One thing that unites the mythologies across almost all cultures is the presence of dragons
and serpents. These creatures have been known to play pivotal roles in not just driving
the narrative of a story forward, but also in their role in the belief of various religions.
To the Greeks for example, the dragons and serpents could often be seen as guards,
including a water serpent known as the Hydra which guarded the springs of Lerna,
and the monstrous dragon Python, which was sent by Gaea to guard the Oracle of Delphi.
In traditional Christian beliefs meanwhile, the serpent and the dragon were nefarious
with Lucifer taking the form of a dragon in his rebellion against God, as well as the
serpent being responsible for the downfall of man, by convincing Adam and Eve to betray God.
The ancient Norseman fell into a similar vein in basing their dragons upon more corrupt virtues.
This includes the dragon Fafnir, he who was something of a representation of greed - whose
sole purpose became guarding a fortune of gold. But perhaps one the most prolific serpents from
the Norse pantheon was the World Serpent, or the ‘Midgard Serpent’,
a monster so terrifyingly immense that it was believed to have encompassed the entire world.
It’s name was Jörmungandr, which was believed to have literally meant ‘huge monster’ and to the Old
Norse, it was a beast that struck fear into not only the mortals, but also the gods themselves.
I might also add that it would appear there’s a number of ways in which this creature’s
name is pronounced and honestly, I think the greatest trick that Loki ever played at all
was creating a child with such a complicated name. Most of what we know about Jörmungandr - or
Jörmungandr - as I’ve heard it pronounced, comes from the Prose Edda, which is considered to be
the most detailed source of norse mythology from Icelandic writer
Snorri Sturluson. But the serpent is also seen to appear in various skaldic and eddic poems,
as well as ancient depictions of Jörmungandr fighting the Norse god of thunder, Thor.
From what we understand, Jörmungandr was one of the three children of the trickster god Loki,
along with his brother Fenrir, the monstrous wolf and his sister Hel,
the goddess of death. The three children certainly sound like powerful entities,
but it would appear that all three were destined to meet terrible fates of their own. It was when
Odin heard of a prophecy that Loki’s children would bring trouble to the realm of the gods
that he decided to get rid of them. Fenrir was revered from the very beginning,
and having been noted for his terrifying size and strength, the gods expected him to do
evil things. With that, he was bound by a magical chain and gagged by a sword.
Hel meanwhile was exiled to the cold and miserable realm known as Nilfenheim,
an area reserved for the souls of the dead, where she would become its governess.
Jörmungandr was cast into the ocean by Odin himself, who had hoped that the crashing
waves and chaotic churning of the waters would see to the serpent’s demise. But Jörmungandr
proved to be a resilient creature and amongst the waters he was able to not only survive,
but thrive. In these conditions, he grew so large that he was able to encapsulate the earth
and even grasp its own tail - thus earning its name as the world serpent. It was believed that
when the serpent released its tail, Ragnarok - the very same prophecy that Odin sought to avoid -
would begin, and so would initiate a series of events that would lead to the demise of the gods.
So it is said that when the end of days came about, Fenrir would break free from his bonds
and unleash devastating fury upon those who had imprisoned him. Hel, his sister, would
provide him with an army of the dead, for she too wished vengeance upon the gods for her exile
and Jörmungandr would release its tail from its mouth and decimate the gods and their heroes.
Whilst the gods are victorious, many of them are slain by Loki’s children
and whilst order is retained, the gods are ultimately reduced from their former glory
and surrender to the transition of the new world, that which is built from the ashes of the old.
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And now back to Jörmungandr Jörmungandr
is believed today to be representative of transformation or transition.
The ancient symbol of ouroboros, which stemmed from Greek and Egyptian iconography, depicts a
serpent eating its own tail, much as Jörmungandr was considered to ingest its own tail as well.
It was believed that this symbol stood for an eternal cycle, or a cycle of life,
death and rebirth - which is exactly what the tale of Ragnarok turned out to be. This is also
typical of snakes in general, who shed their skin and in a sense are born a physical new.
It’s interesting to note that despite Odin being hated by Jörmungandr for having hurled him into
the sea in the first place, it was Odin’s son Thor who was usually depicted fighting the serpent and
it was Thor who was considered to be the serpent’s greatest adversary. There are indeed many stories
in which Thor encounters the serpent and on each occasion, the two are at odds in some capacity.
The first myth that springs to mind is the story of the Giants Stronghold,
where Thor is traveling with both his human servant and the trickster God Loki. The trio
come across the stronghold of the giants and having been weary from the road, sought
hospitality amongst the giants and access to their home. Instead of showing them kindness though,
the king of the giants mocks the gods for being so tiny and tells them that if they wish to
stay amongst them, they must demonstrate their worth in a series of competitions.
Thor chooses the drinking contest, a challenge in which he felt pretty confident in. He is
given a giant horn to drink from and although he takes three massive gulps, he can barely drain
the mead below the rim. When he cannot empty the giant horn, he is forced to admit defeat
and suffer the laughter of all the other giants. But Thor demands another chance, and so,
the giant king challenges him to lift his pet cat from the floor. Now Thor who was known for his
immense strength saw no problem in such a meager challenge, yet when he tried to lift the cat,
he was only able to get one of its paws off the ground.
Frustrated and humiliated by failing both of these competitions, Thor demands to fight
someone and proposes a wrestling match against the king’s strongest fighter.
But the king who had already seen Thor fail twice now deemed that Thor would be no match
for his strongest fighter and that the only person he had in his employ that was near
enough Thor’s strength was the castle’s wet nurse, she who was an old and frail woman.
Begrudgingly, Thor agrees to these terms, but when he wrestles the old woman he is overpowered
and forced to the floor in defeat. Despite having lost all three of the competitions, the
giant feels sorry for Thor and his companions and decides to let them stay the night in his kingdom.
