Ragnarok is a fairly well-known Apocalyptic event within Germanic Mythology, primarily attested within the Prose and Poetic Eddas, the Voluspa poem within the latter is its best known one and makes reference to Ragnarok from Stanzas 40 to 58. This post will first set context and summarize its events, followed by an analysis of some particular symbols within the story, and then offer an in-general commentary concluding with two ends, one mundane or physical and the other Spiritual or Metaphysical. Accents and such for words will be avoided, so as to make navigation simpler.

Ultimately, a perspective that can be arrived at is that not only is Ragnarok a natural and necessary event, but it is also, symbolically, an inward trial that manifests itself in a positive manner via negativa, comparable with other Indo-European Mystery traditions.

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Context. Setting the stage & summary of the story:

Brothers will fight each other, and be each other’s bane,
sisters’ children will defile kinship.
It is harsh in the world, whoredom rife
an axe age, a sword age, shields are riven
a wind age, a wolf age, before the world collapses.
No one will spare another.

~ Völuspá, Stanza 45.

The world is in its final throes of its dark-age. Wracked in constant conflict, its depravity and decay are portrayed in the telling that fathers slaughter sons, brothers are stained with each other’s blood, mothers desert their husbands to bed their offspring, as will brothers seduce sisters. Chaos reigns as Order fades, and soon arrives Fimbulwinter, the “great winter”, that assaults our world in Midgard, not even the sun can pierce its frost. Three of these winters follow after each other with no summer in between, and so begins the ending of things.

First, arising in the East come the children of Fenrir, the giant wolf whose jaws reach Heaven and earth, who then devour the heavenly bodies and the flesh of the dead, spattering Asgard, the world of the gods, with blood. The sun turns black in the summer that follows, the Hel-hound Garmr howls in front of the cave Gnipahellir, the world-tree Yggdrasil shakes, and every bond breaks, setting free Garmr and Fenrir himself. Three roosters crow named Fjalar the colour of crimson, Gullinkambi of Gold, and one unnamed the colour of soot-red from Galgvidr in Jotunheim, Valhalla in Asgard, and the halls of Hel in the underworld respectively. Cheerfully, the giant Eggther, the watchman of his kind, sits atop a grave mound playing his harp to the tune of the calls, and the god Heimdallr trumpets his horn anticipating the great battle.

The world encircling serpent Jormungandr releases its hold upon its own tail and rises from the depths, making landfall spewing its venom against earth and sky, causing waves to crash that lets loose Naglfar, the ship of dead mens’ nails. The trickster god Loki too will break from his fetters, and will lead this vessel with his crew from Muspelheim, the realm of Fire, and will set sail from the East. From the South come more of the sons of Muspelheim, here lead by Surtr, the “black”, with his flaming sword brighter than the sun and cleaves the heavens in two, cracking and breaking the Bifrost, the rainbow bridge between heaven and earth, behind them.

Forces collide in a great battle, the Einherjar from Valhalla numbering 432,000 men strong are led by Odin and he makes straightway for the wolf Fenrir who swallows him whole. His son Vidarr will later avenge his death by rending the wolf’s jaws apart and piercing its heart. The god Thor will face and kill the serpent Jormungandr, though he will take 9 steps before himself dying from its venom. The god Freyr will face Surtr and fail, regretting having given away his sword in times past for lust or love. The wolf Garmr and the god Tyr will slay each other, Heimdallr and Loki too will fight and be one another’s deaths.

Finally, Surtr sends fire in all directions, turning the all the nine worlds to ashes. The gods die. Men women and children die. The birds and animals die. Elves and Dwarves die. Giants die. The monsters of the underworld die. Black is the sun, void is the sky where no stars shine, and the earth sinks into the waters. In Ragnarok’s aftermath, the world rises again, anew – fair and green.

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Particular Symbols:

Though in summary very short, the symbols and various meanings within it can start a discussion that could approach something seemingly near endless. So instead of attempting to cover everything here, I’ll elaborate on some of the story’s more prominent symbols such as the East & West, the Black Sun & Surtr, Fire, and the Ouroboros (Serpent biting its own tail), afterwards will be an in-general commentary which will focus on two main points; the cyclical nature of mundane existence, and of transcending said state of existence to a “higher” one.

