The tale began with Thor traveling with his human servant, Thjalfi, and his adopted brother, Loki. The story essentially revolved around Thor having a particularly bad day. Their first clash happened at the stronghold of Utgarda-Loki, the home of a giant. It is only after he encircled the earth that Jörmungandr started to have run-ins with Thor. Quite why they shared such an antagonistic relationship was never fully explained. The two were always portrayed as hating each other, and their mythologies were tightly entwined. He was always depicted as an antagonist to Thor, the god of thunder. Ouroboros drawing from a late medieval Byzantine Greek alchemical manuscript ( Public Domain ) Jörmungandr in Norse MythologyĪlthough a key player in Norse mythology, Jörmungandr only appeared in three main myths besides his above origin story. The Story of Ragnarok, The Ancient Norse Apocalypse.Going to Hel and Back: The Realm of the Norse Goddess of the Underworld.It was believed that if Jörmungandr ever released his tail, it would be the beginning of the end for the gods. Before long, he had grown to such a size that he encircled Midgard (Earth) and clamped down on his own tail, forming an ouroboros, the depiction of a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. Jörmungandr continued to grow while living in the sea. Odin flung Jörmungandr into the sea, confined Hel to Niflheim, the land of the dead, and bound Fenrir to a rock on an island. Although they were little more than babies, he ordered them separated from their mother. Odin then received a prophecy that the three would grow up to become a challenge to the power of the gods. When the gods learned that Loki’s children were being raised by a jotunn in Jotunheim, they were understandably concerned. The jotunn were historically antagonistic towards the gods and mankind, and Loki had his own, often complicated history with the other gods. The birth of the three children was not exactly warmly welcomed by the other gods. Jörmungandr (the Midgard Serpent) gets fished by an ox head, from the 17th century Icelandic manuscript. The Enigmatic Loki, A Trickster Among Gods in Norse Mythology.Slithering Through the Stories of Ancient Snake Deities: Serpent Gods of Ancient Mythology.In addition to Jörmungandr, the couple had Fenrir, a giant wolf, and Hel, the goddess of the Norse underworld. His mother was a jotunn (giant) from Jotunheimen called Angrboða. Jormungandr’s father was Loki, the trickster god. We find the origin of Jörmungandr in chapter 34 of the Gylfaginnig (a 13th-century text that recounts the Norse creation mythology). Jörmungandr is one of the oldest entities in Norse mythology, and for the most part his portrayal is pretty consistent, with a handful of variations. Most early Norse tales were spread by word of mouth rather than written down, adding to the confusion. The importance of certain characters would wax and wane, and people would tell different versions of established tales. Much like Greek mythology, Norse mythology evolved much over the years. ( Lars Gieger / Adobe Stock) The Tragic Origin of Jörmungandr So who understood Jörmungandr better? The Norse who feared him or the historians who study him today? Rather than a villain, they say he can be read as a force of nature and a necessary agent of transformation. However modern historians take a rather different approach, painting the venomous serpent in a more sympathetic light. Throughout history, he has been portrayed as a key villain in Norse mythology and arch nemesis of Thor, the god of thunder. Jörmungandr, the world serpent, was an integral part of Norse mythology.
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