I have a question I need to talk about! It's silly but also in all honesty... So male warriors went to Valhalla, and I recently heard that perhaps there was a similar place for female warriors, possibly Freya's Solvang. So men in one place and women in another, enjoying all the pleasures of life. Surely this must include...? Like they cannot possibly all have been bros and gal pals over there? What I'm saying is, isn't this whole setup incredibly gay?? It must've been a dream! And I'm so confused that this is never talked about. Someone wrote that the valkyries "offered sexual services", but really?? Or was that just some historians fantasy? Most of the time it's not mentioned at all. I know what I think at least :')
HELLO and thank you so much for your ask! I did some research to find out whether the dead are sent to a specific location in the afterlife based on their gender, and as far as I know, this is not the case (but correct me if I'm wrong because I have not looked at all texts!)
In Vafþrúðnismál, Odin and the jötunn Vafþrúðnir are playing a game of wits and are talking about the people who go to Valhalla.
Stanza 40 is translated by Henry Adams Bellows as "Eleventh answer me well, | [if thou knowest all] [The fate that is fixed for the gods:] What men [are they] | in [Othin's] home Each day to fight go forth?", but then I found another version that reads: "Eleventh answer me well, who issue forth from the stronghold to hack each other every day? Slaughter they choose | and ride to war sit the glorious ones in reconciliation together." Whenever a translation of the myths mention "men" in this way, I take that to mean "people" :>
Example from the same translation by Bellows: Othin spake: [44] "Much have I fared, | much have I found, Much have I got of the gods: What shall live of mankind | when at last there comes The mighty winter to men?"
Vafthruthnir spake: [45] "In Hoddmimir's wood | shall hide themselves Lif and Lifthrasir then; The morning dews | for meat shall they have, Such food shall men then find." (source)
I think anyone would agree "men" here is just an old-fashioned and gendered way to refer to humans. I am unable to read Old Norse, so I cannot say anything about the original texts, though.
BUT! If you're right, and we're gonna have to work with a division of the slain based on gender, then, yeah, my queer ass is absolutely going to refuse to believe these heroes did not fuck each other after a long day of fighting :'>
