Ragnarok

   The Doom of the Gods in Nordic myth. The story as told in the Völuspa and also in the Prose Edda is assumed to have been a prophecy, but it would rather appear to be a faint memory of some great natural catastrophe of the past in which the majority of the Aesir were destroyed. It began with seven Fimbul winters, i.e. with a severe frost, piercing winds, and no warmth from the sun; these were followed by a period when ‘Brethren were each other’s bane, an axe age, a sword age, a storm age, a wolf age, ere earth met its doom’, which reads like the onset of an ice age. The sun is obscured by the wolf Fenrir, the earth trembles, the sea rushes over the earth, and on it floats the ship Naglfar bearing the last of the frost giants with Hrimnir or possibly Bergelmir as their pilot.

   Surt leads the Host of Muspel against the Aesir, breaking down the Bifrost Bridge. Heimdall sounds Gjallar, Odin rides to the well of Mimir for advice, Yggdrasil shakes, and the Aesir arm for battle, led by Odin brandishing Gungnir, his magic sword. Odin is killed by Fenrir, Thor fights Jormungard, the Midgard serpent, Freyr stands against Surt and is killed for lack of his sword; Garm the moon hell-hound breaks loose and kills and is killed by Tyr, while Thor, although victorious over the serpent, dies from its venom. Vidar kills Fenrir, Loki and Heimdall kill each other. Then Surt darts flame over the world, most of which is consumed. The only survivors are Vidar and Vali and the two sons of Thor, Modi and Magni. A Balder and a Hoder are also mentioned as survivors but these are probably titles and not proper names.

   Men appear again on the earth, the sun has a daughter—which may possibly mean a new body in the solar system—a new golden age begins, and the dragon of darkness is banished.

   The story appears to be that of some great natural disaster as seen by early man in the northern latitudes. The battle may have been the last despairing struggles of tribes, or even races, fighting for safety and existence. It combines a planetary myth with both deluge and fire myths, and belongs to the great Creation myths of the world.