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Ragnarok( Judgment of the Gods) The final battle between the gods, headed by Odin and the Einherjar on the side of good, and Loki and the Jotun on the side of evil. It took place on the plain called Vigrid. Nearly all the participants were slain. The Sun and Moon were swallowed by wolves, the stars vanished, the sacred tree Yggdrasil trembled, the ocean boiled, and Surt set the world on fire so that everything was reduced to cinders. However, Balder and Hodur rose up from the underworld; Vali, Vidar, Modi, Magni, and some others survived to live in a regenerated world. A human couple, Lif and Lifthrasir, also survived and repeopled Earth.
Ragnarok is described in detail in the Icelandic poem Voluspa( Sibyl’ s Prophecy) and in the Prose
Edda.
Ragnarok, the Day of Doom Ragnarok was the end of the world, the twilight of the gods, the final battle between the forces of good( the gods) and the forces of evil( the giants and the monsters of the underworld). After the death of Balder, the gods banished Loki, the evil one, to Midgard( Middle Earth), but it was too late. The god of light and innocence had been killed. The gods knew that the day of doom was at hand and that they and all their worlds would perish.
First came a wave of ghastly crimes and bloody wars in Midgard. Brothers fought against brothers; murder and looting and other evil deeds were committed. Then came Fimbulvetr, the worst of all winters. It brought bitter cold and driving snow, screeching winds and black darkness. The Fimbulvetr lasted three years. People shivered and starved and lost all hope and goodness.
From Jarnvid came the ravenous wolves Skoll and Hati. Skoll caught up with Sol’ s chariot and swallowed the Sun, spilling her blood on the Earth.
Hati devoured the Moon. The stars fell out of the sky, and the darkness was complete.
Then the Earth began to tremble and quake, and the wolf Fenrir broke from his bonds, ready to seek vengeance on the gods who had tricked him. Loki, too, broke free. Garm, Hel’ s hound, was set free. Evil and destruction were loose on the land.
Eggther, the watchman of the giants, struck a note on his harp. The red cock Fjalar( 1) crowed to the giants, while Gullinkambi screeched to the gods in Valhalla and a third rooster, rust red, awakened all the dead in Niflheim.
Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, lifted his horn, Gjallerhorn, and blew it. All the Aesir and the Einherjar sprang up and donned their armor, ready for the battle to end all battles. First Odin galloped off on Sleipnir to Mimir’ s Well to seek his wisdom. The Norns regarded him with veiled faces, their web of life torn into shreds. No one knew what Odin learned from Mimir the Wise. He rejoined the waiting army with a grim, sad face and led them into battle, holding aloft his magic spear, Gungnir.
The sea began to boil like a cauldron, and its waves crashed on the shore, for Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent, had risen up from the deep and was lashing and writhing his way toward the land, spewing venom from his jaws.
The horrid ship Naglfar, made from dead men’ s fingernails, drifted loose, packed with giants, and steered by Hrym. It headed toward the battlefield. The crew and passengers of Loki’ s ship were all the pale dead from the underworld.
Hel, the goddess of death, left Niflheim to join the fray, followed by the hound Garm and the dragon Nithog, who flew over the battlefield gathering corpses for his sustenance.
Loki led the terrible army of evil. As they crossed Bilrost, the Rainbow Bridge, it trembled and broke
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