Ragnarok

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Ragnarok is the Norse ending of the world. Ragnarok means ‘fate of the gods’ and is a series of cataclysmic events leading to the destruction of the gods and mankind. The first sign of this happening is the death of Baldr, son of Odin and Frigg at the hands of Hodr and Loki.

 

The start of Ragnarok comes with the Fimbulvetr or ‘chief of winters’. This is three winters back to back with no spring or summer. It will be a time of senseless bloodshed and lawlessness where brother will kill brother and rivers will overflow. Disease and famine will spread. The sun will rarely shine and when it does will produce blood red sunsets.

 

The other worlds will see the signs and begin to prepare for the end. The dwarves of Svartalfheimr will secure themselves behind stone doors in their grottos. Horror will spread throughout Helheimr as souls of the dead, heading to battle with the gods are packed onto Naglfari, the ship of the dead, made from the finger and toenails of the dead. Fenris’s sons Skoll and Hati (Fenris is Loki’s Child)will swallow the sun (Sol) and moon(Mani), plunging the worlds into darkness and chaos.

 

Yggdrasil will shake , causing immense earthquakes, which decimate mountains and break all restraints, thus releasing Fenris and Loki from imprisonment. Garmr the wolf dog and the bloodied watch guard of Helheimr, will howl from his cave Gnipahellir and run free. The men and women who know the secrets of the runes will escape down the Bilrost bridge.

 

In Jotunheimr, Eggther the sword bearer a giant and herdsmen will play his harp while the red rooster Fjalar crows from the forest Galgvidr signalling the call to the final battle. In Asgardr the Golden rooster, Gullinkambi crows to the Aesir from the top of Valhalla and an unnamed soot red rooster crows in Helheimr. Heimdallr blows the Gjallarhorn (the horn which once belonged to the giant Mimir and that he uses to drink from Mimisbrunnr giving him wisdom) just once signalling to the Aesir ragnarok has come.

 

Jormungandr will thrash the oceans and cause great tidal waves throughout Midgardr, and he will spray his venom into the air further decimating the population. The thrashing causes Naglfari to launch from Helheimr with Loki at its wheel and being captained by the giant Hyrm who came from the east with his shield before him and a legion of giants behind him. Sutyr will march from the south from Muspelheimr, carrying his flaming sword and bringing another army of giants. The army is so vast that the weight will collapse the Bilrost bridge from Muspelheimr to the other worlds.

 

Odin will go to consult Mimir’s head one last time and the gods and the Einherjar from Valhalla will prepare for the final battle. Odin will then take up his spear Gungnir and lead them to the field in Asgardr known as Vigridr which is a hundred leagues long. There they will meet with the armies of Sutyr and Hyrm along with Loki , Fenris and Jormungandr. The Final Battle begins and Odin marches directly for Fenris but is swallowed, Thor faces Jormungandr and slays him, but succumbs to his venom in nine steps and dies. Freyr will fight Sutyr, but since he gave his sword to his servant, Skirnir he will fall. Tyr will face Garmr and the two will kill one another. Odin’s son Vidarr will come forward and avenge Odin by ripping open Fenris’s jaws and stabbing his heart. Heimdallr and Loki will kill each other and after they have died Sutyr will use his sword to burn everything with a consuming fire that turns the cosmos into an inferno.

 

Once the fires have subsided and mankind is snuffed out, Midgardr will fall into the sea. Only to one day rise again and be fertile. In the aftermath, the remaining gods and goddesses meet on a field in Asgardr known as Idavollr,where the city of Asgardr had once stood, where they first talk about what has happened then of the runes. Baldr and Hodr will return from Helheimr to join them along with Vidar and Vali (Odin’s Sons) and Modi and Magni (Thor,s sons). They create a new Asgardr known as Gimle. Sol’s daughter returns to her place above Yggdrasil and takes her mothers place providing light for all.

 

Two humans Lifthrasir and Lif who hid in the leaves of Yggdrasil in a forest called Hodmimis Holt come out of hiding and repopulate the new Midgardr. Nothing is known of the fate of the other worlds so we can only speculate what happened to them.