Ragnarok: End of the World as Vikings Knew It

The wolf swallows the sun. The stars fall. A ship made of dead men’s fingernails sails for the last battle. Ragnarok, the ‘doom of the gods,’ is how the Norse imagined the end of the world. Our main sources are the Poetic Edda poem Voluspa and Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda. Waiting for it in Valhalla are the einherjar, warriors who died in battle and spend each day fighting and each night feasting, keeping their skills sharp for the end.

Portents of Ragnarok

According to Voluspa, three roosters crow: one among the giants, one among the gods and a dark red one in Hel. The hound Garmr howls and breaks free. The sun turns black and the earth shakes. Heimdall sounds the Gjallarhorn to warn the gods. Naglfar sets sail loaded with giants: Snorri says the giant Hrym steers it, while Voluspa has Loki steering a ship of Muspell’s people.

Back on Midgard

First comes Fimbulwinter: three winters with no summer between them. Snorri says that before it come three more years of war, when brother kills brother and kinship means nothing. Voluspa calls it ‘an axe age, a sword age, shields are cloven; a wind age, a wolf age, before the world sinks.’

Gods Versus Giants

In a valley, which is given three names in three different sources (Vigridr, Oskopnir, and/or Oskapt), the giants face off against the gods. The unarmed god Freyr confronts the giant Surtr, who wields a flaming sword. Surtr’s victory is certain.

Thor faces Jormungandr, the serpent that circles the world. He kills it, walks nine steps and falls dead from its venom.

Odin, carrying the spear that can’t miss Gungnir, rides the eight-legged horse Sleipnir against Loki’s son, Fenrir, a monster wolf. The wolf is so large that he swallows Odin with no problem. Vidarr, a god born for the purpose, avenges Odin and kills Fenrir with a sword.

Loki and Heimdall kill each other. Tyr, the one-handed god, fights the hound Garmr, and they, too, kill each other.