V is for 'Valhalla'.
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie (from Old Norse valkyrja “chooser of the slain”) is one of a host of female figures who decide who will die in battle. Fascinating, yes?
Here, in Paulo Coelho's 'Valkyries', it is a group of women dressed in leather jackets and chunk, antique jewellery who ride on dirt motorbikes (I already have a very brazen image in my mind) and live a floating life, like a mirage. They meet and guide travelers, have cult rituals in abandoned caves, talk to the coyotes, and make love to strangers in the desert sands to satiate themselves. This book should have been as famous as the Alchemist, the imagery is beautiful…
Valhalla is one of these women, she is sort of like a leader. After she is done with the author an his wife, they feel like whatever they knew so far was not themselves at all. Her personality is magnetic and shifting, she is there but no really there. I love powerful women!
So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth, Miu, Nancy, Oliver, Piyali, Quentin, Rebecca, Scarlett, Tita, UrsulaIn Norse mythology, a valkyrie (from Old Norse valkyrja “chooser of the slain”) is one of a host of female figures who decide who will die in battle. Fascinating, yes?
Here, in Paulo Coelho's 'Valkyries', it is a group of women dressed in leather jackets and chunk, antique jewellery who ride on dirt motorbikes (I already have a very brazen image in my mind) and live a floating life, like a mirage. They meet and guide travelers, have cult rituals in abandoned caves, talk to the coyotes, and make love to strangers in the desert sands to satiate themselves. This book should have been as famous as the Alchemist, the imagery is beautiful…
Valhalla is one of these women, she is sort of like a leader. After she is done with the author an his wife, they feel like whatever they knew so far was not themselves at all. Her personality is magnetic and shifting, she is there but no really there. I love powerful women!
The battle, the final resting place...
I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...
4 comments:
Every time a helicopter flies over my house (and this held true for when I lived in Washington and the Chinooks used to rattle the windows going over), I start singing Ride of the Valkyries. I think there's a town in New York called Valhalla.
Thanks for the education! I'd heard of the Valkyries, of course, but didn't have a clear idea as to exactly what they were. Cool!
Nice....
You have done a great job on the A to Z Challenge...
Jeremy [Retro-Zombie]
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