Ragnarök
In Norse mythology, Ragnarök (/ˈræɡnəˌrɒk, ˈrɑːɡ-/ ⓘ;[2][3][4] Old Norse: Ragnarǫk) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, and Loki);[5] it will entail a catastrophic series of natural disasters, including the burning of the world, and culminate in the submersion of the world underwater. After these events, the world will rise again, cleansed and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors, Líf and Lífþrasir. Ragnarök is an important event in Norse mythology and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory in the history of Germanic studies.
For other uses, see Ragnarök (disambiguation).The event is attested primarily in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In the Prose Edda and in a single poem in the Poetic Edda, the event is referred to as Ragnarøkkr (Old Norse for 'Twilight of the Gods'), a usage popularised by 19th-century composer Richard Wagner with the title of the last of his Der Ring des Nibelungen operas, Götterdämmerung (1876), which is "Twilight of the Gods" in German.
Etymology[edit]
The Old Norse compound word ragnarok has a long history of interpretation. Its first element is clear: ragna, the genitive plural of regin (n. pl.) 'the ruling powers, gods.' The second element is more problematic, as it occurs in two variants, -rök and -røkkr. Writing in the early 20th century, philologist Geir Zoëga treats the two forms as two separate compounds, glossing ragnarök as 'the doom or destruction of the gods' and ragnarøkkr as 'the twilight of the gods.'[6] The plural noun rök has several meanings, including 'development', 'origin', 'cause', 'relation', 'fate.'[7] The word ragnarök as a whole is then usually interpreted as the 'final destiny of the gods.'[8]
The singular form ragnarøk(k)r is found in a stanza of the Poetic Edda poem Lokasenna, and in the Prose Edda. The noun røk(k)r means 'twilight' (from the verb røkkva 'to grow dark'), suggesting a translation 'twilight of the gods.' This reading was widely considered a result of folk etymology, or a learned reinterpretation of the original term due to the merger of /ɔ/ (spelled ǫ) and /ø/ (spelled ø) in Old Icelandic after c. 1200[9]
(nevertheless giving rise to the calque Götterdämmerung 'Twilight of the Gods' in the German reception of Norse mythology[10]).
Other terms used to refer to the events surrounding Ragnarök in the Poetic Edda include aldar rök (aldar means age, 'end of an age') from a stanza of Vafþrúðnismál, tíva rök from two stanzas of Vafþrúðnismál, þá er regin deyja ('when the gods die') from Vafþrúðnismál, unz um rjúfask regin ('when the gods will be destroyed') from Vafþrúðnismál, Lokasenna, and Sigrdrífumál, aldar rof ('destruction of the age') from Helgakviða Hundingsbana II, regin þrjóta ('end of the gods') from Hyndluljóð, and, in the Prose Edda, þá er Muspellz-synir herja ('when the sons of Muspell move into battle') can be found in chapters 18 and 36 of Gylfaginning.[8]
Modern influences[edit]
The events of Ragnarok are dramatized, albeit briefly, in Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Marsh King's Daughter".
In late 2013 and early 2014, English-language media outlets widely reported that Ragnarök was foretold to occur on 22 February 2014.[58] Apparently patterned after the 2012 phenomenon, the claim was at times attributed to a "Viking Calendar". No such calendar is known to have existed, and the source was a "prediction" made to media outlets by the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, England, intended to draw attention to an event that the institution was to hold on that date. The Jorvik Viking Centre was criticized for misleading the public to promote the event. In a 2014 article on the claims, philologist Joseph S. Hopkins perceives the media response as an example of a broad revival of interest in the Viking Age and ancient Germanic topics.[59]
The Norwegian fantasy adventure film Gåten Ragnarok was released in 2013 and centres on the discovery of the mythical serpent in contemporary Finnmark.
The myth is central to the 2017 Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Ragnarok,[60] at whose climax the demon Surtur destroys Asgard as its people flee into space under the guidance of Thor, Valkyrie, Loki, Heimdall, Hulk, and Korg.
A. S. Byatt published a novel entitled Ragnarok: The End of the Gods in 2011.
Ragnarök is set up at the end of the 2018 video game God of War, which is rooted in Norse mythology, after the protagonist Kratos kills Baldr. The 2022 sequel, God of War Ragnarök, deals with the aftermath of this event and covers the in-game version of Ragnarök.
Norse mythology and climate change inspired the eponymous TV series Ragnarok.[61] The town of Edda in Western Norway is plagued by climate change and industrial pollution caused by the factories owned by the Jutul family, a group of jötunn. They are challenged by a teenage boy, Magne, the reincarnation of Thor. Thus begins the event Ragnarok ("twilight of the gods"), the fight against those who are destroying the planet.
In the 2020 video game Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which is partially inspired by Norse mythology, the Æsir are depicted as members of the Isu, who within the series' fictional lore, are an advanced civilization that predate humanity, and Ragnarök refers to a series of events revolving around the Toba Catastrophe, or the "Great Catastrophe", which was a solar flare that hit the Earth, killing most of the Isu. In one of the game's story arcs, the protagonist Eivor Varinsdottir assumes the role of Odin (later revealed to be her previous life), who searches for a way for himself and the other Æsir to survive beyond Ragnarök, during which they are all foretold to perish. One of the game's downloadable content packs, titled Dawn of Ragnarök, builds upon this, as it follows Odin just as the events of Ragnarök are about to begin.
