Midogaruzuorumu
The name of the Midgaard Serpent in Norse myth and a
metaphor for geologic violence particularly associated with the mid-Atlantic
Ocean. Jormungandr dwelt under the sea. Whenever he tightened his coils about
the world, earthquakes and tempests lashed out. In the Twilight of the Gods (Goetterdaemmerung
or Ragnarok), the monster's death agonies caused a worldwide flood, part of the
universal destruction that ended a former age of greatness.
Germanic myth evinces a real fear of this no-man's-land
outside the settlement, and the idea of the frontier is there all the time,
with the gods serving to ward off dangers from the wild. The islanders and the
people along the shore believed that a universal ocean surrounds the earth,
with an unfathomable abyss at the horizon and a huge snake curling at the edge
to hold the world together. The serpent is called the Midgardr serpent or
Jörmungandr; according to Snorri, this monstrous ophidian bit its tail-a
concept that does not occur in the Eddic poems but that is quite common in
Eastern religions and that was introduced in Scandinavia by medieval Christian
scholarship. The symbol (similar to the ouroboros in Jungian psychology) may be
borrowed, but the concept is old, as the name Jörmungandr shows. Connected with
jörmungrund (meaning "earth" in st. 20 of the Lay of Grimnir),
jörmun- (also a name of Odinn) is an adjective meaning "great, powerful,
lofty," and gandr means "magic wand." The compound eormengrund
also appears in Beowulf (line 859).
Thor and the World
Serpent
Although the Norse Thor may be most closely associated with
giant-killing, in Germanic myth the greatest archetypal example of the sky-god
with thunder-weapon battling demonic power is manifested in Thor's struggle
with Jormungandr, the world serpent, a struggle which does not reach its climax
until the final cataclysm at Ragnarok. In this conflict Thor manifests the
Indo-European patriarchal sky-god who battles evil incarnate in an attempt to
protect humankind; we well might say that in this archetypal opposition Thor
represents life and light, while Jormungandr represents death and darkness. Myths
concerning such polarized battles between the forces of life and those of death
are particularly well suited to mid-winter, when rituals related to them also
may take place. This association may be especially true in the far north, where
darkness and cold always threaten the delicate balance of subsistence; it is
Thor, in the Germanic pantheon, who stands between his followers and the frigid
abyss. The thunderer's battle with the world serpent, then, carries mythic
overtones regarding ancient and widespread concerns about agricultural
fertility. Two familiar comic Norse myths provide the context for this
particular manifestation of that struggle, which turns starkly serious at the
time of the apocalyptic battle between the gods and their foes. Our first glimpse
of Thor's conflict with the great serpent comes from the saga of Utgard-Loki
told by Snorri; we pick up the tale shortly after Thor has taken Thialfi and
Roskva into his service as recompense for the lameness of his goat.
In this myth Thor has his revenge upon Jormungandr for
Utgard-Loki's trick, and in taking this vengeance Thor reasserts those
qualities of literal mindedness, wrath, and straightforward power with which
audiences were most familiar. It is probably in part for these reasons that
this was and remains one of the most popular and enduring myths of Thor. It is
also, in this version by Snorri, a finely told and funny story. There are three
other versions of this myth known to exist, and this myth was most certainly
known in England during the Viking period: the Gosforth Slab shows Thor fishing
with an ox head, while the Gosforth Cross contains an illustration of Thor
fighting Jormungandr; both are from Gosforth churchyard in Cumbria, and both
are from ca. 900 ce. In comparative terms, Thor's bait-the ox head-recalls
Feridun's Gurz, and this association may suggest the early and archetypal
origin of this late Norse version of an Indo-European myth; further, the ox's
name ("Skybellower") might indicate a faint cultural recollection of
Thor's archetypal identity as protector sky-god. Finally, this myth has been
persuasively associated with the medieval tradition of Christ catching
Leviathan on a hook. Laughter aside, however, Jormungandr proves to be-quite
literally-Thor's nemesis, and with this foreknowledge the comedy of this myth
has a ring of pathos. Thor's last battle with the monster and their mutual
destruction un derscore the final failing of the old gods of the North; when
Thor falls, the forces of order have lost their greatest part:
Thor and Jormungandr
at Ragnarok
On the dawn of the day of the final struggle, when Heimdalr
has sounded his horn and thus announced the approach of Ragnarok, Thor will
strap on his girdle of strength, put on his iron gloves, take up Mjollnir, and
mount his chariot. Thor will ride into battle at the hand of his father, who
will be the first to engage the enemy in the form of the great wolf Fenris.
Before Thor can turn to Odin's aid, however, he will be attacked by
Jormungandr, and their struggle will be mighty and fearsome to behold. Thor's
power will prove the greater at the last, but in its death throes the great
worm will spew forth rivers of venom so potent that even the thunderer's vigor
will be overcome. Thor will stumble back nine paces and fall, stricken by the
serpent's poison. The battle will rage on without him, but the hopes of the
gods die with Thor.
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