Ragnarök

Ragnarök (also known as the Twilight of the Gods, Doomsday or Götterdämmerung) is a series of future events, including the occurrence of various natural disasters, a great battle foretold to ultimately kill many deities (including the Gods Odin, Thor, Tyr, Frey, Heimdall, and Loki), the burning and drowning of the Nine Worlds, and the rebirth of life in the paradise of Gimlé.
== History of Ragnarök-related events ==
# Loki's children Fenris, Hel, and Jormungandr are born to the Jotnar Angrboða after her affair with Loki. Knowing the birth of the three was one of the catalysts of Ragnarök, Odin swiftly had the Aesir size the three and placed all three under careful watch:
#* Jormungandr was cast by Odin into the sea of Midgard, where he eventually grew so large that he circled the earth, tail caught in his mouth
#* Hel was imprisoned in Helheim, but permitted to assume rulership over it, becoming Queen of Helheim and Goddess of the Dishonoured Dead
#* The Aesir initially permitted Fenris Wolf to be raised among them, hoping to thwart destiny and turn him from an enemy into an ally, but Fenris soon grew wild and entered a wild rampage until Tyr bound him with Gleipnir, though the god of war loses his right hand in the process.
# Because the two had a dream, Frigg asked everything not to harm her son Baldur, but overlooked mistletoe. During a celebration party, he is killed by Loki out of jealousy and boredom when he tricked Hod into throwing a poisonous mistletoe dart at him. Hel promises Baldur back if everything in the nine worlds wept for him. After the Aesir gods sent messengers, they did so, including Frigg, who never cries. However, Loki refused while disguised as a female giant named Þökk, temporarily preventing Baldur's resurrection. After discovering this, Loki, as punishment, is bound to a slab of rock with the entrails of his sons, Vali and Narvi, who the gods had killed as punishment for their father's action. A snake from Skadi (for his flyting at Aegir's hall) hangs over him, dripping caustic venom on his face. His wife, Sigyn (Narvi and Vali's mother), was there to catch the venom, but it burned Loki's face when she had to empty it.
# Frey gives away his sword Sumarbrander to Skírnir for his help in marrying the Jotnar Gerd.
== Events preceding, during, and after Ragnarök ==
# Nidhogg shall chew through the roots of Yggdrasil, leaving the tree to yellow and sicken as the worlds it supports shall plunge into chaos.
# Fimbulvinter ("Mighty Winter") - three consecutive winters during which the entire Midgard shall freeze, and all life will cease to exist. The only two human survivors, Líf and Lífþrasir, will hide in the branches of Yggdrasil.
# Sons of Fenris - Skoll and Hati - responsible for chasing the Sun and Moon to eat, will finally reach their targets. Sól and Mani, the gods of the Sun and Moon, will die along with the stars and sky.
# Three Roosters shall hatch and crow to announce the beginning of the battle: Gullinkambi in Valhalla, Asgard awakening the gods and einherjar; Fialar in the forest of Gálgviðr in Jotunheim awakening the Jotnar; and an unnamed soot-red rooster (named "Nameless" by Odin) in the halls of the underworld location of Helheim. The cheerful Jotunn herdsman, Eggther, will play his harp on a mound.
# Garm, Hel's watchdog of the Underworld, shall roar. At this time, the bindings of Loki and his son, Fenris Wolf, shall come loose.
# Loki and Fenris shall exact their revenge. The Midgard Serpent will emerge from the waters to join it's brother Fenris as they advance on the Gods, and Loki, with his giants and allied monsters, will sail the rising waters wiped into a frenzy by Jormungandr on Naglfar - the Ship of Nails - steered by Hrym, towards Asgard. The sky will split in two, and Surt and his army of Fire Giants will come through and ride across the Bifrost Bridge, which shall collapse under the weights of all those monsters and giants.
# The armies of both Loki and Surt will advance to the field of Vigridr for the final battle. They shall be joined by the armies of Helheim, headed by Hel herself, who comes to aid her father against the Gods, as well as Jormungandr and Fenris Wolf, who, like their sister, join the fight against the Gods. Nidhogg shall also rise from the underworld to bare the souls of deceased criminals to Loki's aid.
# Seeing the enemies, Heimdall shall blow his warning horn - Gjallar - so loud, all Nine Worlds will hear it. Odin shall lead his einherjar out of Valhalla and into the battle. The warriors of Folkvanger shall flip Sessrumnir over and sail to the battle, where they to shall assemble.
# Hresvelgr, the Sallower of Corpses, shall deliver the screams prophesised to signal the Twilight of the Gods and at these cries, the fray ensures.
# The All-Father and his spear Gungnir will be swallowed whole by Fenris, but his son - Vidar - who has been mourning the fallen Baldur - will hear Odin's dying cries and join the fight. The son will avenge the father by ripping the wolf's mouth apart with his giant boot. Odin's wife, Frigg, shall cry for the only second time in her life.
# Thor shall slay Jormungandr with his hammer in a final confrontation but will fall victim to the serpent's venom sprayed on him after taking nine steps.
# Loki and Heimdall will kill each other in a duel.
# Amid the chaos, Garm shall charge Tyr on Hel's command and grasp the God of War in his fangs, tearing his chest open, but Tyr will kill him with his final act.
# When the gods are dead, the einherjar will fight the giants and monsters until the very end.
# Surt will kill the god Frey using the latter's sword, Sumarbrander, and incinerates the Nine Worlds with his full power, destroying everything in the process, himself included.
# After burning Asgard, the oceans shall rise and engulf the Nine Worlds in water. Yggdrasil, the World Tree, will be destroyed by water. From Yggdrasil's roots, a new world - called Gimlé, the New Asgard - shall emerge.
# Líf and Lífþrasir will repopulate Gimlé. Hel resurrects Baldur and Hod, and they reconcile in the new world, which Vidar shall rule.
# Nidhogg shall also survive and return to his duties as tormentor of the spirits of the wicked. He shall be the darkness that balances out the good.
# Gimle will be a peaceful place with no strife. The population of humans will live in peace, prosperity, and happiness.
== Trivia ==
* Fimbulvinter inspired the Hundred-Year Winter in C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.