Ragnarok: The Origins and History of the Apocalypse in Norse Mythology

“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.” One of the most fascinating elements of Norse cosmology is the fact that its end is foretold in crushing detail. This end of times will come about in a mighty battle called "Ragnarök", an event translated as either "the Fate of the Gods" or (in Richard Wagner's re-imagining) "the Twilight of the Gods." Moreover, not only is the event foretold, but the characters of this drama seem to know of its coming. The actual description of Ragnarök appears best in the medieval prose text, the Gylfaginning, and the prophetic poem the "Völuspá", but Ragnarök’s antecedents are equally fascinating and present a catalog of crimes and errors that led to the fated twilight of the gods. This idea of destiny, of fate, is key to understanding the culture