Ragnarok

Ragnarok is the term used in Norse mythology for the end of the world, a cataclysmic battle between the Aesir and their enemies, the frost giants and other monsters, in which all would perish.

According to Greg Weisman, some form of Ragnarok has taken place at an unspecified point in the Gargoyles Universe's past, though clearly it was far less destructive than the Ragnarok of Norse myth. [1] Odin obviously survived it, though Greg has hinted that others among the Norse gods (such as Thor & Loki) were not as fortunate. [2][3] (He also pointed out that, in the legends, Odin was swallowed and not eaten.) [4]

Greg has also hinted that this Ragnarok-event might have something to do with why there are no gargoyle clans in Scandinavia. [5]

Real World Background

In Norse mythology, Ragnarok was the end of the Norse gods and the world over which they ruled. It would be preceded by a terrible winter that would last for three years, known as the Fimbul-Winter, and terrible wars and lawlessness among men. On the day of Ragnarok itself, the wolves Skoll and Hati that had long pursued the sun and moon would overtake and swallow them. A terrible earthquake would follow, in which all the Norse gods' enemies would be released from their bonds, including the Fenris-wolf and Loki. The frost giants would attack Asgard in a ship called Naglfar, made from the nails of dead men; Loki, the Fenris-wolf, Jormungand the Midgard Serpent, and the fire demons of Muspellheim, led by Surtur, would join them. When Surtur and his host would ride over the Rainbow Bridge Bifrost, it would shatter beneath them. Heimdall, the watchman of Asgard, would alert Odin and his forces to this danger with a great blast from his horn. The gods and monsters would do battle on the plain of Vigrid. There, Odin would be devoured by the Fenris-wolf, though his son Vidar would afterwards avenge his father by tearing the great wolf asunder. Thor would slay the Midgard Serpent, but succumb afterwards to its poison. Loki and Heimdall, old enemies, would slay each other, and Garm, the hound who guards Niflheim, the world of the dead, would kill Tyr, the one-armed god of war, at the cost of his own life. Surtur would kill the god Frey, then send his flames across the world, burning everything. However, after the fires of Surtur had died down, a new world would be born from the ashes of the old, in which the few surviving Norse gods (including a Balder returned from the dead) would rebuild Asgard. (Some scholars think that Ragnarok may have been inspired or influenced by the Christian Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation, after the Norsemen were converted to Christianity.)

External links

• Ragnarok at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia