Voices in Time

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Ganglieri, speaking to three men named High, Just-as-High, and Third, asked, “What is to be said about Ragnarok? I have not heard it spoken of before.”

High replied, “There are many important things to be said about it. First will come the Fimbulvetr [Extreme Winter]. Snow will drive in from all directions; the cold will be severe, and the winds will be fierce. The sun will be of no use. Three of these winters will come, one after the other, with no summer in between. But before that there will have been another three winters with great battles taking place throughout the world. Brothers will kill brothers for the sake of greed, and neither father nor son will be spared in the killings and the collapse of kinship.

“Next will come an event thought to be of much importance. The wolf will swallow the sun, and mankind will think it has suffered a terrible disaster. Then the other wolf will catch the moon, and he too will cause much ruin. The stars will disappear from the heavens.

“So also there is this to be told: the whole earth, together with the mountains, will start to shake so that the trees will loosen from the ground, the mountains will fall, and all fetters and bonds will sever and break. Then the Fenriswolf will break free. The sea will surge onto the land as the Midgard Serpent writhes in giant fury and advances up on the land. Then it also will happen that the ship Naglfar loosens from its moorings. It is made from the nails of dead men, and for this reason it is worth considering the warning that if a person dies with untrimmed nails, he contributes crucial material to Naglfar, a ship that both gods and men would prefer not to see built. On the flooding sea, Naglfar comes floating. The giant steering Naglfar is named Hrym. Meanwhile, the Fenriswolf advances with its mouth gaping: its upper jaw reaches to the heavens and the lower one drops down to the earth. He would open it still wider, if only there were room. Flames shoot out of his eyes and nostrils. The Midgard Serpent spews out so much venom that it spatters throughout the air and into the sea. He is terrible and will be on one side of the wolf.

“The Aesir and all the einherjar dress for war and advance on to the field. Odin rides in front of them. He wears a gold helmet and a magnificent coat of mail, and he carries his spear called Gungnir. He goes against the Fenriswolf with Thor advancing at his side. Thor will be unable to assist Odin because he will have his hands full fighting the Midgard Serpent.

“Thor will kill the Midgard Serpent, and then he will step back nine feet. Because of the poison the serpent spits on him, he will fall to the earth, dead. The wolf will swallow Odin, and that will be his death. But immediately afterward the god Vidar will stride forward and thrust one of his feet into the lower jaw of the wolf. With one hand he takes hold of the wolf’s upper jaw and rips apart its mouth, and this will be the wolf’s death.

Then Ganglieri asked, “What will be after heaven and earth and the whole world are burned? All the gods will be dead, together with the einherjar and the whole of mankind. Didn’t you say earlier that each person will live in some world throughout all ages?”

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