LAST EDITED ON Dec-17-06 AT 01:39 PM (EST)
 
>The original Valhalla was reserved strictly for warriors <snip>

Not quite. The lore states that Odhinn takes half of all those slain in battle (and this probably means people who are fighting, not innocent bystanders) to Valhalla, and that Freyja takes the other half to her hall Sussrumnir.

I once read that there was a tradition of pricking men who died in bed with a spear when they were close to death, so that they might be taken to one of those halls, but I don't know how true or common the practice was.

- Sean
"All tribal myths are true, for a given value of 'true.'"
-- Terry Pratchett, from _The Last Continent_