East-West, North-South:

The story leaves us with the imagery that forces of destruction and fire are moving from two cardinal directions; from the East, and from the South, and therefore moving Westward and Northward. The cardinal directions and in particular the role of “East” and “South” in my opinion best frames the whole rest of the narrative.

The ‘East’ traditionally as a symbol often represents the spiritual, wisdom, life, contemplation, harmony, the metaphysical, and so on, contrasted with the ‘West’ representing materialism, death, instability, conflict, action, the psychological/logical, etc. A strong reason for this being that the Sun rises in the East, and sets or dies in the West. Another point that is more geographical is the idea that, in general, the nature and character of the Western world is one of action, progress and materialism, while the East is viewed as one of contemplation, tradition and spirituality.

The words for East, West, North and South are Germanic in origin. East is a word for “Dawn”, while the word for the West means “Evening”. North has its origins in terms such as “submerged from the root” and “left, below, to the left of the rising sun”. South derives from the Proto-Indo-European term to “seethe, boil” and shares its meaning for the word “Sun”, and is therefore “The region of the Sun”.

The very name of “Ragnarok” means “Twilight of the gods”. That is, the Eastern dawn is coming to conclusion in its evening twilight of the setting West, just as the forces of Muspelheim in the realm of Fire are making their way from East to West. So too, from the South “the region of the sun” led by Surtr will they meet Northward to the West – meeting at the point of Idavollr, “splendour-plain”, for the climactic battle.

The Black Sun & Surtr:

Much can be said of the sun alone, but what is of importance in this story is its colour, or rather absence of one. As the story goes; the sun goes black, and a fiery figure named Surtr appear who wields a flaming sword even brighter than the now gone sun itself. Of note is that the name of Surtr means “Black” or “Swarthy One”, from here we can essentially unify both the figure Surtr and the Black Sun into one symbol, and that it appears as though this sword serves as its “black” or “hidden” ray, for black as a symbol can represent things hidden and subtle, and that this ray paradoxically shines “brighter” than the sun. Thus, this Black Sun/Surtr has metaphysical significance that is hidden and more subtle, not just mundane, in its purpose.

Fire:

Fire is of universal significance with symbolism that is enormous in its scope, much like the sun which it shares much symbolism with. Fire kills and destroys, but it also warms, purifies and illuminates, and more subtly it Enlightens, as such the element of Fire is associated with “sight” and “knowledge” both physical and metaphysical and is therefore associated with the traditional priestly caste – whose ritual functions depend on fire for symbol and sacrifice. This dual nature between destruction and purification goes neatly in hand with the roles played by the sun and Surtr formerly mentioned.

The Ouroboros:

The Ouroboros is the image of a serpent coiled around biting its own tail. In Germanic Mythology the world-serpent called Jormungandr himself acts as such a symbol, wrapping himself around Midgard, which is our earth as well as the corporeal universe itself. The water he dwells in is both around our ocean and also the depths of the cosmos above us. Represented here is cyclical existence, action and reaction, and a self-defeating prison.

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In-General Commentary:

What we see in Ragnarok and the world reborn is the natural law of cycles. All things are born, live, decay and then perish. In this death, or sacrifice, then comes new life or sustenance for the already living. The cycle is just as much true with the course of the heavenly bodies, day and night, the seasons, all things in this world are in some form of cycle, like an Ouroboros. A civilization, a world, is as destined to steadily decline as our own bodies are and not even the gods are free from this reality of mundane existence, going to show that even the realm of the gods isn’t completely free, it is still subject to the mercilessness of nature and time, that there is a force even greater than the long-lived deities, giants, elves, dwarves, and mankind.

From the fire of creation in the beginning back again to fire in the end, Surtr in this sense can be seen not as a cruel, mindless, bloodthirsty giant, but as an agent acting on behalf of cosmic law and its mercy. The Germanic “Wolf-Age”, Ragnarok and Surtr can very much be compared with another Indo-European tradition, that is the Vedic Kali-Yuga and its ending with the arrival of the avatar Kalki, who too brandishes a flaming sword and cleanses the world. At this state the world is corrupt, irreligious, materialistic, ignorant, chaotic, amoral, unethical, violent, and cold-hearted to its core, plunged into a ‘winter’ that not even the light of the ‘sun’ can reach, nor can it be seen by the eyes of blind, ignorant man, not that he would even look up to try and see it, for his eyes are fixed downward exclusively to this mundane existence. The warmth and fire of the sun, its wisdom, knowledge, and sight has become “black” and “hidden”, there is no hope for man but the reckoning – divine intervention.

