The Heart of Hrungnir – Valknut

“Hrungnir had a famed heart — of hard stone and with three sharp points. After its likeness a runic sign is carved, called “the heart of Hrungnir””
(The Younger Edda, “The Language of Poetry”)

The sign representing the impossible interweaving of three triangles — the Valknut (also called “the Heart of Hrungnir” or the “Knot of the Slain” (Old Norse: valr, slain warriors + knut, knot)) appears, along with other non‑alphabetic runes, on runestones and objects.

The Valknut is said to have great power, though it is relatively rarely used in magic. Yet the same assertions are repeated from article to article, from book to book, and do not consider the Valknut’s real place in the ancient worldview. The graphic beauty and precision of this sign stand in for its mythological meaning, and it is cast more in Greco‑Egyptian rather than northern overtones.

The most widespread interpretation holds that it symbolizes the interweaving of the “three worlds” and is therefore associated with Odin. Yet it is known that, first, the Valknut appears on runestones less often than it would if it had that “cosmic” role; and second — nowhere on runestones is there a scene in which the Valknut is shown beside an unmistakable depiction of Odin riding the eight‑legged Sleipnir. Moreover, strictly speaking, even the eight‑legged Sleipnir is not a sure identifier of Odin. For example, it is known that Hermod, Odin’s son, rode that horse to Hel to retrieve his brother Baldr. This understanding of the Valknut leads to many attempts to find patterns, correspondences between worlds, and passages between them. And, it must be said, these attempts have had little success.

At the same time, the Valknut is associated with Odin only in his aspect as the Great Wanderer. If one speaks of a figure that unites the worlds, it is not so much Odin as Heimdall. So the link between the Valknut and Odin’s magic seems forced.

If we take the rune name literally (rune name), the Valknut is a symbol of the warrior’s afterlife paths — going to Valhalla, to Hel, or remaining in Midgard. In all depictions the Valknut appears alongside warriors, acting as a symbol associated with the Three Norns and, accordingly, the three powers they represent and that act on the warrior. Urd — fate — directs the warrior to Hel, Verdandi — becoming — holds him in Midgard, and Skuld — duty — bids him to go to Valhalla and join the einherjar.

Apparently, the ancient Scandinavians had a very clear understanding of this threefold afterlife paths. And it is not Odin who decides where the dead will go — even the Great Æsir are subject to the laws of the Norns. Odin is by no means a “judge of the dead”; he is a great warrior and magician, he is a man of action, not merely an abstract principle.

This narrowing of the Valknut’s meaning is also confirmed by its association with the Heart of Hrungnir — the giant who competed with Odin in horsemanship and was killed by Thor. In that combat Thor suffered a serious wound — a fragment of a grindstone, Hrungnir’s strange weapon, became lodged in Thor’s head. Moreover, Thor was almost buried beneath the giant’s body and was saved only by the strength of his son, Magni. This story reflects the threefold nature of Urd‑Verdandi‑Skuld: Hrungnir sought to outpace Odin and destroy Valhalla, but fled from Thor and was slain by him; Thor, in turn, sought to defeat the giant, but was wounded and nearly perished. As a result, Thor returned to Valhalla, and Hrungnir went to Hel.

Thus the threefold meaning symbolized by the Valknut pertains primarily to the afterlife, not merely to crossings and the unity of worlds; it reflects also the meaning of a unity in the circulation of souls, their circulation in the world’s wheel.