earning the medal of Brunhilde. 🏅
This bronze Valkyrie-laden medal was a random eBay find. Aside from a similar Etsy listing saying it's from the 1920s CE, and the eBay one stating it's 1.5"D and 23g, there's nothing else about it. It makes me wonder if this was a souvenir from a Bayreuth performance of Wagner's Ring , otherwise I might hope there'd be medals for all the Valkyrjur . And if so, does Brunhilde only merit a bronze since she was demoted for her compliant defiance? Are the other usual 12 choosers of the slain (but this number goes up to 39 if more unusual citations are included [and honestly, if that's it, then those 39 have to be working nigh-eternal overtime to pick out ~16K battle dead each to assemble Valhalla's total of 614,400 Einherjar, so there has to logistically be over 39 to delegate that]) cast in more precious/meritorious/other base metals? For a possible other context, in The Nibelungenlied , Brunhild is the Queen of Iceland, and it is the hidden gamesmanship ...