The End of the World // Ragnarok as told by Snorri Sturluson // 13th century Norse Source

"...and at the end of world he shall go forth and harry, and overcome all the gods, and burn all the world with fire..."
Here we have the 13th century lawspeaker and historian Snorri Sturluson's description of the Norse end of the world - Ragnarok ('twilight of the gods') - and the final fate of Odin, Thor and all the gods of Norse mythology.
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This video is part of Vikings Month - so please check out these other excellent videos:
• VIKINGS MONTH - DECEMB...
Voices of the Past is a channel dedicated to recreating the original accounts from the people who lived through events, or who lived far closer to them than we do today. We do this word for word, with an accompanying soundtrack of rousing music and images.
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- Music courtesy of:-
- Epidemic Sound
- Voice actor & editor:-
David Kelly
We try to use copyright free images at all times. However if we have used any of your artwork or maps then please don't hesitate to contact me and we’ll be more than happy to give the appropriate credit.
Thanks to:
nick hoke [CC BY 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)]

[@bapo224]

I love how they made an apocalyptic story just to get people to cut their nails before going into battle

[@mver191]

Vikings were always buried with a comb and other personal care products. It seems they took pretty good care of themselves.

[@HubertofLiege]

I’m building my own boat out of nails....and boogers

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

Interestingly womens fingernails are responsible for 50% of all infant death (as a direct viral, fungal, and bacterial vector - talk about a fashion to die for) and of the hands the fingernails are where almost all of the stuff you don't want to touch a wound or a surgery site of a patient to the point that prior to the advent of gloves surgeons would dip their fingertips with careful attention to the nail and nail bed in wax. And that was from 2000 when women were almost at the same level of men with basic hand hygiene - in recent times long and fake nails have become very common. Yet it is never, ever spoken of, and is shouted down when it is. Women cutting their nails would do more for the current pandemic than all the social distancing and what not. But it seems that rather than offending women with long nails people would rather allow bodies to pile up in vain.

[@Mr.MarcusMario]

@@dr.lexwinter8604 🤣🤣🤣🤣 bodies piled up yet?

[@notasmith8163]

“And there was a scroll and bound upon it was seven seals. And then the first seal was brok-“ Oh wait wrong apocalypse

[@Saint_nobody]

Actually, a lot of this reminds me of the happenstance in "the promised land" surrounding the time of Christ's crucifixion as mentioned in 3rd Nephi...

[@davidkelly4210]

@Gigantes Slaya This hasn't happened yet, it's prophecy.

[@JesusRocksTryPrayin]

they are all the same. Humans are trapped apart; hidden by mislanguage and babel. but all sources point to the same origin and end. The acceptance of mis-truth as truth. The loss of moral character; and society being turned to salt. which it more often than not deserves. What is the end of the world? For say, a community. A nation. Any group of people :) The end of what they knew. The birth of what quite frankly is an ever-expanding hell of self-indulgence. No sweat. Ya'll do ya'll

[@Yarblocosifilitico]

@@davidkelly4210 The arrow of time is a modern concept. In ancient times, it was circular... cyclical...

[@LuisAldamiz]

There's a snake too somewhere...

[@robertboyle2573]

Norse mythology is fascinating.

[@EasytheGoon]

Too bad all we have from it was written by christains.

[@davidkelly4210]

@Gigantes Slaya This hasn't happened. It's prophecy.

[@davidkelly4210]

@Gigantes Slaya The Great flood? This is a Medieval prophecy, so no. If Rganorack happened, we wouldn't be here.

[@themagnus2919]

"Mythology"... Sure.......

[@alexjarger4319]

You should see Slavic mythology. There are similarities. Or Ugro-Finnic.

[@leomes]

An audio book of the Eddas read by this guy. Seems like a very good idea.

[@WorgenGrrl]

But it is said that there will be Hope still...for when Ragnarok is done, Balder and is wife return from Hel's Halls and rebuild and rule in Odin's place. The sons of Thor will find their father's hammer and it will hang in the Hall as a sacred relic. Even Humanity will survive in the form of the last couple...Life and Stubborn-will-to-Live are their names.