The next morning when leaving the castle, the king reveals to Thor
that the tasks they had competed in were not what they seemed. Instead,
these tasks were manipulated by magic which ensured that the gods were severely handicapped.
First, the horn that Thor had drank from was connected to the ocean
and instead of drinking mead, Thor had actually been drinking from the ocean itself. Despite
having only three large gulps from the horn, this was enough to significantly lower the sea levels.
Secondly the king’s pet cat that Thor had failed to lift was actually Jörmungandr in disguise
and that Thor had nearly pulled the beast from the ocean - a feat that the king praised.
Finally, the old woman who was said to have been the castle’s wet nurse was actually the
physical embodiment of old age - that which no one, not even Thor, could hope to defeat.
Upon confessing his trickery, Thor is not amused and raises his hammer to strike the king.
But using the same magic he had used to trick Thor, the giant king vanishes into thin air.
There are some that believe that despite being present amongst these contests,
Loki was actually the giant king himself and that this was his attempt to not only humiliate Thor,
but also to free his son Jörmungandr from the ocean. It would make sense that Loki
was behind this, given that he too appears to be tricked by the giants’ challenges,
for surely a trickster god like Loki himself would have realised the deceptions at hand.
It would also take a god like Loki to have fooled Thor not just once, but three times. In any case,
from that day forth, Thor swore vengeance on the giant king, as well as Jörmungandr,
for having felt humiliated by the beast in his own failure to lift him. But unable to find the
king ever again, on the account that this might’ve been Loki in disguise, Thor would focus his hatred
upon Jörmungandr. Jörmungandr would appear to have developed a hatred for Thor as well, given
that he was insulted that the god was arrogant enough to try and lift him from the ocean at all.
Some believe that this was the basis for why Thor and Jörmungandr despised each other so
much and is why the two were depicted fighting each other so much in runes and ancient art.
But Thor would not come upon Jörmungandr again until a story known as ‘The Fishing Trip’. In this
story, Thor goes on an innocent enough fishing trip with the giant Hymir, but before long the
two appear to be at odds. Hymir refuses to give Thor any bait to fish with and so in anger,
Thor decapitates Hymir’s favourite ox and uses the ox’s head as his bait instead.
Not keen on getting on Thor’s bad side, Hymir does not challenge the god for his affront
and instead makes the best of the trip by rowing to his favourite spot.
There, he catches several fish and, content with his yield, wishes to return home.
But Thor is not so content and demands they go further out
into the ocean in the hopes that they come across the great serpent.
Despite dissuading Thor against this, Thor ignores Hymir and takes control of the boat for himself.
Using the ox head as his bait, he casts his line into the sea
and lo and behold, Jörmungandr takes the bait… In a chaotic struggle, Thor hauls the serpent
from the sea and the giant world serpent is revealed above the surface
for all to see. Whilst Hymir trembles with fear and certain dread, Thor reaches for his hammer
and attempts to draw the serpent closer. But so lost in his vengeance to slay the serpent,
Thor fails to notice that as he draws the serpent closer to him, the boat threatens to capsize.
Hymir, fearing for his life, cuts Thor’s line, causing Thor to lose his balance.
Jörmungandr, having now achieved the bait, dives beneath the surface and flees to fight another
day. Enraged by Hymir’s intervention, Thor struck the giant with such force
it sent him flying overboard, forcing him to swim back to shore. In another version,
Thor’s temper is so fierce that he bludgeons Hymir with his hammer until the giant is dead.
Thor had failed to find his vengeance upon the midgard serpent, but this would not be his final
encounter with the sea creature. During the end times, those times that were promised to Odin,
that Ragnarok would be coming, the gods would come to realise their fate. It had been decreed to them
that there was no avoiding this calamitous event and though they knew they would die,
they also knew that they would take their adversaries with them into the afterlife. In this,
there was honour in death, but there was also the transition of the old world into the new,
in spite of the desolation that would incur. When Ragnarok came,
Fenrir would break free of his chain and would stride through the nine realms bringing
destruction and ruin. His sons would swallow the sun and moon, leaving the world in darkness.
Hel would provide Loki with an army of the dead for which devastating battles
were fought and Surtr as well as the other fire giants would storm the battlefield
and see to the world’s annihilation by lighting the World Fire. So it’s only fitting that it is
Ragnarok that sets the stage for the final battle between Thor and Jörmungandr as the two meet again
in an epic battle. The battle is frenzied and violent, but in the end Thor is able to slay
the serpent. However, he was thought to have also sustained multiple bites from the monster
which filled his veins with poison. Despite having exacted his revenge on Jörmungandr,
Thor is only able to walk a few paces before succumbing to the poison and dying as well.
It’s easy to see Jörmungandr as an evil essence - a villain of the Norse pantheon,
much as his siblings are regarded. Yet, Jörmungandr and his siblings are not
necessarily representations of evil, but might even be justified for their actions.
They are imprisoned by the gods through no fault of their own and it might be argued that they
exact their vengeance not because of prophecy, but because of how Odin had treated them. Jörmungandr
can be seen as a character of transformation - a positive feature of the narrative.
Jörmungandr and his siblings might be depicted as violent creatures that threaten to overthrow the
balance, but they can also be viewed as entities that challenge the status quo and destroy the
old structure so a new one can be born. In this sense, Jörmungandr can be seen as a symbol of
change - an essence that is inevitable, and a reminder that in life, nothing lasts forever.
With this narrative, the serpent Jörmungandr serves to remind us that change or progress
cannot be stopped and even though we see Thor try to do so, which could be representative of our own
efforts to prevent change, it is proven to be futile, both in the mythology and in reality.
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