In a press conference on Sept. 12, 2025, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the capture and arrest of Tyler Robinson, the alleged gunman behind the shooting death of right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk. After some backslapping and grandstanding with Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Patel ended his part of the announcement with a tribute to Kirk, one that left many viewers perplexed.
“Lastly, to my friend Charlie Kirk, rest now, brother,” Patel said. “We have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.”
The reference to Valhalla, a kind of Viking heaven where warriors who are slain in battle feast with Odin and prepare for Ragnarok (the final battle for Earth), caused considerable confusion among those following the investigation.
“The Hindu FBI Director tells a conservative Christian that he will see him in Valhalla. Yeah.” one Redditor posted.
That Redditor wasn’t alone. Across social media, from Telegram to Instagram, confused users questioned why Patel would invoke a Viking afterlife for his famously evangelical Christian friend.
Patel wasn’t insinuating that he or his slain podcaster pal are actually worshipping a Norse pagan pantheon, or that it’s part of some ultra-right-wing culture we all don’t know yet. It’s actually a fairly common saying among many U.S. military members, usually when eulogizing or remembering their fallen comrades, especially those victims of veteran suicide.
Paying tributes to fallen veterans this way goes back to the Global War on Terror, particularly for those who served in Afghanistan. Like many phrases that enter common parlance, “‘Til Valhalla” eventually found its way into official publications from the U.S. military. Here’s how the saying made its way from the battlefield to an official press briefing.
“To Valhalla”
In May 2008, Norwegian troops from the Telemark Battalion, an elite mechanized infantry unit, entered Afghanistan’s Ghormach Province. They were to be part of the International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) quick-reaction force in Northern Afghanistan. In a video taken by one of the Norwegians, company commander Rune Wenneberg can be heard shouting, “You are the predator, the Taliban are the prey. To Valhalla!”
Which was then repeated by the entire unit.
“Til Valhalla“
Listening to a bunch of heavily-armed Norwegian soldiers shouting “To Valhalla” before they go into a war zone is objectively awesome. So when the Telemark Battalion began using it as a battle cry, it’s no wonder that it spread to the rest of the NATO force and, eventually, to the Americans.
But by the time it came home to the rest of veteran culture, it had become “‘Til Valhalla.” It’s an expression of respect in the U.S. military’s warrior ethos for fellow warriors who have died, either at the enemy’s hand or by their own.
In 2017, the phrase came to public prominence when Marine Corps veteran Korey Shaffer founded the Til Valhalla Project, creating memorial plaques for fallen service members and delivering them to their surviving families. TVP is now a military-oriented online retailer, but uses its profits to continue providing free memorial plaques. It also donates money to organizations working to prevent veteran suicide and provide therapy to vets.
In the years that followed, its use in military public affairs (including releases from the Air Force and Marine Corps) demonstrated just how ubiquitous the phrase had become.
Now that Kash Patel, a trained lawyer who has never served in the military, is using it in press briefings to the mainstream media, it’s safe to say that it’s entered the civilian dictionary–and that Valhalla will one day be a very crowded mead hall.
