Theories have been proposed that these figures are connected to valkyries. Richard North says that "though it is not clear what the poet takes these women to be, their female sex, riding in flight and throwing spears suggest that they were imagined in England as a female being analogous to the later Norse ." Hilda Ellis Davidson theorizes that was originally a battle spell that had, over time, been reduced to evoke "a prosaic stitch in the side". Towards the end of "For a Swarm of Bees", the swarming bees are referred to as "victory-women" (Old English ):