Ragnarök

The end begins with Fimbulwinter — three consecutive winters with no summer between them. Snow falls from all directions. The world grows cold and dark. Brothers kill brothers; fathers turn against sons. The age of wolves has come.

Then the chain of events that cannot be stopped begins. Fenrir breaks free. Jörmungandr rises from the ocean depths and writhes toward shore, flooding the land. The ship Naglfar — built from the fingernails and toenails of the dead — sets sail, crewed by giants and steered by Loki, who has escaped his own imprisonment. Surtr marches from Muspelheim carrying a flaming sword brighter than the sun.

Heimdall sounds the Gjallarhorn and the call reaches every corner of the nine worlds. Yggdrasil shudders. The gods arm themselves and ride out.

Odin leads the Einherjar, the honored dead of Valhöll, but it is not enough. Fenrir swallows Odin whole. Víðarr, Odin's son, who has prepared for this moment since the beginning of time, tears the wolf's jaws apart and kills him.

Thor and Jörmungandr meet as fate decreed. Thor kills the serpent with Mjölnir, takes nine steps back, and falls, overcome by its venom. Freyr falls to Surtr, having given away his magic sword long ago. Týr and the hound Garmr slay one another. Loki and Heimdall meet and kill each other.

Surtr sweeps his burning blade across the world. Everything burns. The earth sinks into the sea.

Then the world rises again — green and new. Baldr returns from Hel. The surviving gods find one another and remember. A man and a woman, Líf and Lífþrasir, who sheltered in the branches of Yggdrasil during the fire, step out into a renewed world and begin again.