Ancient history

Ragnarok

"Twilight of the Supreme Powers"
in Norse mythology, Ragnarök (literally Consummation of the Fate of the Powers) is the battle of the end of the world, the fate from which the gods cannot escape, the destruction of Ásgard and the renewal of the world.

This confrontation which will take place on the plain of Vígríd will oppose the gods, the Aesir, led by Odin and supported by the warriors who died in combat training in Valhalla, the Einherjar, the sons of Muspell led by Surt, the giants of ice and to Loki, the god of fire, as well as various monsters including the wolf Fenrir and the sea monster Jörmungand. The latter will receive the support of the unworthy dead of Niflheim, hell.

Fenrir, the fiercest of monsters, will kill Odin before being finished off by Vidar. After a long fight, Thor will finally kill Jörmungand, but he will perish soon after from the venom that the snake spat on him during the battle. Loki and Heimdall, the Gatekeeper of Ásgard, will also die. Týr, for his part, will kill another giant wolf by the name of Garm but then succumb to his wounds after his victory. Most of the other gods and giants will also eventually die in battle.

Several gods will survive including the sons of Odin, Vidar, Vali and Hœnir; the sons of Thor, Modi and Magni who will inherit Mjollnir his hammer. As for Baldr, he will return from the world of darkness.

Only two humans, Lif and Lifthrasir, who at the start of the battle will have found refuge in the sacred tree Yggdrasil, will survive. After the carnage they will come down and be able to rebuild a new world and a new humanity.

The interpretations of the Völuspá place either at the beginning or at the end of the battle, the serpent-dragon Nidhögg, which flies over the world carrying the dead in its claws.

This set of legends and mythological tales forming part of an oral tradition was transcribed from the 13th century. Together which, compared to those which have been able to form elsewhere in the world, seem to mean, through the myth, events of a geophysical nature (such as deglaciation, the subsequent rise in water levels, the fire of 'a comet or asteroid rushing on the planet) actually occurred throughout history.citation needed

The "Ragnarök" or "twilight of the Gods" written by the Christian school author Snorri Sturluson long after the Viking era is inspired among other things by the Apocalypse of the Bible, Scandinavian legends and also the Trojan War, in order to more easily assimilate Scandinavian pagans into Christian beliefs. It is the same for "la Volüpsa" text inspired by the Christian book "Ecclesiastes".


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