The Vikings believed in an afterlife, but what they believed happened to a person after death is complex and often contradictory. Understanding the Norse afterlife is not helped by the fact that much of the information we have about Norse underworlds comes from Christian sources, which try to rationalise pagan Norse traditions within their own world view.
Viking Funerary Practices
We know that the Vikings believed, or at least hoped, that people continued to live in some form after death from their funerary practices, which involed burying things that a person might need in the next life along with them.
The most common funerary practices among the Vikings were cremation (with the cremated remains then buried) or burial. Burial became increasingly common under Christian influence. It seems that when the body was cremated it was believed that the smoke from the fire could help carry the deceased to the afterlife. Some modern researchers suggest that special plants and woods were used to produce a particularly type of smoke.
Viking were buried with possessions that reflected their lives: tools of their profession, jewelry that showed their status, and warriors with weapons. There is evidence of a blacksmith being buried with an entire set of tools, and women being buried with items used to complete household duties. Naturally, in the case of warriors, weapons were included among grave goods. Weapons found in Viking graves often had their blades bent. This may have symbolized the final death of the warrior, but was probably also done to deter grave robbing, as quality blades were expensive to produce.
Most Vikings would have had their remains buried in a modest urn. Very wealthy Vikings might be buried in a ship that they could use in the afterlife, or stone outlines designed to represent ships, which seem to have been considered fit for purpose. Vikings did have grave fields for burials, not disimilar from modern cemeteries.
There is also strong evidence to suggest that the very, very wealthy could have been buried with slaves. A Norse burial site in Flakstad, Norway, contains multiple bodies in the same grave, but DNA and diet suggest that the majority were slaves. The 10th century traveller Ahmed ibn Fadlan also claims that he saw a woman sacrificed as part of the funeral of a Viking chief. But most Vikings would have had a significantly more modest send off.
What exactly happened at the Viking funeral that accompanied that cremation or burial varied significantly and depended on local customs. One thing that is certain is that large amounts of alcohol were consumed. According to Ahmad ibn Fadlan, when one chieftain died, a third of his wealth was inherited, a third was used to supply his grave clothes and goods, and a third was spent on alcohol for his funeral.
It seems that only after the Viking funeral, and the drinking of the funerary ale, could heirs take up their inheritance or become the new master of a homestead. So, a Viking funeral not only sent the dead to the afterlife, but was also an opportunity to reorganize the social hierarchy of the living. The importance of this dual role is shown by funerary monuments that also record inheritance. For example, the 5th century Tune Runestone from Ostfold remarks on both the funeral ale in honor of the deceased master, and declares his three daughters as his rightful heirs.
According to some accounts, the drinking of the funerary ale happened seven days after the death of the person. It may be that the person was temporarily interred for the seven-day period, and then buried in their final resting place as part of the funeral rites.
Realms of the Dead
Norse mythology suggests that a person was composed of four parts: Hamr, physical appearance; Hugr, personality or character; Flygja, totem or familiar spirit; and Hamingja, quality or inherent success in life. While one’s Hamr passes from this world (or at least hopefully, no one wanted to come back as a Draugr), it was probably their Hugr that moved onto the afterlife. Meanwhile, their Hamingja might continue within their family, explaining the Norse practice of describing men as reincarnations of the ancestors.
According to Norse mythology, there were several different afterlife realms where the Hugr element of the soul might find itself.
Valhalla
According to Norse mythology, the god Odin, with the help of his band of Valkyrie shieldmaidens, chose the bravest fallen warrior from the battlefield to live in Valhalla, a hall of Odin in Asgard, the realm of the Aesir gods. Odin is sometimes called Valfodr, which means father of the slain.
In Vallhalla, the warriors, who were collectively called Einherjar (“the lone warriors”), feasted and trained with the express purpose of fighting alongside the gods at Ragnarök[JS3] , the end of the world.
While our descriptions of Valhalla come from Christian authors, especially the 13th-century Icelandic writer Snorri Sturluson, the idea of Valhalla is certainly much older. It is mentioned in the 10th-century poems Hakonarmal and Eiriksmal.
Snorri Sturluson describes the hall as enormous and majestic, with a thatched roof made from golden shields. It has many doors and enough space for all the warriors, who have been growing in number since the beginning of time.
The warriors are served mead by the Valkyries, which is taken from the udders of the goat Heidrun, which lives on the roof of Valhalla. He eats the leaves from a tree called Laeradr, which may be part of Yggdrasil, the world tree. The warriors also eat meat from a pig or boar called Saehrimnir, prepared by a cook called Andhriminir in a pot called Eldhrimnir. They can eat their fill every night as the boar is magically restored each day, much like Thor’s two goats.
Upon arrival, the warriors are greeted by Bragi, a divine skald who may have been a man, the 9th-century skald Bragi Boddason, brought to Valhalla for his skill. He composes poems about their deeds, just as skalds did in the halls of chiefs in the realm of the living.
