Die Walkürie

Valkyries from the Old Norse legends probably had the hardest job out of any mythological being ever created.

The word Valkyrie is an altered version of the Old Norse valkyrja, which means "chooser of the slain". The Valkyries were Norse women clothed in either swan or raven feathers, which gave them the ability to fly. Their job was to take slain heros away from battle fields to Valhalla, which was a sort of heaven where the heros would eat and drink great amounts of food until they were called to fight alongside Odin in a final battle, sort of like the Apocolypse. They were beautiful and strong and any Norse warrior who ever fought hoped to be taken away with one of them.

Richard Wagner wrote about them in his opera, Die Walkürie, with that glorious theme to represent their flight to an epic battle. Germans during Hitler's reign named a coup after the Valkyries. Now, that's all people think about when they hear the name.

Valkyries had it tough. Not only did they have to hurry off to battle fields covered in dead men, they had to carry a select few back to another world on their shoulders. They had to carry loads that no being should ever have to deal with.

It's a shame that no one remembers them for what they represented. They still exist, in a figurative way...or maybe not. People who want and try to carry other people's loads for their sake and turn dark eyes against the wind with impossible determination can't be Valkyries, can they?