Asgard by Rick Riordan, the comic series Valhalla (1978–2009) by Peter Madsen, and its subsequent animated film of the same name (1986). Valhalla also gives its name to a thrill ride at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, UK. Before Hunter S. Thompson became the counter-culture's Gonzo journalist, he lived in Big Sur, California, while writing his novel The Rum Diary. He wrote "Big Sur is very like Valhalla—a place that a lot of people have heard of, and that very few can tell you anything about" (Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, chapter 20). In the 2015 film Mad Max: Fury Road, the cult of the War Boys believe a heroic death in the service of dictator Immortan Joe will take them to Valhalla. A video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla was released in November 2020. The video game Apex Legends features a character named Bloodhound, who often references Valhalla and the Allfather, a commonly used kenning for the Norse god Odin. Elton John's first album, Empty Sky (1969), contains a song called "Valhalla". Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" from their third album, Led Zeppelin III (1970), contains the following Valhalla reference: "To fight the horde, sing and cry: Valhalla, I am coming." Australian band Skeggs's third album, Rehearsal (2021), contains a song called "Valhalla". Jethro Tull's album, Minstrel In The Gallery (1975), contains a song called "Cold Wind To Valhalla". In 2020's Red, White, and the Blues: A Long and Hard Ride over Treacherous Terrain, John R. Hall (author, blogger, magician) uses Valhalla as a literary vehicle numerous times within the book's text. His most notable usages occurs in the book's front matter and back matter. In "Sursum Corda" (the book's preface), Hall writes: "I tried my best to capture the nearly unexplainable, Zen-like state of being I experienced while on my motorcycle. All I can offer the reader is I glimpsed Valhalla, and Odin assured me I shall dine with him or Freyja after my internal combat ends and this soldier's body is put down." On the book's final text page (before the notes section), Hall states: "Valhalla! 'A man can die but once' (Henry IV, Part 2). I am ready ... now all family business is settled." See also Heorot, a celebrated hall central to the Old English poem Beowulf Notes References Byock, Jesse (Trans.) (2006). The Prose Edda. Penguin Classics. Faulkes, Anthony (Trans.) (1995). Edda. Everyman. Finlay, Alison