Read the Master of Ragnarok & Blesser of Einherjar Online Free

"Boxing of the Doomed Gods" past Friedrich Wilhelm Heine (1882)

Ragnarok is the cataclysmic destruction of the cosmos and everything in it – even the gods. When Norse mythology is considered as a chronological set up of tales, the story of Ragnarok naturally comes at the very end. For the Vikings, the myth of Ragnarok was a prophecy of what was to come at some unspecified and unknown fourth dimension in the futurity, only information technology had profound ramifications for how the Vikings understood the world in their ain time. We'll explore some of those ramifications below.

The word "Ragnarok" comes from Quondam Norse Ragnarök, "Fate of the Gods." In an credible play on words, some pieces of Old Norse literature also refer to information technology as Ragnarøkkr, "Twilight of the Gods." The effect was also occasionally referred to as aldar rök, "fate of mankind," and a host of other names.[ane]

Without farther ado, here's the tale itself:

The Fate of the Gods

Ragnarok (Franz Stassen, 1920)

Anytime – whenever the Norns, those inscrutable spinners of fate, decree it – there shall come up a Great Winter (Old Norse fimbulvetr, sometimes Anglicized as "Fimbulwinter") dissimilar any other the globe has withal seen. The biting winds volition accident snows from all directions, and the warmth of the dominicus will fail, plunging the earth into unprecedented cold. This winter shall last for the length of three normal winters, with no summers in between. Flesh will become so desperate for nutrient and other necessities of life that all laws and morals will fall away, leaving only the bare struggle for survival. Information technology will be an age of swords and axes; brother will slay brother, male parent volition slay son, and son will slay father.

The wolves Skoll and Hati, who accept hunted the sun and the moon through the skies since the beginning of time, will at last catch their casualty. The stars, besides, volition disappear, leaving nothing merely a blackness void in the heavens. Yggdrasil, the great tree that holds the cosmos together, will tremble, and all the trees and even the mountains will autumn to the footing. The concatenation that has been holding dorsum the monstrous wolf Fenrir volition snap, and the beast will run free. Jormungand, the mighty serpent who dwells at the bottom of the ocean and encircles the land, volition rise from the depths, spilling the seas over all the world as he makes landfall.

Loki breaks gratuitous (Ernst H. Walther, 1897)

These convulsions volition milk shake the ship Naglfar ("Blast Ship"[2]) free from its moorings. This send, which is made from the fingernails and toenails of dead men and women, will canvass easily over the flooded earth. Its coiffure volition exist an army of giants, the forces of chaos and destruction. And its captain will be none other than Loki, the traitor to the gods, who will have broken free of the bondage in which the gods have bound him.

Fenrir, with fire blazing from his eyes and nostrils, will come across the earth, with his lower jaw on the ground and his upper jaw confronting the top of the heaven, devouring everything in his path. Jormungand volition spit his venom over all the world, poisoning land, water, and air alike.

The dome of the sky volition be split up, and from the crack shall emerge the fire-giants from Muspelheim. Their leader shall exist Surt, with a flaming sword brighter than the sunday in his hand. Equally they march across Bifrost, the rainbow span to Asgard, the home of the gods, the bridge will break and fall behind them. An ominous horn blast will ring out; this will be Heimdall, the divine lookout man, bravado the Gjallarhorn to announce the arrival of the moment the gods have feared. Odin will anxiously consult the head of Mimir, the wisest of all beings, for counsel.

The gods will make up one's mind to go to battle, fifty-fifty though they know what the prophecies take foretold concerning the outcome of this clash. They volition arm themselves and encounter their enemies on a battleground called Vigrid (Sometime Norse Vígríðr, "Plain Where Boxing Surges"[3]).

"Odin and Fenrir, Freyr and Surt" by Emil Doepler (1905)

Odin will fight Fenrir, and by his side will be the einherjar, the host of his chosen man warriors whom he has kept in Valhalla for just this moment. Odin and the champions of men will fight more valiantly than anyone has ever fought before. But it will not be enough. Fenrir will eat Odin and his men. Then 1 of Odin's sons, Vidar, burning with rage, will charge the brute to avenge his father. On one of his feet will exist the shoe that has been crafted for this very purpose; it has been fabricated from all the scraps of leather that human shoemakers accept ever discarded, and with it Vidar volition hold open the monster's oral fissure. Then he will stab his sword through the wolf's throat, killing him.

