Kaelva, Astrid, and Freyna sparked from the idea of a short scene between three divided and conflicted warriors—and evolved into three Valkyries in a world steeped in Norse mythology.
But why Valkyries specifically?
Well, as I mentioned in my post From Superheroines to Shieldmaidens: The Evolution of The Valkyries, Kaelva, Astrid, and Freyna were meant to become superheroes—banished from Asgard, then finding their place as protectors in a modern-day Midgard.
My subconscious lean toward superheroes goes way back. Growing up, we watched popular superhero cartoons like Spider-Man, X-Men, and Batman. So when Marvel kicked off the MCU in 2008 with Iron Man, I was more than happy to follow along—where my path first crossed with Norse mythology: Marvel’s Thor (2011).
Sure, Marvel put their twist on the character along with those around him, but all the same, that’s where I got my first full dose of Norse mythology.
Granted, I could say the first exposure came from World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King in 2008, where Blizzard introduced their versions of key mythological figures like Thor, Loki, and Freyja. The inspiration was clear, but the Norse influence was far from the core focus.
In all honesty, without having much background on Norse mythology up to that point, it likely went right over my head.
Blizzard would go on to add to their slice of Norse mythology in 2016 with Legion, bringing their interpretations of Odin, Heimdall, and Hel to Azeroth.
Don’t worry, I didn’t miss the reference this time!
Between Marvel and Blizzard, I had a vague impression of Norse mythology—then it would become almost crystal clear.
In 2018, Santa Monica Studio released God of War, pulling Kratos from his home in Greek mythology, and planting him in the center of Midgard. Similar to Marvel and Blizzard, God of War presented a fresh story based on the Norse myths—but after my first playthrough, I craved even more.
And my book collection exploded!
Between Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and 2nd & Charles, any book even remotely related to Norse mythology was swiftly added to the list. I read the books purely for entertainment, never thinking they laid the foundation of a book I would write some day.
From books on Norse myths, I slowly drifted between different genres of books: some fantasy like The Witcher and A Song of Ice and Fire, a long run in both Marvel and DC comics mostly with Daredevil and Batman, and most recently an even longer stint in finance and investing.
My interest in Norse mythology never died, but it did lie dormant.
Then God of War Ragnarok was released in 2022—and just like in 2018, I was hooked immediately, following the continuation of Kratos’s story across the Nine Realms.
I finished the game, time passed, and I fell back into finance and investing books and podcasts.
An incredibly unlikely series of events that followed would eventually lead me to The Valkyries.
One podcast I listened to regularly—Rich Dad Poor Dad—had Matt Raad as a guest, where he plugged eBusiness Institute, a company he and his wife, Liz, founded, training students on leveraging websites to generate cash flow.
It seemed like an interesting concept, so I followed their training—and now I can build websites!
Like this one!
The first strategy I tried out revolves around building a site that provides information to visitors. Reviewing gym equipment, chronicling travels across the country, provides how-to guides—anything that answers a question or entertains to generate traffic.
Part of that strategy requires writing blog posts or articles.
I followed their lead, spending more time writing—more than I had written in over a decade! Whatever skills I had as a writer from before slowly resurfaced, much to my surprise.
Completely unrelated, but at the same time, World of Warcraft’s latest expansion The War Within was released, and I found myself playing as a dwarf paladin—the same thing I played back in 2004 when my brother first sucked me into the game. The nostalgia was running rampant.
While practicing to write articles for websites, a strange idea popped into my head:
Why not write a story about my character?
I never did—maybe he will find a home somewhere in the saga of The Valkyries.
But the idea did slowly morph into something else.
A story about three divided and conflicted warriors who must band together after years of separation when betrayal and heartbreak tore them apart.
I had my characters: three divided and conflicted warriors.
I had my conflict: overcoming the scars of the past.
I had my genre: warriors from an unspecified mythos protecting the modern world as superheroes (although I would drop the superhero angle between the first and second draft).
I couldn’t quite see Kaelva, Astrid, and Freyna yet—but I could see figures through the fog, and I sought to sharpen the image.
First, a simple question: male or female?
Even though I never thought anyone would read my writing, I still wanted to make my characters unique. So, if I’m following a superhero route, just look at the core members of either The Avengers or The Justice League—the vast majority are male. If my characters were male as well, I felt like they would inevitably be an imitation of another hero who already exists.
Right or wrong, that was my thought at the time, and that’s what I went with: the three warriors were female.
Next, if we think of a female superhero with a warrior theme, more likely than not the one you’d think of is Diana Prince, Wonder Woman.
Nothing wrong with her character either, but I wanted something different, so anything Amazon or Greek mythology-related was out.
But what other warrior women exist in other myths?
I thought it over for a few days, and oddly enough, I happened to come across the soundtrack of one of my favorite games—God of War Ragnarok.
I could’ve smacked myself for overlooking an answer so clear:
The Valkyries!
I died enough times in the 2018 God of War to Sigrun—how could I forget about them!?
With that last piece of the puzzle in place, the short scene between three divided and conflicted warriors was ready.
I didn’t conduct a full-blown market analysis to verify which genres and tropes held the highest sales in the last 12, 24, and 36 months.
I let years of casually enjoying movies, games, and books show me who Kaelva, Astrid, and Freyna were.
From growing up watching superhero cartoons and movies.
From playing video games referencing Norse mythology.
From writing random blog posts as I learned to build websites.
From all of that, seemingly completely unrelated ingredients mixing together—unknowingly carrying me to where I am now:
An engineer-turned-writer, forged by stories from every medium, bringing The Valkyries to life for the world to see.
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