In Nordic myth what was the Straw death?

Question

In nordic mythology if you did not die in battle what fate wated your soul if you died a straw death?

Answer 1

Ooohhh darn it! I know I've read this somewhere! Oh! It was in "Eaters of the Dead" by Micheal Chriton. He edited and filled in the blanks of an ancient text written by an Arabian ambassador who got drawn into a battle involving the Norsemen. It metioned the straw death and the consequence. I remeber "They always slept holding a sword so if they had a straw death they would at least have the honor of having been armed to fight."

Answer 2

It was more a product of Viking culture and it ran very counter to our ideas about death.  To a Viking, the worst death that could befall a man was to die in his sleep.  The straw death refers to the straw beds they slept in.  Vikings who died in this fashion were unable to enter Valhalla and were doomed to Hel.

Answer 3

Odin is the main Deity in Norse myth. A straw death is the burning of a body that didn't die in battle. Someone who was sick and died in bed. In Norse tradition it was a horrible thing to not die in battle. To live long enough to die or old age or worse to die in bed was a great dishonor.  It is said that their souls went to hel but those who died in battle went to Valhalla the Norse equivalent of heaven. If you are into star trek than think of the Klingon empire. " Die glorious in battle" They had the same feeling

Norse people didn't bury their dead like we do. They sent them up to the after life by burning them on a straw pyre. Only those who died an Honorable death ( died in battle) would go to Valhalla which is sort of a warrior heaven.

"where someone dies of old age or illness and not in battle"

" were someone dies of sickness, old age, anything outside of battle"

in Norse Mythology: Women, children, and men who died the 'Straw Death' (death from old age, illness, or pretty much anything that isn't honorable battle) were sent to Hel, a similar bleak and barren underworld where nothing much happened either. Only the best fallen warriors are hand-picked by Odin to join his court in Valhalla, where they eat all night and fight all day until Ragnarok (where they will die AGAIN, but that's different story)

Great question!