[001]
70.24.219.104
Current Version
Changed line(s) 0 from:
to:
Moving here until someone qualified can make sense of it.
Changed line(s) 5 from:
n
** And in this case, \
to:
** And in this case, \\\"end of time\\\" means all of them are conscripted to fight against all of the forces conspiring against the Norse gods in Ragnarök, which includes the likes of frost giants, fire giants, possibly other kinds of giants (lots of giants in Norse Mythology), the residents of Hel (made up of cowards, criminals and others not fit for Valhöll or the other afterlives of Norse religion) who arrive on ships made out of the \\\'\\\'nails of the dead\\\'\\\', the BigBadassWolf Fenrir, a serpent big enough to encircle the world, the HellHound Garmr, and...everything else that \\\'\\\'wasn\\\'t\\\'\\\' a Norse god (the Norse gods made a \\\'\\\'lot\\\'\\\' of enemies). Oh, and no matter how hard they fight, they\\\'re all destined to die anyway... except for (at least) three gods, two humans and probably Níðhöggr. The gods will win the final battle by virtue of last men standing. (The prophecy goes on to predict that some of the dead gods will come back to share the Plain of Idavöllr, but...)
*** Correction! The \\\'Valhöll for warriors, Helheimr for everyone else\\\" is a [[ThemeParkVersion misconception]] that later Christian scholars touted to make Christianity seem superior to the old Norse ways. In reality, those not fit for Valhöll inhabited the Family Mound or went to Freyja\\\'s domain Fólkvangr for the afterlife. Old Norse beliefs were a lot more animistic than most give credit for. Harsh as hell yes, but when you died you were generally welcomed to meet and party with all your ancestors again, as well as help your descendants with advice. The only ones who ended up as Hel\\\'s friends screwed up majorly or did some unspeakable act. Or you could become a Draugr, a nigh-invincible Norse proto-zombie.
**** Who says there\\\'s anything wrong with going to Hel\\\'s Hall after death? That\\\'s where Baldr is, so it\\\'s not exactly where the \\\'bad\\\' people go when they die. It\\\'s just not where the warriors are.
**** The family-mound thing has no historical foundation what-so-ever! In the oldest records we have it is made clear that only warriors slain in battle (and women who died in child birth) go to Óðinn\\\'s Valhǫll and Freyja\\\'s Fólkvangr (half of \\\'em to each). Most people that died from natural causes whould in fact go to Hel (the word \\\"Helheim\\\" is extremely rarely, if ever, used in actual Norse literature), but it shall be noted that Hel is not a bad place, nor is it a good place. It is actually described as rather bland with it\\\'s inhabitants being in a sleep-like state of rest, similar to other afterlives in older mythologies; like the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades. It\\\'s only in later tales, originating \\\'\\\'\\\'after\\\'\\\'\\\' Christianity had become the predominant religion, that the idea of a specific place for rewarding good people (Gimlé) along with one for punishment of bad people (Niflhel) would be properly formalized.
*** Correction! The \\\'Valhöll for warriors, Helheimr for everyone else\\\" is a [[ThemeParkVersion misconception]] that later Christian scholars touted to make Christianity seem superior to the old Norse ways. In reality, those not fit for Valhöll inhabited the Family Mound or went to Freyja\\\'s domain Fólkvangr for the afterlife. Old Norse beliefs were a lot more animistic than most give credit for. Harsh as hell yes, but when you died you were generally welcomed to meet and party with all your ancestors again, as well as help your descendants with advice. The only ones who ended up as Hel\\\'s friends screwed up majorly or did some unspeakable act. Or you could become a Draugr, a nigh-invincible Norse proto-zombie.
**** Who says there\\\'s anything wrong with going to Hel\\\'s Hall after death? That\\\'s where Baldr is, so it\\\'s not exactly where the \\\'bad\\\' people go when they die. It\\\'s just not where the warriors are.
**** The family-mound thing has no historical foundation what-so-ever! In the oldest records we have it is made clear that only warriors slain in battle (and women who died in child birth) go to Óðinn\\\'s Valhǫll and Freyja\\\'s Fólkvangr (half of \\\'em to each). Most people that died from natural causes whould in fact go to Hel (the word \\\"Helheim\\\" is extremely rarely, if ever, used in actual Norse literature), but it shall be noted that Hel is not a bad place, nor is it a good place. It is actually described as rather bland with it\\\'s inhabitants being in a sleep-like state of rest, similar to other afterlives in older mythologies; like the Hebrew Sheol and the Greek Hades. It\\\'s only in later tales, originating \\\'\\\'\\\'after\\\'\\\'\\\' Christianity had become the predominant religion, that the idea of a specific place for rewarding good people (Gimlé) along with one for punishment of bad people (Niflhel) would be properly formalized.
