VALFADER (father of the choice), name given to Odin when he presides at the banquets in Valhalla.
VALHALLA (hall of the choice), name of the celebrated banqueting hall of Odin, in Valaskialf, and theatre of the convivial festivities of the gods and Einherier.
VALKYRIE, pl. Valkyrior, name of the celestial virgins who attend the fields of battle in order to carry off to Valhalla the souls of the heroes who fall. They are mounted on white horses, with fiery manes and tails. At the banquets of Valhalla they hand round to the guests the mead and ale. The word Valkyrie means chooser of the slain, because they choose from the heaps of slain those who have shown most courage. Owing to this belief, the word val, which originally meant “choice,” was applied to a field of battle; hence the Danish word valplads and the German wahlplatz, both signifying “field of battle.” Kyrie comes from the old Teutonic verb küren (to choose); there is therefore, properly speaking, tautology in the word Valkyrie, both the words of which it is composed signifying choice. By the Valkyrior are thought to be typified those meteoric appearances in the heavens, which were supposed to forebode wars and tumults.
VANER, VANAHEIM; mythologically the Vaner were elementary divinities, and Vanaheim was supposed to be situated in the heavens, above the earth, immediately above Midgard. Geographically, Vanaheim, according to Snorro Sturleson, was a country lying immediately eastward of the Tanais or Don river; but the historical Vaner are represented as a highly civilized people, from whom the Asar learnt the arts and sciences and all that embellishes life. Now I am yet to learn that the inhabitants of the banks of the Don were ever remarkable for refined culture; I therefore reject the hypothesis of Snorro Sturleson, and adopt that of Finn Magnussen, who thinks that by the historical Vaner are meant the Asiatic Greeks or the Persians, from whom the Asar or Goths might well learn the arts of civilization. Niord was a chief of Vaner race; Niord became father of Frey and Freya by his sister. Such a matrimonial connection was perfectly lawful among the ancient Persians, and is so among their descendants, the Parsis or Guebres, to this day. A learned friend of mine, a Portuguese by birth, by name Dr. Constancio, much given to the study of philology and the Eastern languages, thinks that by the Vaner and the country inhabited by them, Vanaheim, may be meant the country bordering on the lake Van or Erivan, in Armenia; and this seems extremely probable, as the Armenians were a Persian peuplade, highly civilized, and professing in days of old the same religion as the Guebres. Mythologically, Niord and his son and daughter may have been divinities worshipped in Armenia, Persia, and Asiatic Greece, and the Asar may have adopted and incorporated that worship into their own mythology, just as the Romans and Greeks adopted many of the divinities and religious ceremonies of the Egyptians. I think I can perceive a strong resemblance between Frey and Horus, between Freya and Astarte, and between Niord and Nereus.
VANDHOSE (water-spout), brother of Skada. Etym.: vand (water) and hose (trowser) in Danish.
VAR, an Asynia, the goddess of truth; she registers the vows of mankind and punishes perjury.
VARDOE, an island of East Finnmark on the north-eastern extremity of Norway, in latitude 75° north.
VAULUNDER is the Vulcan of the Gothic mythology. Historically he was a smith, celebrated for the beauty and excellence of his workmanship in metals. He forges weapons and armour for the gods.
VE, name of the third person in the triad of the Scandinavian mythology, and son of Bor.
VERDANDIS, or Verandis, name of the Norna or destiny of the present. Etym.: verandi, participle present of the Icelandic verb vera (to be).