It consists of 11 stanzas recounting the vision of a man named Dörruð, in which twelve valkyries weave and choose who is to be slain at the Battle of Clontarf (fought outside Dublin in 1014).
Their loom uses human entrails as warp and woof, swords as treadles, an arrow as the batten and men's heads as weights.
[3] Dörruð's vision is located in Caithness and the story is a "powerful mixture of Celtic and Old Norse imagery".
Einar Selvik and Trevor Morris used stanzas from Darraðarljóð in the opening battle in season 2 of Vikings.
Darraðarljóð was set to music in a 1964 composition for mixed chorus and orchestra by the Icelandic composer Jón Leifs (Op.60).