In the Norse and Teutonic legends, as recounted in the Prose
Edda of Snorri Sturlson, the most powerful and feared Dragon-like creature was
the Midgard Serpent, known as Jörmungandr. Jörmungandr was so huge he was able
to circle the entire Earth (or Midgard as it was called by the Vikings) and put
its own tail into its mouth.
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| 01- MIDGARD SERPENT |
The Midgard Serpent’s sworn enemy was the Thunder
God Thor, one of the few Gods of Asgard who possessed the strength to stand up
to the beast. The relationship between the Thunder God and the Serpent started
when the Gods were young and ended in Ragnarok; the Twilight of the Gods.
The Midgard Serpent is the middle son of Loki, a jötunn (nature spirits with
superhuman strength) himself the son of Laufey (an embodiment of vegetation)
and Fárbauti (the spirit of lightning) whose mingling bequeathed Loki the
spirit and unpredictability of wildfire. Loki’s mother was the giantess
Angrboða, “the one who bring grief”, and his siblings were the Dire Wolf Fenrir
and Hel, the Goddess of the Dead whose realm was the mist world of Niflheim.
Niflheim was one of the two primordial realms along with Muspelheim where the
Fire jötunn dwelt. All three of Loki’s children along with the jötunn of
Muspelheim play a pivotal role in bringing about Ragnarok.
Odin, father of the Thunder God Thor’s and leader of the Æsir, saw the danger
in Jörmungandr when it would not stop growing after its birth. He threw the
serpent into the sea of Midgard, where it continued to grow until it surrounded
the whole world. The seas of earth became the realm of the Midgard Serpent.
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| O2- ODIN |
THOR LIFTS A CAT
The first encounter Thor had with the Midgard Serpent was in
the Castle of Útgarda-Loki during a ritual test of strength. Útgarda-Loki had
challenged Thor to drink from a horn whose end was dipped in the sea. Thor
failed to drain it, but drank so much it created the tides. Thor then had to
wrestle an old crone, a servant of Útgarda-Loki, but was overcome with weakness
after being unable to so much as move her. The crone was old age, who neither
man nor God could overcome. The third test that Útgarda-Loki posed was to lift
a grey cat up off of the floor. Thor tried with all his strength, but was only
able to get the cat to lift one paw off of the ground. The cat was actually the
Midgard Serpent, whose size was so great that even lifting a small part off of the
sea bed was enough to cause earthquakes and tidal waves. Thor left the Castle
with Útgarda-Loki’s promise that Thor would never be allowed back in.
THOR GOES FISHING
The next time Thor and Jörmungandr encountered the other Thor,
disguised as a young boy, visited Midgard with the God Tyr and stayed with the
giant Hymir while Tyr visited his mother and grandmother in the land of the Ice
Giants. Hymir was renowned for his fishing skill, and regularly returned with
huge fish, even whales, but Hymir looked at the young Thor and doubted if he
would be any use rowing his boat. “You are so small, if I take you out for as
long and as far as I am wont to go you would undoubtedly freeze.”
This enraged Thor but he held his temper and did not strike the giant. “I will
row as far and as fast as you need me to. Nor am I certain which of us would
give up and want to return first. Now, where is the bait?”
“If you want to fish with me get your own bait.”
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| 03- THOR |
Once more Thor’s temper flared, and he strode up the hill to where Hymir kept
his herd of prize cattle. Picking the largest ox, named Himinbrjotr, or
Sky-Cleaver, and struck off his head with one blow. When he returned Hymir had
already launched the boat and had taken up rowing position in the bow. Thor
tossed the Ox-head into the vessel and climbed in to man the stern set of oars.
Hymir, facing forward, was surprised how fast the boat moved; at first not
knowing Thor was powering it from behind. When Hymir reached the fishing
grounds where he usually caught flat fish he shipped the oars and called for a
stop. Thor refused, wanting to keep going further into the ocean and rowed them
out to the spot Hymir caught whales. When the giant wanted to stop and catch
whales, Thor again refused, “We must go further out.”
“If we do not stop here, we will be in the realm of the Midgard Serpent, who
circles the world at its edge.” Hymir remonstrated with Thor two more times but
Thor continued to row. Then Thor finally stopped the boat and they both started
fishing. Hymir baited his own hook twice, threw it out, and each time he pulled
in a huge whale. “I challenge you to do as well as this, stripling.”
