a big iron door marked: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

## Hotel Staff

* Odin - Also known as the All-Father, he is the third chief of the Æsir tribe of gods. Despite being the owner and founder of the hotel, Odin is very often out on travels in search of knowledge, and leaves the important decisions to his management. His ravens Huginn and Muninn (ON: "Thought" and "memory"), along with the wolves Geri and Freki (ON: "the ravenous" and "[the] greedy one") represent him at the official meetings.
* Helgi - A Viking from East Gothland. Arrived at Hotel Valhalla in the eighth century, and has been given the position of a manager. Hunding's worst enemy and supervisor. Works at the reception desk.
* Hunding - King of Saxons, slain by Helgi in 749 C.E. Both arrived at the same time at Valhalla, yet it was Helgi that gained Odin's sympathy, and has been given Hunding as his servant. At the hotel, Hunding is a doorman and a bellhop.
* Thanes - Lords of Valhalla. Mostly comprised of famous historical figures, chosen personally by Odin as the hotel's board of directors.
* Valkyries - Odin's handmaidens whose primary job is to choose slain heroes to bring them to Hotel Valhalla. Their other duties include being waitresses during feasts, as well as providing room service.