{"id":2978,"date":"2014-02-13T18:28:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T18:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/?p=2978"},"modified":"2014-06-16T12:02:00","modified_gmt":"2014-06-16T12:02:00","slug":"the-end-is-nigh-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/icelandic\/2014\/02\/13\/the-end-is-nigh-again\/","title":{"rendered":"The end is nigh (again)."},"content":{"rendered":"
\"ragnar\u00f6k2\"<\/a>

Tullstorp Stone from Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bad news first, the end of the world has been announced for the 22nd of February. Then for the good ones, this time it will be Ragnar\u00f6k so no need to repent your sins, just strap yourself in and enjoy the ride! To be expected: earthquakes, volcanic activity, possible sightings of a massive sea serpent, eternal darkness, lots of fire and Loki running around with his family and friends.<\/p>\n

Like all such doomsday scares it may be good to avoid unnecessary panic and carry on though, because coincidentally this Ragnar\u00f6k will happen at the same time as the 2014 Jorvik Viking Festival, whose arrangers, by the way, are also behind the prediction.\u00a0Besides if Ragnar\u00f6k did happen it would need more than just one day according to the Eddic texts. It will begin with summers where the sun does not show itself at all, and the crow of three roosters, one in the lands of the j\u00f6tunns, another in \u00c1sgar\u00f0ur and third in the halls of Hel in the land of the dead. Following this warning the first wolf-beast of the end times, Garmr, will break its chains and begin an age of chaos:<\/p>\n

45.<\/p>\n

Br\u00e6\u00f0r munu berjask<\/em>
\nok at b\u00f6num ver\u00f0ask,<\/em>
\nmunu systrungar<\/em>
\nsifjum spilla;<\/em>
\nhart er \u00ed heimi,<\/em>
\nh\u00f3rd\u00f3mr mikill,<\/em>
\nskegg\u00f6ld, skalm\u00f6ld,<\/em>
\nskildir ro klofnir,<\/em>
\nvind\u00f6ld, varg\u00f6ld,<\/em>
\n\u00e1\u00f0r ver\u00f6ld steypisk;<\/em>
\nmun engi ma\u00f0r<\/em>
\n\u00f6\u00f0rum \u00feyrma.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brothers will fight each other\/and be the bane of each other,\/sisters’ children will\/break kinship;\/the world will be hard,\/much whoredom,\/age of axes, age of swords,\/shields will be broken,\/age of winds, age of wolves,\/before the world falls down:\/no man will\/spare another.<\/p>\n

By this time the god Heimdallr will notice something is badly amiss and will sound a warning with Gjallarhorn. The tree of life shakes and Loki breaks free from his shackles, rising an army against the Nordic gods with the help of Surtr and Hel’s people and his own monstrous children J\u00f6rmungandr\/Mi\u00f0gar\u00f0sormr <\/em>and the wolf Fenris. Naglfar, a ship made entirely of the finger- and toe nails of the dead, will finally be completed and Loki will captain it. It’s said that Naglfar is the largest ship there ever was, and to avoid adding up to its completion the Medieval Nordic people kept their nails trimmed short and tidy.<\/p>\n

\"ragnar\u00f6k5\"<\/a>

Odin and Fenris-wolf from Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00d3\u00f0inn battles Fenris-wolf, in the background Freyr (mounted) goes against Surtr (on foot).<\/em><\/p>\n

The battle will be fierce. Among the first fallen will be \u00d3\u00f0inn whose death at the jaws of Fenris will be avenged by his son V\u00ed\u00f0arr. V\u00ed\u00f0arr’s said to be almost as strong as \u00de\u00f3r and owns “iron shoes” or “thick-soled shoes”, that he’ll stomp on Fenris’ lower jaw and tear his mouth apart. These shoes are made of the toe and heel parts of human shoes so anyone trimming their shoes was advised to throw the pieces away to assist V\u00ed\u00f0arr.<\/p>\n

56.<\/p>\n

\u00de\u00e1 kemr inn m\u00e6ri<\/em>
\nm\u00f6gr Hl\u00f3\u00f0ynjar,<\/em>
\ngengr \u00d3\u00f0ins sonr<\/em>
\nvi\u00f0 orm vega,<\/em>
\ndrepr af m\u00f3\u00f0i<\/em>
\nMi\u00f0gar\u00f0s v\u00e9urr…<\/em><\/p>\n

…gengr fet n\u00edu\u00a0<\/em>
\nFj\u00f6rgynjar burr<\/em>
\nneppr fr\u00e1 na\u00f0ri…<\/em><\/p>\n

Then arrives the mighty\/child of Hl\u00f3\u00f0yn,\/\u00d3\u00f0inn’s son goes\/to battle the snake,\/he kills in rage\/the consumer(?) of Mi\u00f0gar\u00f0ur… …takes nine steps\/Fj\u00f6rgyn’s son\/barely, from the snake…<\/p>\n

Here we have some kennings, poetic language that you can understand only if you know the mythology well enough. Hl\u00f3\u00f0yn and Fj\u00f6rgyn are both names of the same woman, also called J\u00f6r\u00f0, the earth. Her and \u00d3\u00f0inn’s son is \u00de\u00f3r and this poem describes his battle with the Mi\u00f0gar\u00f0sormur. He manages to kill it but in turn gets poisoned by the snake and dies but a few steps away from it.<\/p>\n

The sea rises, the stars fall and the sun turns black. T\u00fdr battles the wolf Garmr and they both die, Freyr falls while fighting Surtr because he once gave his sword away to gain the love of his life, therefore being weaponless in the final war. Surtr will engulf the whole world in flames, and that will be the end of everything – or will it?<\/p>\n

\"ragnar\u00f6k4\"<\/a>

Vidar from Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n

V\u00ed\u00f0arr avenges his father.<\/em><\/p>\n

Technically speaking V\u00f6lusp\u00e1 ends with the rise of a new paradise called Gimli, ruled by the virtuous gods and an undefined one true power from above (the Medieval texts were often written down by Christians so there may be some Christian influence included) so it can be argued that the Nordic end of the world is actually not a real end of the world at all. Rather it shows a cyclic view of the universe where the old has to be destroyed so that something new can be created. Ragnar\u00f6k sets the time back to the beginning of creation, to a new paradise and the two humans that survive the ending, Leif\u00ferasi and L\u00edf, whose job is now to fill the world with humans. And so another cycle beings…<\/p>\n

\"ragnar\u00f6k3\"<\/a>

Lif and Leifthrasi from Wikimedia Commons.<\/p><\/div>\n