The female war choosers who bring slain warriors to Valhalla are called Valkyries.
The name comes from Old Norse valkyrja, commonly interpreted as “chooser of the slain.” In the mythic tradition, Odin sends the valkyries to battlefields, where they select some of the dead and determine who will receive an honored afterlife. Those chosen may be taken to Valhalla, Odin’s hall, where they become einherjar—warriors who prepare to fight at Ragnarök.
Valkyries are not simply messengers or attendants. In accounts preserved in the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, they can influence the outcome of battles and choose which combatants die. Later descriptions also portray them serving mead in Valhalla, while heroic poems sometimes present them as supernatural lovers, royal daughters or swan-maidens.
The alternatives are related but different. Einherjar are the chosen dead warriors themselves; Norns are fate-associated figures; and dísir is a broader, less specific category of female supernatural beings. Modern depictions often give every valkyrie wings, but traditional sources do not require that uniform image.