Ragnarok: Twilight of the Gods Quiz

Answer: In Yggdrasil's branches

Lif and Lifthrasir's names a) are too intricate for me to spell using the proper symbols, and b) mean "life of the body" and "lover of life" respectively (or something of the sort).

Lif is a female, and Lifthrasir is male. Yes, they hide in the World Tree, Yggdrasil, and feed off the morning dew.

Answer: Sol and Mani

Let's not go mixing up our mythologies. Sol and Mani are the Norse sun and moon representations. Helios, Selene, Apollo, and Artemis are all Greek, and Ra and Khonsu are Egyptian.

Along with Sol and Mani, the stars and sky fall too. I guess Henny Penny/ Chicken Little/ whatever you want to call her was right--the sky IS falling!

FUN FACT: Sol, the Norse personification of the sun, has the same name as Sol, a Roman personification of the sun. Cool, huh? I think so.

Answer: Jotunheim

Crimson Fjalar crows in Jotunheim, the realm of the giants. With those crows, the battle begins.

Answer: Garm

I thought I said not to go mixing our myths! Oh wait, I wrote this quiz, didn't I?

Anyway, as you might have heard, Cerberus is the three-headed dog that guards the gate of the Underworld. Orthrus is his brother. And when Loki and Fenris break free, that means trouble.

Answer: The fingernails and toenails of the dead

When translated to English from Old Norse, Naglfar means "nail farer". In the late 1800s, Adolf Noreen stated that he thought the prefix "nagl-" did not have its usual meaning of "nail", but instead is a variant of "nar", meaning "corpse".

Answer: Vidar

Some sources say that Vidar rips open Fenris' mouth with his bare hands. He is a god associated with vengeance. Vidar is actually fully Jotun--Odin is a giant, even if he is also a god, and his mother Griğr is a giant as well.

Answer: Yes

She does cry, for the second time in her life. The first time was when Loki tricked the blind Hod into murdering Balder with a piece of mistletoe. Long story.

Answer: Nine

Nine seems to be a very important number in Norse myth. Heimdall has nine mothers, there are Nine Worlds, and now this. Huh. But, seriously--why nine?

Answer: Both

Actually, they throw their swords at each other at the same time, and both of them are killed. Heimdall was actually the one who blew his horn, Gjallarhorn, to notify the gods of Loki's arrival.

Answer: Frey traded it to Skirnir, and Surt somehow got his hands on it

Actually, Frey traded it to Skirnir. Since I didn't have room in the answer space, I'll explain the full story here:

There once was a giantess named Gerd, whom Frey loved. Frey traded his sword to Skirnir, his servant, in exchange for kidnapping Gerd for Frey. Skirnir loses the sword sometime before Ragnarok begins (it's unknown how it happens), and Surt gets his hands on it.

And, unfortunately, in the great battle, Frey has to use only a deer antler.

Answer: Yes

Surprisingly, Tyr does manage to defeat Garm, but he dies in the process. Tyr is the Norse god or war and courage. Tyr also has a rune centered around him--Tiwaz, a rune that symbolizes the letter T in the alphabet.

Answer: Water

Actually, Yggdrasil, the World Tree, is destroyed by the water and not the fire. Yggdrasil is the tree that connects the Nine Worlds, so it kind of makes sense. Right? Nidhogg and the eagle at the top of the tree hurl insults at each other, and the squirrel Ratatosk goes back and forth with these insults.

Answer: True

No tricks! This one is simply true. It is a better world, of peace, prosperity, and happiness. Balder is the leader of this new land--he is revived by Hel.

Answer: Vigrid

The fields of Vigrid is where all of these battles take place, but it was destroyed after Ragnarok along with everything else. It means "place where battle surges" in Old Norse.

Answer: No

Actually, not all of the deities die. Some of the survivors include Frigg, Freya, Vidar, Hel, and Balder--well, he gets resurrected... does that count?