Víðarr stabbing Fenrir while holding his jaws apart (by W. G. Collingwood, inspired by the Gosforth Cross,
This blog is turning out to be much larger than I anticipated so I will have to break it up into two or maybe three separate blogs. In this first one I will write down the story of Ragnarok and then explain of the details.
Ragnarok is translated as the doom of the gods, and the end of the world. Its literal translation is, “The destinies of the Rulers.” Keeping this in mind we have to look at all the events that led up to this moment. The death of Kvasir and of Baldr as well as the loss of the goddess and the growth of the Greed Wolf, these all lead towards destruction. In a way everything that was done simply led to Ragnarok.
The story of Ragnarok
In the story we know that before Ragnarok begins the Earth is wrapped in a winter lasting three years, a Fimble Winter. (“The Great Winter”) This means three long cold winters without any break, no summers in between. Then the end will begin. The wolf Skoll (“One Who Mocks”) will seize the sun and swallow her, spattering Asgard with gore. The wolf Hati (“One Who Hates”) will catch the moon and mangle him. The stars will vanish. The earth will shake. Every bond and fetter will burst.
Cocks will crow to raise the dead in Hel's realm and the giants in Jotunheim. Jormangandr will work his way towards dry land. The ship Naglfar, made from dead men's nails, will sail, packed with giants. Loki, free from his bonds, will sail with the dead from Hel. The sons of Múspell will advance from the south, led by Surtr, the flame giant. All will converge on the field Vigrid: giants and the dead from Hel and Fenrir and Jormangandr and Surtr and the blazing sons of Múspell.
Meanwhile, the gods, roused by Heimdal’s horn, will meet in council. Odin will ride Sleipnir to Mimir’s spring to take advice from Mimir. Yggdrasil will shake and moan. All of the Aesir and all of the Einherjar in Valhalla will arm and prepare themselves and follow Odin to Vigrid.
On the field of battle, Odin will engage Fenrir, while Thor will be attacked by Jormangandr. Freyr will fight Surtr. Freyr will rue the day he gave his sword to Skírnir; Surtr will kill Freyr with a single stroke. The hound Garm from Gnípahellir will leap at the throat of Týr, and they will kill each other.
Loki and Heimdallr will meet again and cause each other's death. Thor will kill Jormangandr with a single stroke from Mjolnir, but will drown in the venom spewed by the serpent. Fenrir will seize Odin between his jaws and swallow him. At once, Vidarr, Odin’s son, will press one foot on Fenrir's lower jaw and grab his upper jaw, tearing the wolf apart and avenging his father.
Surtr will fling fire in all directions. Asgard and Midgard and Jotunheim and Nifleheim will become furnaces. The worlds will burn and the gods will die. Men, women, and children will die, giants will die, and monsters will die. Birds and animals will die. The earth will sink into the sea.
The earth will rise again out of the water, fair and green. The eagle will fly and catch fish under crags. Grain will ripen in fields that were never sewn.
Vidarr and Vali, sons of Odin, will still be alive and will make their way back to Idavoll, the shining plain where the halls of the gods once stood. Móði and Magni, sons of Thor, will join them there, and they will inherent their father's hammer, Mjolnir. Baldr and Hodr will come back from the world of the dead to Iðavöll, along with Hoenir. They will talk and will build new halls.
Two humans, Líf and Lífdrásir, who hid themselves deep within Yggdrasil, will see light. For although the sun was eaten by Skoll, she will give birth to a daughter no less fair, who will follow the same sky-path and light the world. Líf and Lífdrásir will have children; there will be new life everywhere on earth.
With the rebirth of the world after Ragnarok, the golden age of the Norse gods will return. A radiant hall will rise up which no flames of perdition can touch. In that hall, the noble warriors who fought alongside the gods will live on in joy. The ignoble will be carried away by a dragon to be eaten. The gods will find the golden playing pieces of their board game in the shining meadow, and they will build on the triumphant foundations laid down by Odin.
I will go into the meaning of the names of those who meet in battle and how that changes the understanding of the story.
Odin and Fenrir:
Odin means Spirit and Fenrir means Greed. Odin must engage in his final battle against the most dangerous quality of the conscious mind. Greed can cause people to do horrible things and unless greed is concord enlightenment is not possible.
Fenrir and Vidarr the Silent:
Vidarr is the son of Odin and his name means Expander. Vidarr kills Fenrir (Greed) after he kills Vidarr’s father, Odin.
Vidarr the silent- this means the inner silence. The silence of a calm and clear mind, that is now open to learn new things or to expand.
Freyr and Surtr:
Freyr is the lord of fertility. The male earth god who protects cultivated nature and a just society.
Surtr means Sooty One, Blackened by Fire, or Acid/Sourness.
Freyr is killed by Surtr – A scorching or flaming power that destroys all cultivated nature.
Thor and Jormangandr:
Jormangandr represents the border between the known and the unknown.
Thor is the protector of Earth, his mother. He also represents the young male trying to complete his trials so he can be initiated.
Thor kills Jormangandr which dissolves the boundaries between the known and unknown. When this happens Thor is death – wed in the older translation which means he has been initiated, not killed. He has won his battle with his limited thinking and transcends ordinary perception.
I hope you enjoyed this blog; I will go deeper and expand more on this story next week.
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