"Thor and the Midgard Serpent" by Emil Doepler (1905)

Another wolf, Garm, and the god Tyr volition slay each other. Heimdall and Loki will do the same, putting a final end to the trickster's treachery, but costing the gods one of their best in the process. The god Freyr and the giant Surt will also be the stop of each other. Thor and Jormungand, those historic period-old foes, volition both finally have their chance to kill the other. Thor will succeed in felling the great snake with the blows of his hammer. Simply the serpent volition take covered him in so much venom that he will non be able to stand for much longer; he will take 9 paces before falling dead himself and adding his blood to the already-saturated soil of Vigrid.

Then the remains of the world volition sink into the sea, and in that location will be zero left merely the void. Creation and all that has occurred since will exist completely undone, as if it had never happened.

Some say that that is the cease of the tale – and of all tales, for that affair. Simply others hold that a new world, green and cute, will arise out of the waters. Vidar and a few other gods – Vali, Baldur, Hodr, and Thor's sons Modi and Magni – will survive the downfall of the old world, and will live joyously in the new one. A man and a woman, Lif and Lifthrasir (Old Norse Líf and Lífþrasir, "Life" and "Striving afterwards Life"[4]), volition have hidden themselves from the cataclysm in a place called the "Woods of Hoddmimir" (Hoddmímis holt), and will now come out and populate the lush land in which they will find themselves. A new sun, the daughter of the previous one, will rising in the heaven. And all of this will be presided over by a new, almighty ruler.[5]

The Meaning of Ragnarok for the Vikings

As the above implies, two versions of the myth of Ragnarok seem to be present in the Norse sources. In one of them, Ragnarok is the final finish of the cosmos, and no rebirth follows information technology. In the other, there is a rebirth. What are nosotros to make of this disharmonize?

In my book The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion, I debate that the version in which no rebirth occurs is the older, more than purely infidel view, and the rebirth story is an add-on that developed only late in the Viking Age under Christian influence. Ragnarok had been reinterpreted to describe the religious transformation the Viking world was undergoing, in which the old gods were indeed dying, but were as well being replaced with something else. A relatively short article such every bit this isn't the place to nowadays this statement and the evidence for information technology equally I practise in the volume, so if you want to meet my reasoning, read the book. Half a chapter is devoted to this topic. But hither's the gist: the rebirth addition comes only from iii belatedly sources, i of which was dependent on the other ii, while all previous mentions of Ragnarok speak only of the destruction, and never of whatsoever kind of rebirth.

What would such a belief take meant for the Norse?

Imagine that yous're a Viking. You live in a world that you know volition ane mean solar day exist obliterated. The very gods themselves will perish with information technology. Nothing of value will be spared – non even the memory of anything that ever had value. How does such a globe look to you in the nowadays moment, given that the seeds of that last devastation have already been sown, and the world is careening inexorably toward that final decisive moment? Would this not cast a nighttime hue of tragedy, senselessness, and futility over the globe and everything that occurs within information technology? Indeed, it's hard to escape the conclusion that this was how the Vikings saw the globe on ane level.

Yet Ragnarok also carried another meaning for them, i which complemented nonetheless altered this tragic view of life.

In addition to being a prophecy nigh the future that revealed much almost the underlying nature of the globe along the fashion, the myth of Ragnarok also served every bit a paradigmatic model for human action. For the Vikings, the tale didn't produce hopelessness as much every bit inspiration and invigoration. Just as the gods volition 1 day die, and then as well will each individual human being. And just as the gods will go out and face their fate with dignity, honor, and backbone, and so too tin humans. In this view, the inevitability of death and misfortune should not paralyze usa, just should instead spur us to hold noble attitudes and practise noble deeds – the kind worthy of being recounted past bards many generations after we ourselves are gone.

Looking for more great information on Norse mythology and religion? While this site provides the ultimate online introduction to the topic, my book The Viking Spirit provides the ultimate introduction to Norse mythology and faith period. I've likewise written a popular listing of The 10 Best Norse Mythology Books, which you'll probably find helpful in your pursuit.

The Viking Spirit Daniel McCoy

References:

[1] Turville-Petre, E.O.G. 1964. Myth and Organized religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. p. 280.

[2] Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated past Angela Hall. p. 226.

[3] Ibid. p. 361.

[4] Ibid. p. 189.

[five] This retelling is based on three sources: Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda (Gylfaginning, chapters 51-53) and the poems Völuspá and Vafþrúðnismál in the Poetic Edda.

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Source: https://norse-mythology.org/tales/ragnarok/

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