Along with meaning the “Twilight of the gods”, the word Ragnarök can also be interpreted thus; from Regin + Rok.  Regin, from Proto-Germanic ragina “decision, counsel”, and Rok from Proto-Germanic Rakō “direction, course, path”, from older Proto-Indo-European “to straighten, to direct, to right”. what thus can be seen is that Ragnarok primarily, among other various meanings that can be taken, is not only the climactic ending of a cycle, through Urd, Verdandi and Skuld, but also of a divine rectifying.

Further features of note is that there are exactly 432,000 warriors, the Einherjar, who come forth from Valhalla to fight in the great battle, just as in Vedic tradition the Kali-Yuga is said to last 432,000 years before its end and the arrival of Kalki and his army of the righteous. This number can be viewed either from a literal standpoint, or from a symbolic one.

Thus we arrive at a point where extremes meet. The cycle of the world has run its course, where we are both at its end in its darkest-age but now also are witnessing its new beginning in a golden-age. The collective rule of the lowest giving way again to the singular rule of the High. Where ‘Darkness’ and ‘Black’ paradoxically gives way to Light, for traditional thought sees that whenever one quality reaches its peak, it will naturally begin to transform into the opposite quality. The ‘Black’, ‘Hidden’ Sun can be seen both as a sign of destruction and ignorance for the corrupted, as well as purification and Knowledge for the Virtuous. The ‘East’ has caught up again to the ‘West’, the ‘North’ and ‘South’ meet at the center of things. Balance, harmony, synthesis, the duality meets and unites with the One in Fire as ultimate sacrifice. The world anew to repeat again.

From the individual standpoint as opposed to the universal, Ragnarok is one’s trial by Fire, the first step into initiation of the Great Mysteries. It’s the experience of negation, via negativa, where the Self deconstructs its vision of the illusory, contingent world around it, renouncing false-identification and dependence of the peripheries of mundane existence, most of all being the Ego. The figure of Surtr and the Black Sun – the subtle, metaphysical aspect of the physical symbol we see in the sky – therefore becomes a liberator, a deliverer, an impersonal being that bestows Enlightenment. Much like the Vedic Kali or Shiva, we see here both void and light, illusion and its ultimate destruction, the subtle “third eye” opens, illusion is burnt to ashes, and True sight is achieved. At this point, the cycle of mundane existence is broken, like Jormungandr thrashing back into the deep and its slayer’s temporary body falling too, releasing its heroic spirit into the Golden Halls it belongs in. Thor’s nine steps away from the serpent before dying is a significant detail, as nine is a sacred number.

Many, many more symbols can be analyzed, and definitely much further elaborated upon. So too can there be far more perspectives to conclude from this mythic story, but for now this article will settle on just these or else grow too long.

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As mentioned earlier, Ragnarok is like two ends finally meeting, one of the greatest of depths, a dark age, meeting anew a golden age. Going to show that improved states or enlightenment cannot be achieved without Sacrifice, a lesson displayed more vividly in the well known story of Odin’s self-sacrifice of ‘himself to Himself’ to learn the ‘Runes’. This is a general rule that can be applied both to material, practical topics, but also, and more importantly, to spiritual matters. Surtr “fares from the South”, which brings the normally “Northern” hyperborean symbolism into point of cleansing contact.

This is where low meets High and High meets low, East rises and meets west, the depths of the south burst through to a renewed North, opposites are reconciled, horizontal meets vertical, unity is found, “chains are broken”. Fire, which is a sacred symbol and element of order, eternal law, purification and the priestly caste reasserts itself over chaos, decadence, the mundane and the “Earthly” element of downward focused solidification. No progress or enlightenment can come without this trail by Fire – the blessing in disguise of Ragnarok.

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“A fourth I know,

Should I find myself in fetters:

When I sing that song it shall set me free,

the chains fall from my feet,

and the manacle from my hands.”

~ Havamal, 149.