SPEAKING IN CODE“See You in Valhalla”: How the FBI Director Waded into the Far-Right’s Obsession with the Vikings
At a press conference after Charlie Kirk had been detained, FBI director Kash Patel ended his speech, saying: “We have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.” References to Valhalla were an integral part of the Norse people’s mythology of Viking heroism and sacrifice — and were adopted by the Nazis, especially by Himmler’s SS, as an example of the white race –Aryan — supremacy. It is used today by the white supremacist elements of the far right. The majority of far-right memes on social media highlighted the apparent absurdity of someone of Patel’s ethnicity cosplaying as a Viking, but there were those who reveled in the fact that a stock phrase of violent white supremacy had found its way into the mouth of the director of the FBI.
At a press conference announcing that the suspect in the shooting of Charlie Kirk had been detained, FBI director Kash Patel ended his speech with a personal message to his “brother”, saying: “We have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.”
Many people commenting on the press conference reacted to this confusing reference to Valhalla with a mixture of amusement and disdain, with some pointing out the contradiction of eulogizing a Christian nationalist with reference to the pagan afterlife.
For scholars of the Vikings, Patel’s reference to Valhalla looked like something far more sinister. To understand why, we need to know both what Valhalla meant to the Vikings, and what it means in political discourse today.
The Norse peoples had a developed concept of the afterlife. The desirable destination for Norse warriors was Valhalla, the hall of the slain, where Odin watched over his band of chosen warriors as they prepared for Ragnarök, the world-destroying battle against the giants. Only those who died a heroic death in combat were brought to Valhalla by the Valkyries.
Those who died by sickness, old age or accident – or who had committed murder and other dishonorable crimes – seem to have been excluded from this martial afterlife. Some believed that you could cheat the Norse gods by arranging to be buried with deliberately worn and damaged weapons as if you had seen heavy combat. There’s a lot we don’t know.
What we do know is that in the 1930s the concept of Valhalla, along with the image of the heroic Viking and many of the symbols of Norse mythology, had a profound appeal to Nazi thought leaders. They looked to Norse mythology as a survival of a wider “Germanic” culture that had been erased by Judeo-Christian dominance.
The Nordic “race” was held up as the Aryan ideal. Norse cultural remnants were used to add legitimacy to the idea of a glorious German past. Heinrich Himmler in particular repurposed Norse symbols for use by the SS.
Today, many white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups continue to brand themselves using a widening range of symbols taken from Norse mythology. One aspect of Norse culture that has gained increasing prominence in the past few decades is the specific co-opting of Valhalla by those who are prepared to kill, and die, in the cause of “protecting” an endangered white supremacy.
