[martin_fierro]

In Norse mythology, Ragnarok—the fate of the gods—begins when the earth is caught in the vice-like grip of a bone-chilling freeze. The heavens themselves freeze over, as the gods perish in great battles with evil serpents and murderous wolves. Eternal darkness settles over the bleak, frozen land as the sun and moon are both devoured. Odin, the father of all gods, finally falls to his death, and time itself comes to a halt.

I love a happy ending.

[orionblamblam]

> I love a happy ending.

Norse mythology is like that. Very profound, and, with the exception of the tacked-on Christian symbology at the end of Ragnarok (basically, it appears Snorri Sturlusson, the Christian Icelandic skald who recorded most of the myths that we know of, along with the history fo the kings of Norway and many sagas, added Christian elements such as a reborn, perfect paradisical Earth, probably in order to make the pagan tales more palatable in an era controleld by the Church), with a profound sense of Everything Ends. Even the souls of the dead end, it seems. The gods, unusual for a religion, are mortal and not only can die, but *will* die. That's why partying down was such a big thing for the Vikings...

[Michael Barnes]

for your tag line

[Cronos]

The Norse myth seems an earlier, more primitive form of the Aryanic creation myth -- and the most highly developed form of the myth is found in Indian, Hindu mythology. It goes like so:

Brahma, the creator God wakes up at the start of HIS day nd creates teh Universe. The universe goes through 4 yugas (eras) -- in the first everyone is very good and holy, in the second they are less holy, 3rd, even lesser and in the final yuga they are all evil. Wait, this site gives a better explanation. THe upshot is that Brahma lives for 100 years etc (so creates and recreates the univers 365.25 * 100 times) and at the end HE dies and everything gets dissolved back into the supreme deity.