[@mylittlewhatnow]

Such an amazing channel- always makes the past feel so much more 'real' to have their own words read out like this. Thank you so much :)

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

Way too many adverts though, I made the mistake of trying to listen to this on my iPad rather than my PC with ad blockers. I kept getting woken up by loud adverts that couldn't be skipped. After the fourth time I just turned it off. :(

[@robbier6389]

2:18-2:32 reminds me so much of Theoden's speech before the Battle of Pelennor Fields in Lord of the Rings

[@spongemaster]

Tolkien was heavily inspired by the Eddas for his own stories so it's most likely intentional

[@katarinavidakovic8579]

Tolkien was using Nors mitolgy alot

[@taylorday6244]

Wow I was thinking the exact same thing!! He had to have been inspired by this (Tolkien)

[@katarinavidakovic8579]

@@taylorday6244 you have story abaut ring of pawer in Nors mitolgy and it is nowan he was inspired by it for Lord of the ring

[@cognitivedisability9864]

@@katarinavidakovic8579 I still say gondor/arnor is inspired by romans, the numenorians by atlantis. It annoys me when people say tolkien only drew from norse myth, he drew on world history the wars between the muslim world and the christian, east vs west. And also gondor(Constantinople) the last kingdom(empire) of the ancient kings(caesars/emperor) to me its just very simillar if you paint the east Mongols/muslim world as orcs and eastern men and such. gondor has lost abandoned and given away alot of land, civil wars ravaged the kingdom, plagues struck, blah blah blah all this happened to the byzantines/romans

[@Azsouth]

and the red sun rises! *epic charge of Rohan*

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

Lame and cringe bro.

[@victorp8482]

I like your speech and manner. Thank u for making this video. It is hard to find good written word of old. Great to hear here.

[@VoicesofthePast]

Thanks pal!

[@thenightwatchmen9063]

I love these videos so much! Keep up the amazing work!

[@Tiki_Media]

I appreciate you re-telling these stories in a medium for the future generations, thank you! May I suggest flashing the names of the characters on the screen so the viewer can see the spellings and keep the characters straight? I don’t want to interfere with your artistic presentation of the work, but it sure would help us mortals...

[@barrydysert2974]

The last quote is stunning! 🖖

[@KiralearnsNorwegian]

Fantastic video. And channel. *subscribed*

[@VoicesofthePast]

Nice!

[@deanbuss1678]

End of days stories seem to all have a great deal in common . Norse poetry is the coolest !👍🇸🇪??🗡️🛡️🇳🇴

[@jakob4644]

DK

[@Niiiiith]

Beautiful in its own way

[@kaltonian]

Brilliant accounts, also I must say that it is pretty accurate when describing the forming of the earth, you know the fires and lava as it was when earth was first to be, then the age of snow and ice, the ice age, all fascinating

[@universalis8208]

Plus the firegiants and 15000 other myths lol, it doesn't describe the primordial earth according to big bang cosmology really at all.

[@universalis8208]

Especially the wolf biting down on top and bottom of the Earth.. So AcCuRaTe

[@TheAnalatheist]

Behold WhatMannerOfLove Nerd.

[@gingacenturion492]

Anyone else noticing how similar to Tolkien this sounds like?

[@joeritremio2724]

Tolkiens work is based on norse mythology for a great deal.

[@dogbirth6662]

Yes!! “Shields shall be splintered! A sword day. A red day. Ere the sun rises!”

[@IudiciumInfernalum]

Only when there is a glorious charge involved.

[@NealeDeadlyAlien]

Probably because Tolkien's Middle Earth is heavily influenced and inspired by Norse/Anglo-Saxon folklore.

[@dr.lexwinter8604]

Ugh, why are people so stupid?

[@AsttoScott]

I'm pretty sure Ragarok is a metaphor for the next big rock that resets us.

[@angusarmstrong6526]

Wonderful, and very well read.

[@yveslaflute9228]

This is a cosmic history to come, as it did in the past: Wolf= Sirius and canis major, other wolf= canis minor. The sword exceeding radiance compared to the Sun is a comet's trail, a major comet. Midguard serpent is Draco, a serpentine constellation associated with fire on Earth. Loki seem to be the corona, he is a joker, a deceiver, not the Sun itself, but its glow. Odin, the thunderbolt thrower is Jupiter. Rest is uncertain but brief translation is: Shit happens.

[@dunkndognuts9829]

You and/or your brother should do some Beowulf and ancient Finno-Ugric material, kind of a Tolkien lore and history series *_Lord of the Histories:_* _The Fellowship of the Past_

[@davidmorales5718]

"So be good, for goodness sake!" ~Peter Vankman

[@dflatt1783]

The slaughter beast.... love it.

[@Ostarrichi996]

Do you also have texts about medieval mid-europe? I would love these

[@taylorday6244]

That's like his whole channel numnuts

[@Ostarrichi996]

@@taylorday6244 dude I mean mid europe numnuts

[@bretalvarez3097]

@TheElderScrollsKing What do mean “mid Europe”? Do you mean “Central Europe”?

[@Ostarrichi996]

@@bretalvarez3097 yes thanks

[@MattieK09]

Okay that was epic

[@tinkmarshino]

I need to learn more about the heros and such of the "olden days" This was rather hard to follow with all of the names I new not!

