60 Fun Facts About Ragnarök

The Old Norse word ragnarök is usually interpreted as meaning what?

Its first element, ragna, is the genitive plural of regin, the ruling powers; the second element, rök, means fate or origin.

The variant form ragnarøkkr, found in one Eddic poem and in the Prose Edda, gives the alternative translation known from Wagner. What is it?

Scholars long regarded it as folk etymology from the merger of two vowel sounds in Old Icelandic after about 1200.

Ragnarök is attested primarily in the Poetic Edda and in the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by whom?

Snorri was an Icelandic chieftain twice elected lawspeaker of the Althing; he was assassinated in 1241.

Which poem of the Poetic Edda gives the fullest account of Ragnarök, spoken by a seeress to Odin?

Its Ragnarök stanzas run from 40 to 58; the völva then describes the aftermath before she "sinks down".

According to the Prose Edda, what is the first sign of Ragnarök?

Before those, three further winters of war will have made brothers kill brothers.

What does the Old Norse term Fimbulvetr literally mean?

Snow comes from all directions for three successive winters.

Which wolf, in Snorri's telling, swallows the sun at the onset of Ragnarök?

His brother Hati swallows the moon; both are sons of Fenrir.

Fenrir, Jörmungandr and Hel, the monsters of Ragnarök, are all children of Loki and which jötunn?

Snorri says Loki fathered the three with her in Jötunheimr.

The dwarf-made fetter that held Fenrir until Ragnarök was called what?

It was made from six mythical ingredients and looked like a silk ribbon.

When Fenrir was bound, which god lost his right hand as the pledge placed in the wolf's mouth?

Loki later mocked him for it in Lokasenna; the wrist is "now called the wolf-joint".

Why, according to High in the Prose Edda, did the gods not simply kill Fenrir once he was bound?

They chose this even though prophecy said the wolf would be the death of Odin.

Which of Odin's sons avenges him by tearing Fenrir's jaws apart?

Víðarr kicks his foot into the lower jaw, grips the upper and rips the mouth apart.

The thick shoe worn by the god who tears the wolf's jaws apart is said to be made from what?

He is called the silent god, nearly as strong as Thor.

Thor kills the Midgard Serpent at Ragnarök but then manages only how many steps before the venom kills him?

The serpent, Jörmungandr, is another child of Loki and encircles the world biting its own tail.

Jörmungandr's release of what is counted as one of the signs that Ragnarök is beginning?

He grew so large in the ocean around Midgard that he could grasp his own tail, an ouroboros.

Which fire jötunn advances from the south at Ragnarök with a sword brighter than the sun?

He guards Muspelheim, one of only two realms that existed before time began.

What does the fire giant's name mean in Old Norse?

The volcanic island of Surtsey, which rose off Iceland in 1963, is named after him; he guards Muspelheim.

Which god fights the fire giant and loses because he had given away his sword to his messenger Skírnir?

The sword was the price of wooing the giantess Gerðr.

The ship Naglfar, which breaks loose at Ragnarök, is made of what?

Snorri warns against burying anyone with untrimmed nails, since that only helps finish the ship.

Which jötunn steers Naglfar, coming from the east with his shield before him?

The Prose Edda names Hrym as helmsman; the Poetic Edda has Loki steering in some readings.

Which god raises the Gjallarhorn and blows it to wake the gods for battle?

He watches from Himinbjörg where the rainbow bridge meets the sky, and has gold teeth.

What does the name Gjallarhorn mean?

It is associated with the watchman of the gods and the wise being Mímir, whose well lies under one root of Yggdrasil.

Which two figures kill each other in single combat at Ragnarök?

Loki arrives at the battle leading "Hel's own", the dead from the underworld.

The hound Garmr, "worst of monsters", breaks free from which cave and kills whom?

Völuspá describes his deep howls in front of the cave before his bindings break.

The final battle is fought on which field, said to stretch a hundred leagues in every direction?

The sons of Muspell ride there over Bifröst, which breaks beneath them.

What happens to Bifröst, the rainbow bridge, when the sons of Muspell ride across it?

Gylfaginning describes it as a rainbow bridge; the Poetic Edda calls it Bilröst.

Odin rides into the last battle carrying which spear?

He wears a gold helmet and a coat of mail and rides to Mímir's well for counsel first.

Before the battle, three roosters crow the alarm. What colour is Gullinkambi, who crows to the Æsir in Valhalla?

Fjalar the crimson rooster crows in the forest Gálgviðr and an unnamed soot-red one crows in Hel.

Where does the world tree Yggdrasil figure in the Ragnarök narrative?

The immense ash has three roots, to Urðarbrunnr, Hvergelmir and Mímisbrunnr, and houses the dragon Níðhöggr.

Loki is bound until Ragnarök with the entrails of which of his sons, turned to iron?

A snake placed by Skaði drips venom on his face; his wife Sigyn catches it in a bowl.

What natural phenomenon is explained by Loki writhing when the venom reaches his face?

His wife Sigyn must leave to empty the bowl of venom, and the drops then reach him.

Baldr's death, which sets Ragnarök in motion, was caused by a dart of what?

