Share Spotlight: Viking women, warriors, and valkyries

This week's Share Spotlight comes from the British Museum's blog.
Viking women, warriors, and valkyries

The British Museum opened an exhibition on Vikings last month, called Vikings: life and legend. Their blog post this weeks covers a little discusses aspect of the Vikings: their women. Viking women certainly were a more diverse group than most of their continental counterparts. However, the idea of warrior women among the Vikings is something Jesch, the author of this post flatly denies.

So, how to explain the Valkyries? Jesch contends that they are simply "creatures of fantasy rooted in the experience of male warriors." The Valkyries certainly wouldn't be the first. Athena in Greek mythology would be a similar figure.

What do think? Can such a pervasive mythological figure exist without a real life model? How do you think that such figures are created?