[@EasytheGoon]

Jackson Crawford- he translates directly from old Norse. The channel is his name

[@tinkmarshino]

@@EasytheGoon amazing stuff really.. I used to know a bit about old norse legends.. but that was 1000 years ago when I to was young.. thanks

[@Jobbazz]

V Just finished Neil’s book. A great introduction to the Norse Pantheon

[@stanleystriker7065]

Next....Amon Amarth playlist....

[@zabimaru404]

This needs more METAL.

[@Stadtpark90]

2:19 That’s a bit like Aragorn‘s speech in The return of the King movie... - edit: should have read other comments first lol

[@aard9952]

Théoden's speech from the charge of the roharrim*

[@arthurrobey4945]

Aye, But what of the Vannir?

[@seanm4112]

I believe they replace the Aesir

[@arthurrobey4945]

@@seanm4112 Our Freya was married to Odin. We are kin.

[@romanovrex]

schrods, man...its the schrods!

[@levishanes5717]

Bit of a meme reference, but “to all the subjects of ...” If you get it, don’t explain. (123).

[@gunnar314]

i actually learned about this in school 😅🇮🇸

[@dors.sc1]

You have the same name as your father?

[@gunnar314]

dor yes

[@dors.sc1]

@@gunnar314 so how do you know which person someone calls when they call one of you?

[@gunnar314]

@@dors.sc1 they just called my second name too, Gunnar Ingi

[@norsemanbushcrafting1621]

Gunnar Gunnarsson me to 🇳🇴👍🏻

[@alexanderwagner4587]

❤this channel! But you need to work on your Old Norse pronounciation my friend

[@of_the_Word]

This is extremely similar to the account given in Revelation

[@McHobotheBobo]

Isn't Surtur a fire giant of Muspelheim not a frost giant of Jotunheim?

[@McHobotheBobo]

I thought they had a different name (simply "Muspel" or similar) since Jotun has historically referred to ice giants specifically

[@EasytheGoon]

Jotun is just another race of gods. It does not literally mean giant. Even though one of the jotun was very tall. But the aesir often intermarried with the jotun. In fact skadi was the most beautiful of the aesir but before she married she was a jotun

[@cooperm4185]

@@EasytheGoon most stories depict Jotunns as bigger than the Aesir and Vanir, and they are often described as giants

[@martinsriber7760]

@@McHobotheBobo Not to Norse.

[@EasytheGoon]

@@cooperm4185 nope, that's not correct. There is a story about one extremely tall jotun. Jackson Crawfords channel can break it all down for you. He has a doctorate in linguistics specialty in old Norse.

[@50mt]

Ah, I do love me some Snorre "Dick" Sturlasson!

[@miosanjuan7687]

Then a Purple man kills Loki

[@brodieknight772]

Fenris wolf instead of Fenrir. Nakfar instead of Naglfar. Why is this?

[@brodieknight772]

@David Larsson ok, ok, Fenrisulven is the Fenris wolf. Interesting.

[@mver191]

Isn't this just describing a comet impact? Fire, blocking of the sun, blocking of the moon, etc

[@ACruelPicture]

Or vulcanic eruption

[@LuisAldamiz]

I'm rooting for the revenge of Hel and Jormungandir.

[@joeritremio2724]

Love your story telling even though you butchered some of the names xD

[@fullfist]

A bit difficult to follow without captions.

[@themagnus2919]

"3 YEAR WINTER"="GRAND SOLOR MINIMUM". IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN SOON!

[@trailtrs1]

Solar minimum started last year and will continue for the next 20+ years

[@Gabpt]

trailtrs1 what does it means?

[@themagnus2919]

@@Gabpt The sun is entering a cycle of inactivity which will result in a mini ice age. This is a cyclical event known as the "Grand Solor Minimum" and it will result in a winter that will last for years. This period of time will be marked by great turmoil, famine, starvation and wars.

[@Yarblocosifilitico]

@@Gabpt check out Suspicious Observers for good info on the sun

[@trailtrs1]

Tomas Ribeiro cooking trend

[@alexanderb7721]

Wasn't Snorri of Icelandic origin?

[@luxborealis]

Yeah, he was an Icelandic chieftain and clan leader, as well as being head of the pro-Norwegian faction (ironically he got assassinated by the Norwegian king for suspected betrayal).

[@EasytheGoon]

He was also a Christian.

[@Benn61]

@@EasytheGoon he was Catholic.

[@back2paranormal]

Glad I'm not there.

[@LuisAldamiz]

Are you sure you aren't here?

[@sephirothdomain1]

Its obviously a nuclear winter .. With elves

[@BolinFoto]

Ragnrök isn't the end it's the beginning of the new. The old age dies and the new world begins.

