Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Exploring the Norse Mythology: Ragnorok;The End of All Things


The term Ragnarok in old Norse translates into "Fate of the Gods". Ragnarok is a series of future events, including the greatest of all battles, foretold. This great war will ultimately result in the deaths in a number of major figures in the Norse mythology, including Odin, Thor, Loki, Heimdallr, Tyr, and Freyr. It will be the occurrence of various natural disasters and the submersion of the world in water.

The first sign of the coming of Ragnarok will be Fimbulvetr, during which time there will be three winters without the reprieve of summer, and the sun's heat will be rendered useless. Three roosters will crow. A crimson rooster, named Fjalar will crow in the forest of Galgvidr. The golden rooster, Gullinkambi, will crow to the aesir in Valhalla, and finally an unnamed soot-red rooster will crow in the underworld location of Hel. The hound of Hel, Garmr, will growl deeply in the caves of Gnipahellir.

Heimdallr will raise the mighty Gjallahorn and blow deeply into it. The bindings on Garmr, described as the worst of all beasts, will break and he will run free and enter battle with the one-handed war god, Tyr, thus resulting in both of their deaths. The world tree, Yggdrasil will shudder and groan. The Midgard Serpent, Jormungandr, will writhe furiously thus causing waves to crash. These waves will free the ship of Death, Naglfar and it will set sail from the East. Surtr of the fire giants will advance from the South, with his sword blazing brighter than the sun. Loki, father of Jormungandr and Fenrir, will break free at the onset of Ragnarok.

Fenrir, the great wolf and spawn of Ragnarok, will swallow Odin. Immediately afterwards, Odin's son, Vidarr will put on the greatest boot, grip Fenrir's upper jaw and kick his foot into his lower jaw and rip his mouth apart, killing him. The serpent, Jormungandr will open it's gaping maw and yawn widely into the air. the serpent is met in combat by Thor. Thor, also a son of Odin and is described as the protector of Midgard, furiously fights Jormungandr, defeating it. However, Thor is only able to take nine steps before collapsing, succumbing to it's deadly venom. Freyr fiercely fights with Surtr but falls in battle because he lacks the sword he once gave to his messenger. Heimdallr and Loki fight each other with a berserker's ferocity, but die to one another.

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