Thoughts From The Editors - Sarah Little

​The Valkyrie’s Decision

In mythology, the Valkyrie is being portrayed as someone with the ability to move among a battlefield, and choose who lives, who dies. She’s not just choosing who gets to continue living though – she’s choosing the path of their afterlife. It strikes me as quite the responsibility. What happens if she chooses “wrong”?” and is there even such a thing? Does she ever regret whom she chooses? When I first learned about the Valkyrie in more depth, and what she does, the phrase that crossed my mind was judge, jury and executioner – not so much for the execution, but for the way that she has to carry out unpleasant actions of walking a battlefield.
Now, when I’m thinking about the Valkyrie, the thing that gets me is the decision making: she’s always deciding. Always weighing up one or another. This isn’t to say that I want to read exclusively battlefield epics wherein our heroine decides between A and B. Why not expand the scope? Put her in a range of other scenarios where she has to judge and decide – or, flip the coin. Take away decisions. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

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