The Saga of Vanadís, Völva and Valkyrja

This saga of Áslaug/Kráka was converted into a fairy tale, and when I was
growing up, it was my favorite. The magic of the harp-song, her tragic and powerful
silence, the three unsolvable tasks that she passed, and her örlög, were all so fascinating
to the little girl. The fact is that the stories of Áslaug and Brynhildur are an important link
between myth, history and my present.
From valkyrja’s daughter to Valgerðardóttir
My name is Valgerður Hjördís Bjarnadóttir. According to traditional patriarchal
sources Valgerður means ‘the one who guards the battlefield’ and Hjördís is ‘the goddess
of the sword’. At this point I would be tempted to redefine those interpretations. Val-
gerður is linked to the goddess of earth and the valur, i.e. Freyja, and Hjör-dís is the dís of
Freyr, since Freyr’s symbol is the sword. Both names relate clearly to the one source, the
first one, the twin deity, Freyja-Freyr. My father’s name Bjarni, means bear, and is thus
related to our oldest ancestors.
When I realized as a little girl that Auður djúpúðga, was my earliest ancestress in
this country, I felt special, unaware of the fact that most Islanders can trace their roots to
her and the other settlers. There was something in her name and saga that fascinated me.
Later, as I was searching for my mythological roots, I found that those roots and my
earthly ones fused in Auður djúpúðga. Her husband, Ólafur hvíti (the white wolf) was the
great grandson of Áslaug Brynhildardóttir and Ragnar loðbrók, (Íslendingabók,
Langfeðgatal). As we have seen, Áslaug’s father was the son of Hjördís Eylimadóttir,
sister of the valkyrja Sváva. It seems like magic that Islandic women and men can
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