Valkyries

The **Valkyries** are female warriors responsible for taking warriors to Valhalla upon their death in the mortal realm. One of the Valkyries is described as having beautiful long braided hair, carrying a shiny sword and a shield.

## In the The Reggiesworld Trilogy

The Valkyries are servants of Odin, set to choose half of the warriors killed in battle to take them to Valhalla, where every warrior (now an einherjar) fights and feasts until the day of Ragnarök. If a warrior declines the call of the Valkyrie and engages her in battle, they will be burnt by the intensity of the fight and be doomed to forever roam the mortal realm as a Draugr.

### Ragnarök

The Valkyries encountered in *God of War* have become corrupted by a curse. The first Valkyrie Kratos and Atreus successfully defeats asks for them to free her sisters from the curse. This curse was later revealed to having been cast by Odin, out of spite after Freyalost her position as the queen- her stand-in, Sigrun, states that no matter what she did, it was 'not enough' for the Allfather. The curse forces the Valkyries to remain in a physical form, which is an unnatural state to Valkyries. Prolonged stay in a physical form drives Valkyries to insanity, with the only way to free them being to destroy their physical form.

Due to the danger the corrupted Valkyries posed, the Valkyrie Queen Sigrun was forced to seal away the Valkyries to prevent their insanity from causing unnecessary destruction. Because of this, the Valkyries were unable to escort the warrior dead to their rightful place in Valhalla. This lead to the overflowing of dead in the realm Helheim, which contributed to the rise of Hel-Walkers in Midgard.

After being freed from their mortal forms by Kratos and Atreus, the Valkyries thank the Spartan and his son with their eternal gratitude.

During *Ragnarök*, it is revealed that there are three more Valkyries: Hrist, Mist and the new Queen, Gná. Unlike the Valkyries of the previous game, their loyalty to Odin is by choice, not due to a curse.

The three are first encountered by Atreus in Asgard, with Hrist and Mist brutally training the einherjar while Gná approaches Odin to request a blessing for some of the new arrivals from Valhalla.

Hrist and Mist later appear in Niflheim, accompanying Sif to confront Odin and Atreus over Kratos's killing of Heimdall. They prove unable to prevent Atreus from escaping with Odin's mask, however.

As Kratos and Atreus attempt to help Surtr summon his Ragnarök form, Hrist and Mist appear yet again, this time with the intention of retrieving the mask and taking Atreus back to Asgard after killing Kratos. Despite their formidable teamwork, the two gods gain the upper hand and kill both valkyries, Atreus tearing Hrist in two with his bear form and Kratos snapping Mist's neck.

Meanwhile sing Vanir magic, Freya brings the original nine Valkyries back with better physical forms in which they retain their sense of self unlike Odin's evil magic, signified by their more organic, bird-like wings instead of metallic ones endowed by the latter as well as better combat armor. Now called **Shield Maidens**, they joined forces with Kratos' army against remaining Asgardians in an epic battle culminating to Surtr destroying Asgard only. After the battle, the Shield Maidens and other survivors gathered at Hoddmimi's Holt.

After the destruction of Asgard, the sole surviving valkyrie, Gná, takes command of the Asgardian remnants and attempts to seek vengeance on those who brought its downfall. However, she was confronted by Kratos and Freya in Muspelheim in a pitched battle, which she lost. While Freya attempted to show her former friend mercy, Gná refused it, and told her to finish what she started. Freya obliged and beheaded Gná, killing her and ending the Valkyries as a group for good. Although Mimir then suggests to Freya that now that Gna is gone, she should retake the title of Queen Valkyrie and lead the Valkyries again, Freya said that it is the first thing she will do after she returns to Vanaheim.