Ragnarökh part 1 Flashcards
What does Ragnarök usually translate to? And was was the original meaning closer to?
Ragnarök is usually translated as “twilight of the gods”. But the original meaning was closer to “fate of the gods”.
Ragnar is the genitive plural of?
Regin (“this that rule,” i.e. the gods). It translates as “of the gods”
Two forms of Ragnarök occurs in Old Norse texts. What are they?
ragnarok = “Fate of the Gods”
ragnarøk(k)r = “ Twilight of the Gods” (Snorri)
What is the principal source of Ragnarok?
Snorri’s Prose Edda and the Völuspa (in the Poetic Edda)
To what time period does the Völuspa and Prose Edda date back to what does this indicate about it’s originality?
The Völuspa dates back to the 10th century, which is immediately preceding the Christianisation of Iceland. While the Prose Edda was not compiled until around 1220.
This means that the versions we have today are highly unlikely “original” pagan material.
Taking into consideration the time period the Völuspa and Prose Edda was made what implications does this have on our reading of it?
There is little doubt that the Old Norse believed in a violent end of the world. But it is equally obvious that the versions we are reading are reacting, and in part incorporating, Christians noting of the apocalypse and the end times.
What makes reading authors like Snorri difficult? + example
We are looking back though a Christian lens at a pagan relation which itself may already have absorbed Christian elements. And to make things even more complicated the written material may also be continuing and repurposing even older mythological layers.
Example: Höôr’s Fate has similarities with Greek Orpheus and other variants of Old Norse Mythology
What is one of the main events that set off the special of destruction in Ragnarok?
The death of the good Baldr.
How is the death of Baldr the result of excess hubris?
The gods knows that Baldr cannot be killed, so they engage in all kinds of sportive ballistics to robe the extent of his invulnerability. But a lack of caution exploited by Loki, lures the blind Hodr into shooting Baldr with a mistletoe, the only thing in the creation that had not explicitly stated that it would not harm Baldr.
Mistletoe plants are not indigenous to Iceland, so probably neither Snorri nor the anonymous author of the Völuspa were familiar with it. So why is a Mistletoe used to kill Baldr??
A mistletoe comes with rich associations of magic and fertility and thus gives Snorri the opportunity to enhance his story by drawing on continental mythologies.
Some mythographers point to earlier legend in which a god called Bale could only be killed by a sword whose name sounded a bit like mistletoe. When the Norse appropriated the legend, they could not tell the difference and stuck to the plant mistletoe -> which makes sense because it is living things (rather than inanimate metal things) that are asked to harm Baldr.
What similarities does the fate of Höor and Baldr have with Greek underworld myths?
All things and creatures in creation pledging to cry for the slain Baldr is reminiscent of the madness of Orpheus over his deceased over Eurydike, a sadness so profound that it moves mountains and persuades the Olympian gods to allow Orpheus to retrieve Eurydice from the underworld.
Or the goodness Demeter shutting down nature to save her daughter Persephone who has been abducted by Hades.
On a deeper level the Baldr/Höodr myth relates back to an earlier myth, retold at great length by Saxo Grammaticus (1150-1220) in his Gesta Dacorum, the first history of Denmark that happily mixes facts, fiction and folklore.
Explain this myth?
Baldr, semidivine son of Odin, and Hodr not a brother but completely unrelated, are pitted against each other because they are both in love with Nanna (in Old Norse mythology, Baldr’s loving wife; in earlier mythology she is more interested in her foster-brother Hodr).
In the end Hodr manages to kill the demigod (with a special sword) Baldr, but is later killed by a son of Odin and Rindr.
What connection does the special sword that Hodr use to kill Baldr have with the Mistole?
In the myth by Saxo Grammaticus (1150-1220) in his Gesta Dacorum, it is said that Baldr can only be killed by a special sword - the name of which sounds like mistletoe!!
Why do some experts believe that on a deeper level the Baldr/Hodr showdown retakes the conflict between a god of light and fertility?
Baldr, the shining god, whose death causes so many fertilizing tears, and the chthonic dark (hence blind) god Hodr. A shining god dies and assumes a leading place in the underworld.
Looking at the Norse poem “Baldr’s Dream”, who is Vali and what does he do? And what taboo does it reflect?
Vali is the son of Odin and giantess Rindr. In Norse poem “Baldr’s Dream” it mentions that Odin father’s this son in order to kill Hodr and avenge Baldr. When Vali is only a day old he kills the blind god Hodr.
This is a strange story that draws on various brother-kills-brother my themes, but the bottom line is that if reflects the taboo on the father killing his own son.
