RAGNARÖK


Meaning of RAGNARÖK in English

In Scandinavian mythology, the end of the divine and human worlds.

As described in the 10th-century Icelandic poem Völuspá and other sources, Ragnarök will be preceded by cruel winters and moral chaos. Giants and demons will attack the gods, who will face death like heroes. The sun will be darkened, the stars will vanish, and the earth will sink into the sea. Afterward the earth will rise again, the innocent Balder will return from the dead, and the hosts of the just will live in a hall roofed with gold. The title of Richard Wagner 's opera Götterdämmerung ( The Twilight of the Gods ) is a German equivalent of Ragnarök.

Britannica English dictionary.      Английский словарь Британика.