When male reenactors try to claim that valkyries were not warriors, but only glorified chauffeurs and waitresses for einherjars, you can respond with:
The name valkyrja means “chooser of the slain”: Valr (the fallen) and kjósa (to choose). They choose among the slain.
They have names that denotes warriors like: war (Gunnr), battle (Hildr and Hlökk) and spear-fight (Geirahöð). [Völuspá and Grímnismál]
They bear weapons, helmets, shields and armour - sometimes even blood-drenched: Then light shone from Logafell,and from that radiance there came bolts of lightning;wearing helmets at Himingvani [came the valkyries].Their byrnies were drenched in blood;and rays shone from their spears [Helgakviða Hundingsbana I], and the valkyries seated on horses, wearing armour and shields, leaning on spears in Hákonarmál.
Valkyries sometimes descended into battle to protect kings: Helmeted valkyries came down from the sky—the noise of spears grew loud—they protected the prince;then said Sigrun—the wound-giving valkyries flew,the woman’s mount was feasting on the fodder of ravens [Helgakviða Hundingsbana I]*
Odin cursed a valkyrie, Sigrdrifa, with eternal sleep because she had struck down the wrong king in battle. The curse was that she would never again fight victoriously and it condemned her to marriage. Sigrdrifa’s response was that she had sworn a great oath to never wed any man who knew fear. She is woken by the hero Sigurd and in return grants him great wisdom. [Sigrdrífumál]
Valkyries decide how battles will turn out: They are sent by Odin to every battle, where they choose which men are to die and they determine who has victory [Prose Edda], in Njáls saga they weave the battle using entrails, and in Hákonarmál the valkyrie Skögul tells the fallen Hákon the battle turned against him thanks to them making his kinsmen flee.
In Prose Edda valkyries are even poetic terms for battle.”Skögul’s din” means battlefield, “Gunnr’s fire” means sword, “Hildr’s sail” means shield, “Göndul’s crushing wind” means battle etc.
The valkyries literally say that they’re going to battle: Start we swiftly with steeds unsaddled—hence to battle with brandished swords! [Njáls saga]
(*There’s a lot of cool stories about the valkyries: curses and love and reincarnation. Helgakviða Hundingsbana I tells the story of the valkyrie Sígrun who falls in love with Helgi despite her father having promised her to another man. She and the rest of the valkyries descend to protect Helgi while he wages war against her betrothed. In Helgakviða Hundingsbana II the couple dies, but are reincarnated as Helgi and a valkyrie again.)
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