The Mythology Book

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The seeress saw an eagle fishing

near a waterfall, and other bucolic

images. Some of the Aesir gods (the

poem didn’t say how many) would

meet again on the plain of Idavoll,

where Asgard had once stood. They

would talk about Ragnarök and

remember their past. Baldur and his

killer Hod would return from the

dead, reconciled, and live in peace.

Omens and allusions

Some humans, the sons of two

unnamed brothers, would also

survive, and their kin would spread

over the world. “Völuspá” went on

to say that virtuous folk of the land

would then live their days happily

at a new, beautiful, gold-roofed

hall called Gimlé. At this point, a

“powerful mighty one, who rules

over everything,” would come from

the heavens. “Völuspá” did not

identify this mysterious figure, but

many commentators have claimed

that this was an allusion to the

Christian Last Judgment.

“Völuspá” then ended with

the reappearance of the serpent

Nidhogg—before Ragnarök, this

creature had gnawed endlessly at

the roots of the eternal world tree

Yggdrasil. Nidhogg would now

fly over the new world carrying a

cargo of corpses in its wings.

“Völuspá” did not elaborate, but

THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

A new world rises from the sea.

The Poetic Edda

One summer, the sun

turns black.

Three birds announce

the start of Ragnarök.

Human society

breaks down.

Heimdall sounds

the alarm.

Loki and the giants

advance on Asgard.

The gods and giants

annihilate each other

in battle.

The ravaged earth

sinks below the sea.

The Prose Edda

Three hard winters

lead human society to fall.

The Great Winter heralds

the start of Ragnarök.

Wolves swallow the

sun, moon, and stars.

Loki and the giants

advance on Asgard.

The gods and giants

annihilate each other

in battle.

Surt spreads fire over the

ravaged earth.

The earth sinks

below the waves.

There shall come that

winter which is called

The Great Winter.

The Prose Edda

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Odin visited the head of Mímir

for advice and guidance during the

gods’ final battle with the giants

during Ragnarök. Drinking from

Mímir’s Well bestowed knowledge.

NORTHERN EUROPE

Nidhogg’s survival was clearly

a bad omen for the future. It may

have implied that the new world,

like the old, was also ultimately

doomed to destruction.

Snorri’s Ragnarök

The account of Ragnarök in Snorri

Sturluson’s “Gylfaginning” clearly

displayed a debt to “Völuspá,”

and even quoted from it in places,

but his work also differed from the

earlier poem in a number of ways.

The first sign of Ragnarök’s

approach would be three hard

winters followed by a complete

breakdown of human society. As in

“Völuspá,” wars would break out

everywhere and ties of kinship

would count for nothing: adultery,

incest, and fratricide would flourish

during this time. Hard on the heels

of this period would come

Fimbulwinter (“The Great Winter”),

during which the sun would dim

and ice and snow would grip the

world for three solid years with no

summers. Then Sköll, the wolf who

used to chase the sun, would finally

catch his quarry and swallow it.

Meanwhile, his brother Hati

Hródvitnisson would catch and

swallow the moon. The stars

would disappear from the sky,

swallowed by another monstrous

wolf, Mánagarm.

As darkness engulfed the world,

the earth would begin to shake,

uprooting trees and toppling

mountains. The bonds and fetters

of both Loki and his son, the wolf

Fenrir—who until now had been

chained up by the gods—would

shatter, setting them free to do

their worst. As in “Völuspá,” the

Cyclical time

In Christian cosmology, time is

seen as a linear process that

begins with creation and ends

on the Day of Judgment. Other

religious traditions, including

thatof the Norsemen, see time

as a cycle of repeated creation

and destruction. However, the

Norse did not have advanced

calendrical knowledge, so

descriptions of the timescale

of this cycle were vague.

In Hindu cosmology, by

contrast, time is precisely

calibrated in cycles lasting

from a few milliseconds to

trillions of years. They believe

that a complete cycle from

creation to destruction lasts

exactly 311.04 trillion years.

Since Hindu cosmology also

embraces the concept of

multiverses, there are an

infinite number of time

cycles and an infinite number

of universes being created

and destroyed at any

one time.

Modern physicists continue

to ask whether time is indeed

linear, cyclical, or simply illusory.

The answer remains unresolved.

rope that tethered the Hel hound

Garm to his cave would snap,

unleashing the animal.

Asgard under threat

The giants and their allies would

now advance on Asgard. Huge

ocean waves would surge over the

land as raging Jörmungand, the

Midgard serpent, twisted and

thrashed his way ashore. The rising

sea would loose the dreadful

Naglfar (Nail Ship) from its

moorings. The largest of all ships,

Naglfar was made from the

fingernails and toenails of dead

people. It had been prophesied that

Ragnarök could not happen until

the ship was completed. Since both

gods and humans would like to

have seen Ragnarök delayed as

long as possible, Snorri advised

that no one should be allowed to

die with untrimmed nails, as

these would provide materials

for the ship. Naglfar would be

steered by Hrym, leader of the

army of the frost giants.

The wolf Fenrir, Loki’s son,

would now advance, his mouth

gaping so wide that his lower jaw

touched the earth and his upper

jaw was against the sky. Flames

would burn from his eyes and

nostrils. Alongside him, his brother

Jörmungand would spew venom ❯❯

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