Road To Hel, ASATRU
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THE
ROAD TO HEL
A Study of the Conception of the Dead in
Old Norse Literature
BY
HILDA RODERICK ELLIS
M.A., Ph.D.
Sometime Marion Kennedy Research Student of Newnham College
Assistant Lecturer in English, Royal Holloway College
NEW YORK 1968
GREENWOOD PRESS, PUBLISHERS
To
NORA CHADWICK
who has given me so much
First Greenwood reprinting, 1968
Library of Congress catalogue card number: 88-23286
Reprinted with the permission of
Cambridge University Press
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Contents
Preface
page
vii
INTRODUCTION
viii
CHAPTERS
I. FUNERAL CUSTOMS: THE EVIDENCE OF ARCHAEOLOGY
7
The disposal of the dead in heathen times, p. 7; The funeral ship, p. 16
II. FUNERAL CUSTOMS: THE EVIDENCE OF LITERATURE
30
Cremation and inhumation, p. 30; Ship—funeral, p. 39;
Human sacrifice, p. 50; The funeral feast, p. 59; Conclusion, p. 61
III. THE CONCEPTION OF THE FUTURE LIFE
65
The conception of Valhöll in the poems, p. 66; The Valkyries, p. 69;
The realm of the gods, p. 73; The everlasting battle, p. 78;
The underworld realm of the dead, p. 83; The dead in the
mountains, p. 87; The grave-mound, p. 9o; Conclusion, p. 96
Worship of the dead and of the grave-mound, p. 100; The custom
of sitting on a howe, p. 105; Elves and land—spirits, p. 111;
Conclusion, p. 119
99
Shape-changing, p. 122; The animal
fylgja,
p. 127; The guardian
hamingja
and
dis,
p. 130; The idea of rebirth, p. 138;
Conclusion: the idea of survival, p. 147
121
VI. NECROMANCY
151
The waking of the sleeper, p. 152; The animation of the dead, p.
156;
The restless
corpse, p. I62; Conclusion, p. 165
Abbreviations
I
IV. THE CULT OF THE DEAD
V. THE CONCEPTION OF THE SOUL
vi
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
VII. THE JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF THE DEAD
page 170
The journey acknowledged as such, p. 171; The journey through
the wall of fire, p. 174; The realms of Guðmundr and
Geirröðr, p. 185; The entrance into the burial mound, p. 191;
Conclusion, p. 194
CONCLUSION
198
Index
203
PREFACE
In the literature of Old Scandinavia we meet with something unique
in mediaeval
Europe: a great and rich literature composed before the thirteenth century; clear incisive
prose, and poetry whose stormy music can deal fittingly with the tales of gods and
heroes; and a remarkable clarity of vision, showing itself in understanding of human
strength and weakness and full awareness of the greatness of the issues involved.
Comparison with the literature of Ancient Greece is not unfitting; the mingling of
humour and tragedy in the Icelandic Sagas recalls the world of Homer while it
foreshadows Shakesperian drama. But the appreciation of mighty issues in the lives of
simple folk which we find in them is something as new as the perfect mastery of a
narrative prose style; neither was to appear again in Europe for centuries.
The religion of a people who could produce such a literature as this must be worthy of
study, especially as we can see the results of northern heathenism developing until the
end of the tenth century without interference either from Christian thought or from the
Latin culture so closely bound up with it. The doors between Scandinavia and the East
were still open when this literature came into being, and memories of a pre-Christian
Celtic culture yet remained alive. It is a setting of another kind from that to which we
have grown accustomed, that of Mediterranean influences impinging early on the
Germanic world; and there are great riches awaiting the explorers of the realm of thought
in that complex and vigorous age about which all too little is known. Of men’s attitude to
life the literature tells us much, and we must recognise the strength amid sanity of it; how
much can it tell us of their thoughts concerning death and the soul? This work is an
attempt to begin the answer to this question, and if it can reveal something of the variety
and richness of the lost religion of the North it will have served its purpose. Originally
this book formed Part of a thesis accepted in 1940 for the degree of Ph.D. in the
University of Cambridge. It was while holding a research studentship from Newnham
College that I completed the greater part of the work, and my first acknowledgment must
be to the College for the generous help it has provided. To
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