Valhalla was considered the most desirable afterlife, and only open to warriors who died bravely in battle. There is evidence that when older warriors were on their deathbeds, their loved ones would stab them to trick the Valkyrie into thinking that they belonged in Valhalla. The Hakonarmal suggests that magical words were spoken over the grave of Hakon to ensure that his Hugr made its way to Valhalla.
The Valknut, a symbol of three interlocking triangles, was the symbol of Valhalla. While we do not know what the Vikings called the symbol, it always appears in association with both Odin and the dead, drawing a clear link to Valhalla. When associated with graves, it could have been used to indicate the belief that the fallen person was in Valhalla, or to call on the Valkyries to come and take them there.
Folkvangr
Although less famous, Folkvangr is arguably a more prestigious afterlife destination for a Viking warrior than Valhalla. The realm of the goddess Freya, a Norse goddess of fertility and magic, she also took fallen Viking warriors from the battlefield, but she got first choice, so presumably the choicest warriors found themselves here. Probably, like the dead of Valhalla, they were destined to fight alongside the Norse gods during Ragnarok.
Helheim
According to Norse mythology, Vikings that did not fall in battle would likely find themselves in Helheim, a world beneath Midgard in the cosmology of Norse mythology, ruled over by the goddess Hel. This realm of death is parted from the realm of the living by a rapid river that cannot be crossed, and heavy gates. Once a soul passes into Helheim it cannot return.
Helheim should not be conflated with Christian ideas of Hell. It was not a place for the wicked, but an afterlife for anyone who did not die in battle. Even the beloved god Balder, son of Odin, found himself in Helheim (and not Valhalla) when he was killed in a prank orchestrated by Loki. Not even Odin, king of the Norse gods, could bring him back from the dead, only Hel, the Norse goddess of the underworld, could bestow this gift.
The story of Balder is interesting in how it suggests that even the Norse gods did not have power over death, which was final. This is also alluded to in the Ragnarok myth which foretells the final death of Odin and the majority of the Norse gods. Odin sent Hermod to Helheim via the road to Hel on his horse Sleipnir to treat with the goddess, but Hel ultimately refused to let Balder go.
The road to Helheim is called Helvegr and it involves traveling through a dark and misty land and then a sunny and fertile land where herbs grow year-round. You then reach a raging river that is flowing with weapons called Gjoll, which means “loud noise”. You cross over a bridge called Gjallarbru and meet a jotun called Modgudgr, whose name means “furious battle”. She oversees a field of fallen warriors locked in eternal battle. You then arrive at the walls of Helheim where you are confronted by Garm, the guard dog of Helheim.
Sturluson describes Helheim as a dark and dreary hall called Elvidner (misery), where Hel eats from a dish called “hunger”, with a knife called “famine”, suggesting that no amount of eating can fill the empty stomachs of the dead. He also refers to a bed that is called “sick bed”, again suggesting that no amount of sleep can ease the weariness of the dead.
Ran
Considering the seafaring nature of Viking life, it is not surprising that they had an afterlife specifically for sailors. Ran was a giantess that lived at the bottom of the ocean in a realm illuminated by the masses of treasure that she accumulated from sinking and taking the treasure of passing ships. She would also catch sailors in her nets, drowning them, and then keeping them there in her own watery afterlife.
Helgafjell
Some stories from Norse mythology also suggest that the dead could end up in Helgafjell, the holy mountain, which may have been a specific place, or simply a mountain in the vicinity. The dead there are described as leading a life pretty similar to the living, reunited with their families and their loved ones. Some living people could see into this mountain afterlife, and what they saw was not intimidating, but a scene of home and happiness.
The Undead
The story of Balder not being able to return from Helheim clearly represents the fact that no one could return from death. But that didn’t mean that the Vikings did not have their own versions of ghosts and undead monsters.
The dead are sometimes described as coming back to visit with the living. One place where they often made this transition was at their burial mound, where the veil between the world of the living and the dead was believed to have been thinnest.
This could be a disconcerting experience. For example, when the hero Helgi returns from Valhalla to visit his wife Sigrun at his burial mound, he is still covered in his battle wounds, but he spends the night holding his wife. After his first appearance, Sigrun returns every night in search of him, but he never returns. She dies of a broken heart.
A much worse fate would be not to pass over and to remain in limbo in the world of the living as a draugr, which is a kind of zombie. According to Norse legends, it was normally evil men and ones with unfinished business that remained on the earth of draugr. They possessed otherworldly strength and had grotesque features including horrible blue skin and eyes so terrible that they could freeze a man with fear. They tormented their community by killing livestock, collapsing homes, and killing servants.
The only way to kill a draugr was by decapitation. When it was suspected that a draugr was tormenting the community, they would weigh down recently dead by placing rocks on their bodies or placing a blade over the dead body’s neck so that it would decapitate itself if it tried to rise.
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