PART TWO

According to scholars, eight of the nine known worlds consist of: the gods, the Aesir and the Vanir (Asgarth); the Wanes (Vanaheim); the elves (Alfheim); men (Mithgarth); the giants (Jotunheim); fire (Muspellsheim); the dark elves (Svartalfaheim), and finally, the dead (Niflheim). Presumably a world of dwarfs exists, although the ninth world is uncertain and not specifically named in any surviving works.

Odin, doyen of the Norse gods, is always conscious of impending disaster and eager for more knowledge. Once he raises the long dead witch through the use of necromancy, she begins by telling Odin how the universe came into existence in the gap between fire and ice (Ginnungagap), and how the gods shaped the home world of humans.

The völva begins by relating the story of the creation of the world. She explains how she came by her knowledge, and that she understands the source of Odin’s omniscience, among other secrets of the gods who live in Asgard:

Of old was the age when Ymir lived;

Sea nor cool waves nor sand there were;

Earth had not been, nor heaven above,

But a yawning gap, and grass nowhere.

She tells Odin of the past, of the creation of the world, the beginning of years, the origin of the dwarfs, giving a catalogue of dwarfs’ names, of the creation of first man and woman, of the world-ash Yggdrasil, and of the first war, between the gods.

Heid they named her who sought their home,

The wide-seeing witch, in magic wise;

Minds she bewitched that were moved by her magic,

To evil women a joy she was.

Soon, however, the Norns arrive and take their place among the gods in Asgard. The Norns are the fates, who control the destiny of the universe and rule over all worlds. At this point, history begins, and a mysterious female who is well-versed in magic (known as Heid, or the “Bright One”) manifests among the Aesir. As a consequence, the Vanir & Aesir go to war.

Finally, following a period of bloody conflagration, a short-lived peace is restored. A giant appears and offers to rebuild the walls of Asgard in a very short time in exchange for the Sun, the Moon, and Freya. The gods don’t believe it’s possible, so they foolishly agree to the terms. Before the giant’s work can be completed, the god Thor kills him, thus breaking the gods’ promises of safe conduct. Soon all hell breaks loose. Before she tells more, and as further proof of her wisdom, the völva discloses some of Odin’s own secrets and the details of his search for knowledge:

I know of the horn of Heimdall, hidden

Under the high-reaching holy tree;

On it there pours from Valfather’s pledge

A mighty stream: would you know yet more?

…I know where Othin’s eye is hidden,

Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir

The völva turns from her memories of the past to a statement of some of Odin’s own secrets in his eternal quest for knowledge. The horn of Heimdall, called the “Gjallarhorn,” will summon the gods to the last battle. Until then, the horn is buried under Yggdrasil, the “holy tree.” ‘Valfather’s pledge’ refers to Odin’s eye, which the “All-father” gave to the water-spirit Mimir in exchange for The Wisdom of the Ages. Odin’s sacrifice to gain knowledge of his final doom is one of the series of disasters which leads to the destruction of the gods.

The völva then comes to the most shocking prophesy: the disclosure of the final destruction of the gods. This final battle, Ragnarok, in which fire and flood overwhelm heaven and earth as the gods fight with their enemies, is the most famous and dramatic element of Norse mythology.

The witch tells Odin of the Valkyries who bring the slain warriors to support Odin and the other gods in the battle, but she also tells of the slaying of Odin’s favorite son, Baldr, through the evil tricks of Loki, who leads the enemies of the gods into the final battle.

Loki is the personification of transgression, and he is the bastard spawn of Odin and an evil giant. The untimely death of Baldr – the best and fairest of the gods – son of Odin and Frigg, is the first of the great disasters for the gods.

Baldr can also be considered a proto-Christ figure in many ways. The ultimate doom of the gods is signaled by the death of Baldr. This interpretation mirrors the Christian’s fall of mankind. The story of Baldr’s tragic death is fully told by Snorri in his Gylphaganning.

Baldr has been likened to Jesus Christ due to the number of shared motifs between the two figures. Baldr is a resurrected martyr god, slain though he is completely blameless; his death and resurrection heralds the destruction of the old world, and the eventual arrival of a period of eternal peace. Such parallels were especially striking in the competing visions that emerged from the Nordic world during the conversion of the region to Christianity.

