Valhalla is the Norse afterlife hall for warriors slain in battle.
The hall is located in Asgard and is ruled by Odin. Valkyries choose many of the fallen on battlefields and carry them to Valhalla, where the dead warriors become the einherjar. They spend their afterlife feasting, drinking mead, and fighting in preparation for Ragnarök, the catastrophic final conflict of Norse mythology.
Valhalla is not the only destination for those who die in battle. In Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, Freyja receives half of the slain in her field Fólkvangr, while Odin receives the other half. That detail makes Fólkvangr a common mix-up, but it is Freyja’s realm rather than Odin’s hall.
The name comes from Old Norse Valhöll, commonly translated as “hall of the slain.” Niflheim is a cold underworld region, and Hel is the realm associated with the goddess Hel and many people who die from illness or old age. These destinations should not be treated as synonyms for Valhalla.