Thor then took a strong line and hook and fastened the Ox head onto it. He then
let it out farther and farther until it rested on the bottom of the sea where
it dragged along behind the boat. The Midgard Serpent was intrigued by the bait
and snapped at it, burying the hook into its jaw. Thrashing with pain,
Jörmungandr thrashed and swam away so rapidly that it pulled Thor’s knuckles
into the gunwale. Angered now, Thor pulled with all his strength just as
Jörmungandr pulled in the other direction with such force that Thor’s feet
broke through the deck to catch on the hull of the ship. Calling on all his
force, Thor reeled in the line hand-over-hand, twisting the free end around the
oar-pins as he brought it up, finally working the mighty serpent all the way up
to the surface.
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| 04- THOR FISHING |
When the Midgard Serpent’s monstrous head came into view,
dripping with blood and venom, Hymir grew yellow of face, and feared for his
life. Great waves washed over the gunwale, threatening to swamp the vessel and
drown them both but Thor held on to the line with one mighty hand and with the
other reached to his belt for his hammer.
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| 05- THOR FIGHTS MIDGARD SERPENT |
From shoulder height Thor struck the Serpent with the hammer Mjöllnir. The
mountains shook and the ocean trembled but Jörmungandr was only wounded. As
Thor raised Mjöllnir above his head to deliver a killing blow strong enough to
split a mountain, Hymir grabbed his knife and cut the line. Jörmungandr quickly
slipped back into the depths of the sea to hide as far away from Thor as he
could get. Once more enraged by Hymir, Thor did not hold back and brought
Mjöllnir down upon the giant’s head, knocking him over the side and down to the
bottom of the sea. Filled with a great fear the giant managed to climb back
into the boat and huddle in the stern while Thor rowed to land. The God may not
have been able to kill the Midgard Serpent and end its threat to Asgard, but he
had landed a wounding blow and avenged the trick the beast had played upon him
in the Hall of Útgarda-Loki.
RAGNAROK: THE END OF THE WORLD
The prophecy of Raganrok speaks of the doom that befalls
Heaven, Earth and Hell because of Thor’s failure to kill the Jörmungandr when
he had the chance. When Loki is freed from his chains, the Midgard Serpent
rises from the depths to poison the sky of Midgard. Naglefar, the Ship of
Death, made in Hel’s realm from the fingernails of the dead, carries Fenrir,
Hel, her dragon Nidhogg, swallower of souls, and the demon hoards of Muspelheim
under the command of Surtur the Fire Demon to join with the Serpent, Loki and
the Ice Giants of Jotunheim in the attack on Asgard. In the final battle of
Ragnarok on the fields of Vigrid all Creation is undone and Time itself is
shattered.
The battle between Thor and Jörmungandr lasts long and the outcome is
uncertain. Thor strikes with Mjöllnir but the Serpent writhes away from the
blows, spewing venom over the Thunder God. Thor grows angrier and finally is
able to land the deathblow on the Midgard Serpent, stretching him out over the
Plain of Vigrid, unmoving. Yet, even in its death throes the Serpent manages to
spray its deadly venomous vapor into Thor’s face, who breathes it in and
manages to walk but nine paces away before dying on the battlefield beside his
mortal foe.
Thor would not be the only Æsir to die at Ragnarok. Even
though Loki is killed by Heimdal, Keeper of Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge,
Heimdal is gored by Loki’s horns and succumbs. Tyr is slain by the wolf-dog
Garm and Surtur dispatches Frey with his flaming sword. Fenrir attacks and
slays Odin the All-Father and is speared in turn by Odin’s son Vidar, who
manages to survive the battle.
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| 06- THE BLACK DRAGON |
Nidhogg, Hel’s Black Dragon, soars over the
plain swallowing the souls of the dead. The Dire Wolf Skoll swallows the sun and
the stars blink out of the sky. Surtur the Fire Demon moves through the worlds
burning everything with his sword. Midgard is covered in volcanic flame and its
sky filled with poisonous smoke, Asgard is scorched and even Nidhogg succumbs
to the inferno. Fire curls around the burning trunk of Ygdrasil, the World
Tree. Smoldering and blackened, the Earth sinks beneath the sea. What follows
is nothing but deep blackness and silence unbroken.
FIN
