Ragnarok

Hello again, fellow travelers! I trust that each of you enjoyed your recent stay in Shambhala. Now please allow me to welcome you to the wonderful Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland.
We at End of The World Tours have arranged for you, our treasured guests, a comfortable stay here at the Sulby Glen Hotel.

In addition to breathtaking views and traditional country inn rooms, the Sulby Glen is also the recipient of the Isle of Man Breweries Pub of the Year Award. Be sure to try plenty of their award-winning ale during your stay!

Tomorrow morning, we will be meeting in front of the hotel to set off on an all-day excursion to the Kirk Andreas Church. Here we will have the chance to study the eleven Norse crosses housed on the property. The most significant of these is the legendary Thorwald's Cross, part of an ancient Runestone. Thorwald's Cross holds a very special significance to our tour because of its depiction of a scene from the Norse prediction of Ragnarok.

For those of you who have never heard of Ragnarok, please allow me to give you a little background information. According to passages within the Prose Edda, a collection of Icelandic myths and poetry, Ragnarok represents the end of the world as we know it. Literally, the word "Ragnarok" means "the doom of the gods," although it has also been incorrectly translated to mean "the twilight of the gods." There are several events that will lead up to Ragnarok, so I will just give you the highlights. (I know that you guys are anxious to get to the ale!)

To better understand the conflict at Ragnarok, you could say that there is a "good" side, known as the Aesir, and a "bad" side. The good side consists of the gods Odin, his sons Thor and Vidar, and other gods Tyr, Freyr, and Balder. (Here's a piece of trivia for you: the names of these gods also happen to be the origins for the days of the week in the English language: Tyr / Tuesday; Odin / Wednesday; Thor / Thursday; and Freyr / Friday.) The bad side is made up of Loki, and his very evil offspring: Fenrir the Wolf and the Midgard Serpent.

Preceding Ragnarok, the gods capture Loki for his participation in the murder of the god Balder. They bind him with the guts of one of his own sons and place him in a cave where the venom of a poisonous snake drips over his head. Despite his wife's efforts to capture the venom in a bowl, some still drips on Loki's head, burning him like acid and causing him to shake violently, resulting in earthquakes throughout the world.
As Ragnarok draws near, Fenrir and the Midgard Serpent, who were also imprisoned by the gods, break free and wreak havoc upon the world. In fact, the Midgard Serpent, whose venom is fatal, completely wraps himself around the earth. During this time, all signs of morality disappear from the world; families feud amongst themselves, wars rage in all countries, and all people live in sin and evil.

Kind of sounds like the way things are now, huh? We have certainly experienced some very powerful earthquakes in the last few years. Morever, the deadly venom of pollution has, much like the Midgard Serpent, wrapped itself around the earth. Not to mention all the wars and evils that pervade mankind. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we come across Odin getting his troop of fallen heroes ready for the great battle! Sadly, it is prophesied that during Ragnarok, the gods, both good and evil, will die at each other's hands. The earth will be set on fire, and will sink into the sea. Perhaps global warming will also contribute to this - how uncanny!

There is good news, however. After Ragnarok, the earth will eventually rise back out of the sea, and the two surviving humans, along with the help of a few surviving gods and goddesses, will repopulate the world. This will begin The Birth of the New Age, a time when peace and truth will rule the universe and all evil will be vanquished forever. I sure like stories with happy endings, although it sounds like we won't be around to see it!
(Unless, of course, those special "two" are with us on this tour - how exciting!)

Okay folks - go get that ale while you can! I will see you all in the morning, when we journey to Kirk Andreas to view Thorwald's Cross - and to see for ourselves the prophecy on the stone which shows Odin and Fenrir slaying one another at the end of the world.

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Destination Three: Chichen Itza & the Mayan Prophecy

Return Home - Last Chance!

Author's Notes: I wrote this story based on the interpretations of the Prose Edda. There is much more information involved with the story of Ragnarok, but I only referenced the parts that I felt were relevant to the theme of eschatology within this storybook. I chose to set this particular story in the Isle of Man because it was an interesting place that I had never heard of before this project. I found this location to be very romantic and beautiful, and the perfect setting for a potential war of the gods, and perhaps even for the Birth of the New Age. I could easily imagine this picturesque island rising back out of the sea. I also found the Kirk Andreas Church to be very intriguing. Plus, of course, this is where Thorwald's Cross was found - the link that ties Ragnarok to the Isle of Man in some capacity.

After researching Ragnarok, I found that many things predicted could easily be compared to things that are actually happening now. For example, the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile could be paralleled with the story of Loki and the earthquakes he caused. Also, as I mentioned in the story, I think it is very interesting how it is prophesied that the earth will sink into the sea, and how some scientists have shown that global warming could result in the sea level rising drastically. When I read about the Midgard Serpent circling the earth, I couldn't help but think of how pollution has literally circled the globe, too.

Bibliography:
"Gylfaginning" translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, from the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturlson (1916). Web Source: Sacred Texts Archive.
"Ragnarok" by Micha F. Lindemans. Website: Encyclopedia Mythica.
"Ragnarok." Website: Timeless Myths.
Web Source: Wikipedia.

Image Information:
Isle of Man Cottage. Web Source: Battersby Silver Grey
Isle of Man Castle. Web Source: Island-Comfort
Three Dimensional Map of the Isle of Man. Web Source: My Gov.IM
The Sulby Glen Hotel. Web Source: Cask Marque
Fenrir. Web Source: Anime Hell Shrine
The Midgard Serpent. Web Source: Unicorn Garden
Thorwald's Cross. Web Source: Wikipedia Commons