Do you think the Viking end of the world myth sounds like a black hole?

Question

If I remember correctly the sun will freeze, snow will fall on the earth and Fenwig the viking wolf will swallow the earth.

Answer 1

no......

what Ragnarok will be preceded by is the Fimbulwinter...3 straight winters with each one being worse than the previous, then wolves Skoll and Hati will finally catch...they have always been chasing them... and devour both the sun and moon, the North star will be the first star to fall into the sea. There is no "Fenwig the viking wolf".....


Fenris is the wolf you may be thinking of, he swallows Odin during their battle only to be killed by Odin's son Vidar immediately after killing Odin. The earth is destroyed bu Surt the fire giant who wields a flaming sword brighten than the sun, after most of the gods are dead and the giants with them Surt flings fira all across the 9 worlds burning it. A new age begins after this destruction with the few surviving gods and goddessess to reign, Lif and Lifthrasir will be the two survuving humans who hid deep inside the world tree Yggdrasil and will help repopulate the earth.


It is thought by some that the whole Ragnarok story is heavily christianized.

EDIT: Steve C.....stop......please, just stop.

Answer 2

If you read the exerpt below all the way to the end it does sound pretty bleak but it does state that a new world will rise from the old, so I would say that the Norse mythology is really not all that bleak.

"The Old Norse vision of the future is bleak. Norse mythology's vision of the end times is stark and pessimistic: not only are the Norse gods capable of being defeated by residents of Yggdrasil's other branches, but in fact are destined to be defeated, and have always lived with this knowledge. In the end, it was believed, the forces of chaos will outnumber and overcome the divine and human guardians of order. Loki and his monstrous children will burst their bonds; the dead will sail from Niflheim to attack the living. Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, will summon the heavenly host with a blast on his horn. Then a final battle will ensue between order and chaos (Ragnarök), which the gods will lose, as is their fate. The gods, aware of this, will gather the finest warriors, the Einherjar, to fight on their side when the day comes, but in the end they will be powerless to prevent the world from descending into the chaos out of which it has once emerged; the gods and their world will be destroyed. There are two optimistic facts, however: Not only will chaos also be defeated, but a new, better world will emerge from the ashes of the old one. Odin will be swallowed by Fenrir. Thor will kill Jörmungandr , but will drown in its venom. Loki will be the last to die, having taken a wound from Heimdall that, although was taken at the same time as Loki's wound on Heimdall, did not kill the god of chaos and fire in that instance.
And although the Gods were destined to be defeated and killed, they, along with the new world, will be born again."

Answer 3

To me it sounds nothing like an encounter with a black hole (you been reading up on experiments soon to take place at CERN?)

It may be a warning of what might happen, based on something which did happen. Explanations run along lines of global cooling, asteroid strike, large volcanic eruptions/nuclear winter. From the roman occupation of Britain until the industrial age, European winters seem to have been getting colder (hence the freezing of the Thames in the middle ages) In higher latitudes the effects were probably more pronounced.

I also wonder if Fenrir has some connections with Rome, the Celtic/Teutonic tribes, some of whom later became the Vikings, would probably have known that Rome's "totem" was a wolf.(The Eagle being the Totem of it's Empire). Many cultures, including itself, considered Christianity to be a continuation of "Rome". Maybe the myth was intended to urge caution when Vikings dealt with any of the incarnations of Rome.

Then again Ragnarok may simply be a Nordic "translation" of the Christian "book of revelations".

Answer 4

Fenwig? ROTFL Sounds like a Harry Potter character. I believe you are thinking of Fenris, one of Loki's children. But the lore has been explained so I won't do it again.

Answer 5

That is what the JSA was trying to prevent.