It can be argued that Baldr’s nature in the original Norse myth laid his character open to later Christian influences. Like Christ Baldr is killed and like Christ he will be reborn at the end of the world.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, society begins to collapse. All hell breaks loose among humanity. The world is filled with incest, whoredom and violence. Sexual mores are given up and pointless wars and conflagrations encompass the planet: the “Axe-age.” Three winters follow each other, with no summers in between. Conflicts and feuds break out, even between families, and all morality disappears.

Brothers shall fight and fell each other,

And sisters’ sons shall kinship stain;

Hard is it on earth, with mighty whoredom;

Axe-time, sword-time, shields are sundered,

Wind-time, wolf-time, ‘ere the world falls;

Nor ever shall men each other spare. 

Ragnarok is the war to end all wars, and on this day all of the Vikings who boldly died in battle will fight side by side with the Aesir against the giants and the minions of Loki – including the undead from Hell.

Odin would lead the enormous army of all the brave warriors to the battleground of Vigrid.

During Ragnarok the walls of Asgard – home of the Aesir and Vanir and Bifrost, the ‘Rainbow Bridge’ – will be set alight by Surt, the fire giant. The mighty Midgard serpent then emerges from the raging sea and engulfs the Vigrid battlefield, as the dragon thrashes its tail and sprays poison in all directions, causing huge waves to crash onto the land.

The mighty wolf, Fenrir, will break free of his chains and spread death and destruction throughout the universe. The sun and the moon will be swallowed by the dire wolves Sköll and Hati.

Even the world tree Yggdrasil will shake the ground. All hell will break loose:

Odin will eventually be killed by Fenrir, and Thor and the Midgard Serpent will ultimately kill each other following a monumental struggle. Loki will fight Heimdall and they, too, will kill each other.

Odin’s brother, the god Tyr, and “Garm” the hellhound, will kill each other. The powerful Goddess Freya will then be killed by the fire giant Surt…

Finally, Surt will set fire to all nine worlds causing a blazing, apocalyptic inferno. Thor is the last God left standing as everything sinks into the boiling sea.

Despite his vast wisdom, there was nothing Odin could do to prevent Ragnarok from taking place. Odin’s only consolation is that while he knew Ragnarok was coming – through the use of necromancy – it would still not be the end of time.

After the final conflagration, a new and idyllic world will arise from the sea and will be filled with abundant supplies. Some of the gods will survive, while others will be reborn, such as Baldr. Wickedness and misery will no longer exist, and gods and men will live happily together for eternity.

The importance of accepting one’s fate does not necessarily mean that the Norsemen held purely fatalistic beliefs. Rather, it should be understood in terms of the desire to know the future in order to be more prepared for it when it comes. In the Norse myths, Magical rites and divination rituals, whether performed by the gods or laypeople, were simply methods of finding the keys to hidden realms, and dealing with the consequences.

In this regard, The Völuspá demonstrates the limits of individual free will.

Ragnarok can be viewed as an allegorical representation that no one can escape their destiny, not even the gods themselves. The “Prophecy of the Volva” clarifies the ignorance of the gods, as a lesson to humanity. Odin, greatest and wisest of all is finally taken by surprise. The Giants show up and Odin is unprepared – even after he’s learned of the fate of the world. Did he simply give up?

Ragnarok, the doom of the gods, is meant to be a lesson to the reader that nothing lasts forever, that all great things must come to an end, and that our fate is inevitable: we all must die. The Aesir and Vanir, with all of their magical powers, and even Odin – armed with the foreknowledge of what is going to happen – still cannot prevent Ragnarok, no matter how hard they try. A valuable moral message embedded in the poem seems to be that no amount of magic or divination can alter one’s fate. Raganrok symbolizes death, rebirth, and losing and gaining again.

Then the Powerful mighty One

he who rules over everything,

will come from above

to the judgement-place of the gods.

After the destruction, a new, idyllic world will arise from the sea and will be filled with abundant supplies. Some of the gods will survive, others will be reborn. A “Judgement Day” will come. Wickedness and misery will no longer exist and gods and men will live happily together. The descendants of the conflagration will inhabit the earth. The poem thus ends on a note of balanced optimism: The world has been reborn and regenerated.

There comes the dark dragon:

The shining serpent flies up from Dark Mountains;

Flying over the field Nidhogg bears corpses on his wings. 

Symbolically, the serpent called Nidhogg (a dragon; signifying Satan, or death) survives – even though he is currently held in restraint. However, there is an implicit warning that because of Nidhogg’s presence, evil will still exist in this new world, and it must be contained. This notion further parallels Christian theology.