Saturday 9 July 2016

Loki Rides To Vigrid Plain

Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword (London, 1977), Chapter XXIII.

A paragraph describes Skafloc's physical appearance and ends:

"So might Loki look, riding to Vigrid plain on the last evening of the world." (p. 167)

This is good comparison, whether Loki and the future Ragnarok are regarded as mythical or real. This text is ambiguous. On the one hand, the gods and giants exist. On the other hand, they are being driven back by the new god. So will Armageddon replace Ragnarok? The mixing of mythologies is like a comic book inter-company crossover, like Superman appearing before a climactic battle of the Avengers. However, Norse mythology anticipates something of that sort:

After Ragnarok, the returning or surviving gods are Baldr, Hoth, Honir, Odin's nephews and a mighty lord who comes on high, all power to hold, all lands to rule.
-copied from here

So, if Christ is the "...mighty lord who comes on high...," then maybe everything works out OK?

Addendum: The author of Voluspa could have been influenced by Christianity so the crossover goes back that far.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

That too is what I have read, the "Voluspa" being influenced by Christian ideas. Which would not be surprising by at least AD 800, as the Viking Age was beginning.

Sean