World fire
The world fire is a term from the Nordic-Germanic mythology . He describes one of the four eschatological catastrophes in the context of Ragnarök , the end of the world. It comes in second place, after the Fimbul winter , but before the high tide caused by the Midgard Serpent and the darkening of the world when the wolf Skoll eats the sun.
The world fire will be triggered by Surt , the flame giant, after a fight against the sir . With the sons of Muspel (or Surts) he sets the world on fire, hurls fire in all directions with his flaming sword and destroys all life.
The world fire is described in two places within the Edda : the stanzas 55 and 56 of the older Völuspá and in chapter 51 of the younger prose section Gylfaginning, which refers to it :
“All beings must vacate the world place.
The sun turns black, the earth sinks into the sea,
From the sky the cheerful stars fade.
Swirls of embers surround the all-nourishing world tree,
The hot tan licks the sky. "
Richard Wagner processed the motif of the world fire in the catastrophe ( Götterdämmerung ) at the end of his four-part work The Ring of the Nibelung .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Edda. The older and younger Edda and the mythical tales of the Skalda. Translated and accompanied by explanations by Karl Simrock. Phaidon Verlag 1986. page 14.