Seiðr Loom

Norn

Skuld

The third and youngest Norn at Urðr's well, and also a valkyrie: the only figure the Eddas place in both groups.

Skuld is the third of the three Norns named in Völuspá, with Urðr and Verðandi Völuspá 20. Snorri repeats the three names Gylfaginning 15.

She is the only figure the sources place both among the Norns and among the Valkyries. When the seeress of Völuspá sees the valkyries gather, "Skuld bore the shield", first in the list Völuspá 31. Snorri, listing the valkyries, says that "the youngest Norn, she who is called Skuld", rides with Gudr and Róta "to take the slain and decide fights" Gylfaginning 36. Snorri is probably following Völuspá here, so this may be one tradition rather than two independent witnesses. It still shows that the people who kept these poems did not keep the women who decide fate and the women who choose the slain strictly apart.

Her name is the ordinary word for a debt or obligation, from the verb "shall". Modern accounts often call her the Norn of the Future. The name suggests it, but no source says so. Nothing else is told of her.

In the sources

Quoted from the hosted translations; each line is checked against the text when the site is built. Select a reference to read it in context.

Urth is one named, Verthandi the next,— On the wood they scored,— and Skuld the third.
Völuspá 20 Skuld as the third of the Norns who allot men's lives.
Skuld bore the shield, and Skogul rode next,
Völuspá 31 Eleven stanzas later the same poem lists Skuld first among the riding valkyries.
Gudr and Róta and the youngest Norn, she who is called Skuld, ride ever to take the slain and decide fights.
Gylfaginning 36 Snorri makes the double role explicit: the youngest Norn is also a valkyrie.

Related

The Norns nornir The female powers who fix the lives and deaths of gods and men: three named Norns by the well under Yggdrasil, and many lesser norns who come to every birth. Urðr The first-named of the three Norns, who gives her name to the well beneath Yggdrasil where the gods hold court; her name means 'fate' or 'what has happened'. Verðandi The second of the three Norns at Urðr's well; she is named in only two passages, and her name means 'becoming' or 'what is happening'. Valkyries valkyrjur Odin's battle-maidens, who ride to war to decide who falls and bring chosen warriors to Valhalla; in the heroic poems some are also mortal princesses who love and protect a hero. Urðarbrunnr The holy well beneath Yggdrasil where the Norns live and the gods hold their daily court; its white water keeps the world-tree green.