Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Jörmungandr, otherwise known as The World Serpent, is said to be the creature that sets
off the end and rebirth of the world in Norse Mythology.
But what if this mythological beast was not a work of fiction, but actually existed, encircling
our world with its enormous body?
Let’s explore.
If you want more What If videos, check out our “Biggest What Ifs” playlist on the
channel.
Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question: What if the World Serpent was Real?
Of course, there have been multiple versions of the World Serpent seen over the years.
This video will be focusing on the original Norse Mythology, although it may take some
inspiration from other pieces of media.
It will also assume that this is the only aspect of Norse Mythology to be real, so none
of the gods will exist.
If you want to see more about the mythology in general, check out our video, What if the
Norse Gods were Real?
So, Jörmungandr.
The name is fun to say, but this beast would NOT be fun to come across.
Jörmungandr is a sea serpent, the child of Loki and the giantess Angrboða.
(ahn-ger-bo-da) Its siblings included Fenrir the wolf, and Hel, the woman that would go
on to rule over the Norse underworld.
The World Serpent is said to encircle Midgard, the name for the Earth in Norse Mythology,
holding its tail in its mouth.
Getting some flashbacks to the Thor movies?
You should; Jörmungandr was actually Thor's arch-enemy in the mythology, and Hel, was
the main antagonist of the Ragnarok film, in that case named Hela.
In the mythology, however, it’s not Hel but Jörmungandr that sets off Ragnarok.
Norse Mythology states that when it releases its tail, it will set off the rebirth of the
cosmos.
It’s said that the children of Loki would fight the gods, who would defeat them in a
devastating battle.
Natural disasters would abound, and the powerful and destructive fight would leave the world
submerged in water.
Later, the world would resurface and begin again, and Midgard would be repopulated by
two survivors.
Major Bible vibes here.
So, what if this badboy was real?
Well, if it kept its stupid tail in its mouth, things would be pretty much the same.
However, it would likely be located relatively quickly once we began exploring the ocean,
and once it was discovered, the knowledge that there’s a giant snake down there would
be rather unsettling.
We would study it, possibly learning a thing or two about its physiology, but there’s
a chance that this study would awaken the beast, and cause it to rise to the surface.
But what would happen if it DID rise up, either naturally or due to human meddling?
Well, according to legend, when Jörmungandr did arise, it would go on to fight Thor, who
would defeat it, and bring about the new world.
Sounds pretty easy right?
Well, unfortunately, Thor doesn’t seem to exist, nor do the other gods, so there’s
a pretty good chance that the World Serpent would live on.
This means that it’s difficult to predict what would happen in the real world, since
we’ve now stepped outside the bounds of the mythology.
Since in this hypothetical situation, the gods don’t exist, Ragnarok likely wouldn’t
take place when Jörmungandr surfaced.
It would rise from the depths, but without the calamitous battle with the Gods, the Earth
might not fall into the water.
This is difficult to say for certain, since different interpretations of the mythology
claim different causes for the sinking of the world.
But many agree that it is not simply the rise of Jörmungandr, but actually the resulting
battle that causes the world to sink.
This means that we would have a chance to fight off the beast.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to determine how durable the beast would be, since its
only real adversaries are Gods.
However, if we consider that its defeat required the destruction of the Earth, it seems like
it would require the biggest bombs we’ve got.
On the bright side, the good thing about a giant sea serpent that’s long enough to
wrap around the Earth is… it’s a pretty big target.
If it did surface, and attempted to wreak havoc on the Earth, humanity would have a
fairly good chance at defeating it.
Unfortunately, it’s possible that the firepower required to defeat it would in turn make the
Earth unliveable, which could result in a Ragnarok of our own making.
However, there are mentions in the mythology of Jörmungandr poisoning the sky when it
arose.
It’s not certain what this is referring to, but it’s possible that this would poison
humanity, causing us to die without being able to fight back.
If enough people died, particularly the ones involved in dispatching nuclear bombs, it
could be that humanity would lack the firepower to take on the great serpent.
In this case, things would not look so good.
This could result in the extinction of humanity, and most other land-dwelling life on Earth.
It’s possible, however, that without the pesky Gods interfering, Jörmungandr would
be more inclined to take on a leadership role, and take control of the Earth.
In this case, the remaining humans could be spared, and turned into slaves to do the bidding
of the great beast.
Depending on its desires, this could bring about relatively small changes in society,
or it could cause the entirety of human civilization to change forever.
And now we return to our question: What if the World Serpent was Real?
Well surprisingly, we might actually be in okay shape.
Since the Gods wouldn’t be there to fight it, the world wouldn’t be doomed to sink
below the ocean.
We could potentially defeat it with nuclear weapons, although this could in turn lead
to an apocalypse of our own making.
It’s also possible, however, that the beast would become the new God of the world, allowing
life to continue, with it at the helm.
Of course, this would be far from ideal, but you know what they say: Worshipping a sea
serpent god is better than drowning!
Shut up, people totally say that.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know what YOU would do if the world serpent was real,
and what you think would likely happen.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.