Editing Valkyrie (section)

===Origins and development===
[[File:Die Nornen (1889) by Johannes Gehrts.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Norns'' (1889) by [[Johannes Gehrts]]]]

Various theories have been proposed about the origins and development of the valkyries from Germanic paganism to later Norse mythology. Rudolf Simek suggests valkyries were probably originally viewed as "demons of the dead to whom warriors slain on the battlefield belonged", and that a shift in interpretation of the valkyries may have occurred "when the concept of Valhalla changed from a battlefield to a warrior's paradise". Simek says that this original concept was "superseded by the [[Shieldmaiden|shield girls]]—Irish female warriors who lived on like the ''einherjar'' in Valhall." Simek says that the valkyries were closely associated with Odin, and that this connection existed in an earlier role as "demons of death". Simek states that due to the shift of concept, the valkyries became popular figures in [[Poetic Edda#Heroic lays|heroic poetry]], and during this transition were stripped of their "demonic characteristics and became more human, and therefore become capable of falling in love with mortals [...]." Simek says that the majority of the names of the valkyries point to a warlike function, that most of [[List of valkyrie names in Norse mythology|valkyrie names]] do not appear to be very old, and that the names "mostly come from poetic creativity rather than from real folk-belief."<ref name="SIMEK349"/>

MacLeod and Mees theorise that "the role of the corpse-choosing valkyries became increasingly confused in later Norse mythology with that of the [[Norns]], the supernatural females responsible for determining human destiny [...]."<ref name="MACLEOD39">MacLeod (2006:39).</ref>

[[Hilda Ellis Davidson]] says that, regarding valkyries, "evidently an elaborate literary picture has been built up by generations of poets and storytellers, in which several conceptions can be discerned. We recognise something akin to Norns, spirits who decide destinies of men; to the [[Völva|seeresses]], who could protect men in battle with their spells; to the powerful female guardian spirits attached to certain families, bringing luck to youth under their protection; even to certain women who armed themselves and fought like men, for whom there is some historical evidence from the regions round the [[Black Sea]]". She adds that there may also be a memory in this of a "priestess of the god of war, women who officiated at the sacrificial rites when captives were put to death after battle."<ref name="DAVIDSON61">Davidson (1990:61).</ref>

Davidson places emphasis on the fact that ''valkyrie'' literally means "chooser of the slain". She compares Wulfstan's mention of a "chooser of the slain" in his ''Sermo Lupi ad Anglos'' sermon, which appears among "a blacklist of sinners, witches and evildoers", to "all the other classes whom he [Wulfstan] mentions", and concludes as those "are human ones, it seems unlikely that he has introduced mythological figures as well." Davidson points out that [[Arab]] traveller [[Ibn Fadlan]]'s detailed account of a 10th-century [[Rus' (people)|Rus]] ship funeral on the [[Volga River]] features an "old [[Huns|Hunnish]] woman, massive and grim to look upon" (who Fadlan refers to as the "Angel of Death") who organises the killing of the slave girl, and has two other women with her that Fadlan refers to as her daughters. Davidson says that "it would hardly be surprising if strange legends grew up about such women, who must have been kept apart from their kind due to their gruesome duties. Since it was often decided by lot which prisoners should be killed, the idea that the god "chose" his victims, through the instrument of the priestesses, must have been a familiar one, apart from the obvious assumption that some were chosen to fall in war." Davidson says that it appears that from "early times" the [[Germanic peoples]] "believed in fierce female spirits doing the command of the war god, stirring up disorder, taking part in battle, seizing and perhaps devouring the slain."<ref name="DAVIDSON61-62">Davidson (1990:61–62).</ref>