Norse Mythology – end of the cycle – Ragnarok “Doom of the Gods”

Ragnarok

An Axe-age, a Sword-age — shields are riven

a Wind-age and a Wolf-age — before the world is wrecked.

No man will have — mercy on another.

Thus begins the epic battle of Ragnarok where all Gods are destroyed

the cycle is renewed. The entire structure of the nine worlds is destroyed and only two survive deep within Yggdrasil the Tree of Life.

The weave of Fate is almost finished. The Norns almost done with their work

It will begin on Midgard with three winters of war. Society will crumble and all decency will be lost. Then Fimbulvetr, the ultimate winter shall begin three winters; each will follow the other with bitter frost and cloud laden skies.

The wolf Skoll shall seize the sun in his maw and swallow her, splattering Asgard with her gore. Hati shall do the same to the Moon. The stars shall disappear.

The earth will quiver and quake, trees will topple and rocky spaces shall unsettle

The wolf Fenrir bursts his bonds and runs unfettered.

The Harp shall call the Giants to battle, a red cock alerts the Asgardians, while another will raise the dead in Hel.

Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, shall writhe onto land, roiling the waves and wreaking havoc on the shore. Naglfar shall bring the Giants to battle over the seas of Midgard. Loki, now free, will bring the hordes of Hel and set sail towards the plain of Vigrid.

Fenrir advances, flames in his eyes and nostrils, his maw scraping sky and earth. By his side, Jormungand, his brother shall slither and slink, spewing poison to cover the land.

The horns of war will blare as the Fire Giants of Muspell advance from the south. Surt leads them as they cross the Bifrost Bridge. All will gather and fill the Plain of Vigrid.

Meanwhile, the gods will not be idle. Heimdall will Raise his great horn Gjall to his moth and sound a blast heard throughout the nine worlds. The gods will wake and take counsel. Odin will mount his eight-legged steed Sleipnir and ride to Mimirs seeking counsel.

Yggdrasil itself will moan. Its leaves will tremble. It will shiver and shake, and two humans will take refuge deep within it. The nine worlds quiver in anticipation.

The Aesir and Einherjar in Valhalla will don their mail coats and helms, and grasp their swords, shields and spears.

Eight hundred fighters will pour forth from the hall’s five hundred and forty doors and ride for Vigrid, with Odin at their head, wearing his golden helm and corslet, carrying Gungnir. Thor, by his side, carries his famous hammer Mjollnir.

Odin will ride straight at Fenrir, Thor, beside him, will meet Jormungand in fierce battle.

Freyr shall fight against the fire giant Surt, who wields his flaming blade.

Their struggle is long indeed.

The age-old enemies Loki and Heimdall will meet and be the end of each other.

Thor and Jormungand have met before as well. They are well-matched indeed!

Thor vanquishes Jormungand but soon falls from the serpent’s poison.

Odin and Fenrir fight long and hard. Fenrir crushes Odin in his maw and swallows the All-Father.

That is how the Odin All-Father dies.

Odin’s Son Vidar steps on the wolf’s lower jaw and tears the beast apart, destroying him.

Surt flings fire in every direction, setting everything ablaze.

The nine worlds become furnaces: raging flames, smoke ashes and death everywhere. The gods will die, the elves, dwarves, giants will die, birds and animals will die.

Huginn and Muninn will fall from the sky.

The sun will be dark and there will be no stars in the sky.

The earth will sink into the sea.

So ends this cycle of the world.

But there is hope as the two who hid in the tree of life emerge and with the remnants rebuild the worlds anew.