Norway’s Vikings Are Reclaiming Valhalla at the World Cup
The far right spent a century claiming the Vikings. Norway’s World Cup team — horned helmets, runes, a viral row-chant and all — just took them back.
The goals of Erling Haaland and the victories of the national team in the United States have become a symbol of what the striker himself called “togetherness,” binding people of all backgrounds together in pure footballing euphoria. (Julian Finney / FIFA via Getty Images)
“Lastly, to my brother Charlie Kirk. Rest now, brother. We have the watch. See you in Valhalla.”
These were the words used by FBI Director Kash Patel during a press conference following the assassination of MAGA activist Charlie Kirk. The choice of words was curious: Patel is a Hindu, and Kirk was a devout Christian. There are neither ethnic nor religious reasons to believe that either of the two would adhere to the ancient Norse gods, nor that either of them would be welcomed by the All-father Odin in the halls of the Viking dead in Valhalla.
However, Norse mythology and Viking heritage have been something of a cultural obsession for the far right for more than a century. The myth that the Vikings wore horned helmets can be traced back to the Norse operas of German composer Richard Wagner, later a favorite of Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s dreaded Schutzstaffel units organized the Holocaust wearing stylized Norse runes in the form of two lightning bolts — SS.
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