Off to the rave

Ah, I knew the Internet wouldn't let me down.
https://i.imgur.com/SJMF6o2.jpg

(Local copy. It's a wallpaper, someplace, but I don't like to link those sites since someone got a virus..)

Gives combat nurses a whole new meaning.

I found a funny video with a sweedish navyship greeting a norwegian navyship with a waterhose https://youtu.be/Fyp53qb3E4A

Intrestingly, Helsinki airports abbreviation is "HEL".

@stabcutdrink it gets better, there was a Finnair flight 666 from CPH to HEL.

There was another way to get into Valhalla. If you were a good enough warrior, you'd probably end up dying in your bed simply because you were too good in battle. For those warriors, they could get into Valhalla by carving Tyr's rune into their flesh on their death bed, and die with that open wound.
It's also hard to say how much people liked the thought of Valhalla. There were probably times when it seemed like a good deal and other times when it didn't.

Folkvanger was another option, although you had little say in whether you went there. You had to be picked by Freya, so perhaps it was a good idea to groom yourself before battle.

Ultimately we know very little, mainly because Horatio Nelson destroyed like 90% of all relics of that period before anyone had figured out how to translate them.

@ICBM Good enough warrior, haha. A good enough warrior would be one that achieved enough and quit while he was ahead. But then there would be no dying in battle anyway. Otherwise a younger and stronger guy would eventually slay one past his prime. Not to mention a stray arrow or a couple of enemies attacking at the same time could slay the mightiest of men randomly. It's no video game.

@Louhikaarme That's a smart warrior, haha.
A few people display remarkably vitality far into old age, and even today we see a few soldiers succeeding against odds that would have made you call BS if you saw it in a movie.

@ICBM From what I heard, if the valkyrie thought you were THAT good a warrior, they weren't above fixing the battle so you'd die anyway. Up to and including tying your bootlaces together before the battle.

I've read that there was a distinction between Helheim, which was dull and not nearly as good as Valhalla but open to all those who died unremarkable deaths, and Nastrond, which was where the Wyrm Nidhogg chewed on Murderers, Adulterers and Oathbreakers.

@Ravian First of all, Freya had first pick of those fallen in battle. So those she liked went to Folkwang, her place. Odin merely got the rest of them. Then, there may have been other places imagined besides Folkwang, Valhalla and Helheim. I believe I read somewhere sailors drowned at sea would go to the place of a sea nymph or goddess Ran, or Rann. There may be some hint somewhere that Thor housed some dead people too. Then again, there was the idea that sould remained connected to the graves, and family would try to contact them there. My best guess is there was an assumption that people would go to some place in the afterlife that suited them. Warriors to some warrior place, other people to appropriate other places.

That being said, the Sage of Biorn is cool and funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV5w262XvCU

Yeah even I would rather die at home than dying outside.

Me: It would be one HEL of a hospital!

Also me, about 5 minutes later: But they're going to Valhalla, not Helheim

Me: Shut the HEL up!

Your picture of Hel is probably accurate. Most likely ALL of the gods had a place for the dead in their halls, so your afterlife was a matter of choice- you could go to your favorite god or go to hel, as a kind of "default" afterlife.
And I would love to see a drawing of this "battle nurse" she would have to be badass!

@Andse According to Wikipedia (not the best source but eh) Freja has her own hall called Sessrúmnir. On every battlefield Freja chooses half of the slain for her hall, the rest going to Valhalla, so your thought has merit.

@Andse nurse can be a male. In fact, I've known a guy who was a nurse in psychiatric ward, that guy was 1.9m tall and part of his job was to restrain agitated patients.

@Andse Last time I checked, when Baldr became Hel's consort and divorced his original wife by, well, dying, it's said that he became apathetic and, in a word, "zombielike". As someone has stated in another comment, Hel was reserved to those that didn't fit in any other categories (they said "oathbreakers" and "cowards", but the definition of "coward" includes anyone dedicated to battle that didn't die as a result of battle, as well as anyone not aligned with other gods with afterlifes).

Taking Greek mythology as a fellow Indoeuropean mythology, most likely any deity important enough had a place to keep souls (in Greek mythology there is the Hades for regular people, Poseidon's palace for those that drown or receive, intentionally or not, a sea burial, the Olympus for those that catch Zeus' eye [*wink**wink*] and the Elyseum for heroes = people who are in favor of other deities and not in disfavor of more important ones).

The point with Valhalla is not that it is a happy place but that Odin can collect all the best fighters and continuously train them so when the Ragnarok comes the best fighters will fight on his side. And that if the best fighters are too good to die than Odin arranges that accidents happen.

@Lyesmith It doesn't have to be fair as long as it's fun.