LEGEND: RAGNAROK, THE DOOM OF THE GODS

Ragnarok, the "doom of the gods", is the central tale of Norse mythology: the prophecy of the end of the world and its rebirth. It is told in the Völuspá of the Poetic Edda and summarized by Snorri Sturluson in his Prose Edda.

It all begins with the Fimbulvetr, the three-year winter with no summer in between: endless snow, hunger and war set brother against brother and the bonds of society break. Then the wolf Sköll devours the sun and his brother Hati the moon, the stars fall from the sky and the earth shakes so hard that trees are uprooted and mountains crumble. The rooster Fjalar crows, Heimdall sounds the Gjallarhorn and the gods wake for the last battle on the plain of Vígríðr.

There almost all die: Odin is devoured by the wolf Fenrir (then avenged by his son Víðarr), Thor kills the serpent Jörmungandr but falls poisoned by its venom, Freyr falls before the fire giant Surtr, who sets the whole world ablaze. But it is not the absolute end: a new green land rises from the sea, the human couple Lif and Lifthrasir repopulate the world and Baldr returns from Hel's realm to rule alongside the sons of the fallen gods.