Everything else had sworn not to harm him; the mistletoe was thought too unimportant to ask.

Hel agreed to release Baldr if every thing wept for him. Who refused?

Þökk means "thanks" in Old Norse.

Which two gods return from Hel to live together in the renewed world after Ragnarök?

The surviving Æsir meet at Iðavöllr, where Asgard once stood.

What do the surviving gods find in the grass at Iðavöllr after Ragnarök?

They also discuss Jörmungandr, great events of the past and the runic alphabet.

Thor's sons Móði and Magni survive Ragnarök and inherit what?

They join Odin's surviving sons at Iðavöllr, untouched by the flames.

The two human survivors who repopulate the world after Ragnarök are named what?

They hide in the wood Hoddmímis holt, which Rudolf Simek reads as another name for Yggdrasil.

What do the two human survivors live on while hiding through the destruction?

Vafþrúðnismál stanza 45 gives the detail; from their descendants the world is repopulated.

After the wolf devours the sun, what takes her place in the sky?

Vafþrúðnir tells Odin that Sól will bear a daughter before Fenrir assails her.

With what question does the disguised Allfather end his contest of wits with the jötunn Vafþrúðnir, revealing his identity?

Only Odin could know; the message is read as a promise of Baldr's resurrection after Ragnarök.

In Snorri's account of the afterlife, oath-breakers and murderers wade through rivers of venom in a hall built from what?

The hall stands on Náströnd, the beaches of the dead, facing north; worst of all is Hvergelmir, where Níðhöggr gnaws corpses.

Which 10th-century runestone on the Isle of Man is thought to show Odin, foot in the wolf's mouth, being devoured?

Its other side shows a Christian cross, making it a piece of syncretic art from the conversion era.

The Gosforth Cross, carved with scenes read as the wolf-slaying god at work, stands in which English county?

Dated 920-950, it is an Anglo-Saxon-form cross carved in the Norse Borre style.

Hilda Ellis Davidson suggested the sun turning black and flames touching the sky in Völuspá were inspired by what?

Bertha Phillpotts went further, casting the fire giant as a volcano demon; his name survives in the lava tube Surtshellir.

Research links Ragnarök's apocalyptic themes to a real climate catastrophe of which years?

Massive eruptions created a dust veil, one of history's most intense volcanic winters, changing settlement patterns in Scandinavia.

Media outlets reported in 2013-14 that Ragnarök would arrive on 22 February 2014. Who was behind the "prediction"?

No such Viking calendar exists; the museum was criticised for misleading the public.

Wagner's Götterdämmerung, whose title is a German calque of ragnarøkkr, is the last of how many operas in his Ring cycle?

It premiered at Bayreuth on 17 August 1876 in the first complete performance of the cycle.

Who directed the 2017 Marvel film Thor: Ragnarok, in which Surtur destroys Asgard at the climax?

Cate Blanchett played Hela and Jeff Goldblum the Grandmaster of Sakaar.

In the video game series God of War, Ragnarök is set in motion at the end of the 2018 game when Kratos kills which god?

The 2022 sequel God of War Ragnarök, from Santa Monica Studio, follows Kratos and his son Atreus through the event.

The Norwegian TV series Ragnarok recasts the myth in a polluted town where a teenage reincarnation of Thor confronts a family of giants. What is the town called?

The Jutul family's factories stand in for the jötnar; the show links the myth with climate change.

Which Danish author briefly dramatised Ragnarök in the fairy tale "The Marsh King's Daughter"?

A. S. Byatt's 2011 novel Ragnarok: The End of the Gods retold it at length.

In Thor: Ragnarok, who plays Hela, the goddess of death revealed as Thor's older sister?

Screenwriter Eric Pearson's idea of making her Thor's sibling turned the mythological Hel into Odin's firstborn.

On which garbage planet, surrounded by wormholes, does Thor crash-land and become a gladiator?

Its ruler the Grandmaster, played by Jeff Goldblum, buys Thor from the slave trader Scrapper 142.

Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok is based on which figure from Norse legend?

Once a legendary warrior, she works for the Grandmaster under the designation Scrapper 142.

Mark Ruffalo's return let Thor: Ragnarok adapt elements of which 2006 comic storyline?

Hulk had last been seen flying off in a Quinjet at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Under what working title did Thor: Ragnarok begin principal photography on the Gold Coast in July 2016?

It used all nine sound stages at Village Roadshow Studios, and Brisbane's business district doubled for New York.

In Thor: Ragnarok, which Asgardian warrior played by Karl Urban becomes Hela's executioner?

Urban shaved his head for the role; the Warriors Three meet what Kevin Feige called 'noble ends' to establish Hela's threat.

Netflix's Norwegian series Ragnarok is set in a polluted fictional town with what name?

The town's factories belong to the Jutul family, who are secretly four jötnar; it was Netflix's third Norwegian-language series.

In Netflix's Ragnarok, who plays Magne Seier, the teenager revealed to be the reincarnation of Thor?

Jonas Strand Gravli plays his half-brother Laurits, the reincarnation of Loki.

How many seasons did Netflix's Ragnarok run before its finale in August 2023?

It premiered in January 2020 and was produced by the Danish company SAM Productions.