[@The_Mad_King]

Snorri means the attacker and he was a called a coward by the monks writings.The old world knows he was a swindler and a liar because of the monks tales. Snorri had a name the would be tainted by a few humans with the power of the written word yet called their interpretation by the same name. When I get to Valhal I may meet snorri and mayhaps his midguard story is different that what has been told to me and we shall fight and slay each other and feast and fight again. If gods approve and I am wrong ... yet the written word is most likely from English Christian monks which would most definitely be bias. I hope to meet the true Snorri some day

[@mver191]

This is describing a meteor impact. And the following (natural) chaos.

[@Poodleinacan]

Good thing the Earth will be ablaze, after the many constant winters. That'll make us save on our heating bill.

[@markjohnson5276]

New beginnings always start as looking like an ending. If you live life in your spirit, you are always at the beginning. I know nonsense if your not awoke. lol

[@kathywolf4558]

Awwww...wolves are not that bad....they always get a bad rap.....

[@LuisAldamiz]

Truer than true.

[@directrulefromgamerchair3947]

Fenrir is just a bad pupper. Most puppers are güd bois

[@Jeremyramone]

Made of dead mans nails? Sounds like a violation of basic hygiene

[@reginabillotti]

And I'm wondering about the physics of that. How is that seaworthy?

[@fredfrond6148]

Wow three winters that all over the world there shall be war among men. Winter is coming doesn’t that sound like game of thrones.

[@Saint_nobody]

A year passed. Winter changed into Spring. Spring changed into Summer. Summer changed back into Winter. And Winter gave Spring and Summer a miss and went straight on into Autumn. Until one day...

[@fredfrond6148]

EmtronVenger I will check out the Poetic Edda. 👍. I suppose very little literature is completely new.

[@themagnus2919]

Syncrinicity. Ancient "mythology" is speaking to us, warning us of what is to come. The "grand solor minimum" is coming...

[@JoseTorres-in4fs]

Last time I heard about ragnarok a Purple grape looking for gemstones killed Loki.

[@yungwhippin7252]

I know it is probably difficult for an english speaker but as a swede i find it annoying when he doesnt roll his Rs. It's like there begging to be rolled and i think it would add to the epicness of the Saga.

[@VidarrKerr]

The Bible is nothing compared to Olde Norse. That is why "they" are trying to make our stories and writings illegal through hate speech, and hate symbols. I encourage all of you that are of this ancestry (and fans, everyone is welcome for sure!) to use our ancestors symbols, words, names, and more. This is Our culture, our heritage, our history given to us from our ancestors. Our stories are not from the Middle East, scribbled out by a bunch of people wandering around in deserts all the time. Our stories are from our ancestors that were world travelers, explorers, and merchants. Don't ever let "them" try to take that. Don't believe their lies about our history and culture either. "They" want to end us permanently. Do not let them.

[@Benn61]

You might thank Rome for that, and not the Bible.

[@citizen762]

Now I know why the Vikings became Christians so readily. Norse theology is too damn complicated.

[@themagnus2919]

None if it can be taken literally but allegoricaly it has a lot of value.

[@LuisAldamiz]

LOL, and Christian trinitarian theology that was not understood even by Augustin is "simple"? Seriously... They became Christians because Christianity was more powerful: they had little choice, just like colonial Africans, whoever rejected the ideology of the great powers of the time was bound to suffer greater trouble, ask in Lithuania, which was about the last European realm of any significant size to remain Pagan... and were attacked by the Teutonic Knights.

[@citizen762]

Luis Aldamiz true. I am an atheist and even as an atheist in those days I do believe I would’ve Bent the knee simply for the sake of diplomatic relations. In a world of blood thirsty superstitious fanatics with swords it’s best to go along to get along in order to prolong one’s life and kingdom.

[@LuisAldamiz]

@@citizen762 - Sure. I'd be probably be burnt at the stake anyhow sooner or later but maybe I could get away with some duplicity. Even the great Egyptian poet Omar Khayyam had to "bend the knee", as you say, as he was being accused of "atheism". Many people in many countries still are persecuted for that. To quote the great Khayyam: "if the Muslim would understand his religion, he would become a pagan". The same applies for Christianity and probably most other religions.

[@frankjamesbonarrigo7162]

make sure you write super important shit in vague as shit wording

[@jesseberg3271]

5:29 that's not Heimdall, Heimdall looks more... Idris Elba-y.

[@bretalvarez3097]

Only in Marvel

[@tharealmikezee3165]

So you're not gonna do like an exegesis or explain wtf this guy's talking about bcuz it sounds like nonsense crap