Before a single sword falls, the outcome of the battle has already been decided overhead.
Valkyrie means chooser of the slain, and that is the literal work. They ride above the fighting and select who lives and who dies, then bear the worthy dead up to Odin's hall. They are not gentle spirits. They are the deciding hand of fate in armor, weaving the fortunes of war on a grim loom, and a warrior's whole hope was to be chosen by one rather than overlooked by all.
To die was not the worst thing the Norse could picture. To die unchosen, unremembered, and unclaimed was.
Descending here in white over the fallen. Printed heavy on garment dyed cotton, for the ones who would rather be chosen for the hard thing than spared the easy way.
