Ragnarök -- The Song of Fire & Ice

What is Ragnarök? It is, quite literally, the song of ice and fire.

But what is a song? Is a song a battle? Do notes fight one another for dominance, with no care or concern for the overall sound? No. That is discord. A song is harmony -- notes working together in unison.

And that is Ragnarök -- the forces of ice & fire uniting as one to attack the world of gods and men.

And that is key to understanding what's really going on in George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, upon which the popular HBO show, Game of Thrones, is based (assuming my theory is correct, of course. If it's not, then I'm just delusional, but it should be entertaining either way, so, by all means, read on). The battle is not Dragons vs. White Walkers. It's Dragons & White Walkers vs. Mankind.

This is Game of Thrones

This is Ragnarök

Prior to Ragnarök, the world is plagued by civil war, rampant immorality, patricide/fratricide and disease. A "long winter" then engulfs the world, known as Fimbulvetr (i.e. three simultaneous winters without end -- Winter Is Coming) before the ensuing apocalypse erupts. At Ragnarök, giants (i.e. jötnar -- not giants as we think of them, but elemental beings) who inhabit the realms of ice & fire unite under the leadership of the bound god Loki (Bloodraven) -- the trickster -- and his monstrous offspring -- Fenrir (Bran Stark), the Bound Wolf -- Jormungandr, the World Serpent -- and Hel (Melisandre), the Queen of the Dead -- to do battle with, and slay the gods. All the major figures of the Norse pantheon are foretold to perish in the ensuing chaos -- Odin (Aerys Targaryen), the Mad God, shall be swallowed by Fenrir -- Thor (Robert Baratheon), the Storm Lord who wields a mighty war hammer, shall fall to Jormungandr (Danaerys)-- Tyr (Jaime Lannister), the one-handed god of single combat, shall be torn to shreds by Garmr (Rickon Stark), Hel's Hound -- Freyr (Walder Frey), the phallic lord of virility, shall fall to the fire giant Surtr (Jon Snow), the Black, and his fiery sword -- and Heimdallr(Samwell Tarly), the Watcher, shall die at the hands of Loki himself. When all is said and done, only the children of the gods shall remain, and Odin's son, Vidarr (Tommen Baratheon), in particular, whose name means Vengeance, shall tear Fenrir's jaws asunder and avenge his father, after which, the world shall be rejuvenated, and life shall start anew.

When I first came across this blog I was hooked, being a huge fan of the book series I began reading with a hunger unmatched by man or wolf, it is insanely interesting and provides excellent insight into the series, both show and book alike. Dorian the Historian (the author of the blog) has done a remarkable job of linking the characters in the books to the gods and giants of Norse mythology and once you begin to realize who is who among the god/giant/character hierarchy you really begin to see the story of ASoI&F come together. won't sugar coat it, if you are not a huge fan of the series you probably won't care but for those of you that might be interested i recommend reading the entire article as well as other articles written by the author.

Gods
Odin - Aerys Targaryen
Thor - Robert Baratheon

-The Storm Lord with the war hammer who hates Jormungandr (Dany) is obviously Robert Baratheon. But in this regard, GRRM is following the same model as with Odin. Thor was not a part of the Norse pantheon when the religion was in its infancy. He was likely a real king who was only deified later in history, and would not have been present in the earliest tellings of Ragnarök. And for this reason, King Robert didn't survive the wild boar that gored him. But, in Robert Baratheon, GRRM also added another story from Norse mythology -- that of Hoenir and Mimir.

Tyr - Jaime Lannister

Jaime's role as Tyr is hinted at in the names of his (half) brother TYRion, and (foster) father TYwin (Ty is Norwegian for Tyr). And, the etymology of those names could be of possible interest (stress possible... Ok, probably not, but try to bear with me here). The word "ion" is of Greek origin, and once meant "the road to" or "the path to" in its ancient usage, making Tyr-ion "the road" or "the path to Tyr". Conversely, "win" is of proto-Germanic origin and has always meant pretty much the same thing, more or less -- "to gain by struggling" -- making Ty-win "to gain Ty(r) by struggling (with Aerys)".

Freyr - Walder Frey
Heimdallr - Samwell Tarly
Frigg - Cersei Lannister
Freyja - Margaery Tyrell
Idunn - Sansa Stark
Brynhildr - Brienne of Tarth
Njördr - Theon Greyjoy
Kvasir - Jojen Reed
Baldr - Joffrey Baratheon
Vidarr - Tommen Baratheon

Giants
Loki - Bloodraven
Fenrir - Bran Stark

Bran, who Bloodraven is mentoring, represents monstrous Fenrir -- the Bound Wolf (Bran's dreams of the "bound wolf" make this pretty straightforward). The word Fenrir means "of the fens, or marshlands", and this is represented by Bran's relationship to Meera & Jojen Reed, who are bog people. Similarly, Fenrir is said to feed on the flesh of men in his cave, which would seem to confirm the theory that Bran cannibalized Jojen as part of the "weirwood paste" he was fed by the Children of the Forest.

Jormungandr - Danaerys Targaryen

Jormungandr -- the World Serpent -- is represented by Daenerys Targaryen, who is obviously linked to dragons/serpents, and is in exile, forced to wander the world (the TV show also makes note of how many different languages she speaks as well). Jormungandr is supposedly so massive, he can circle the world and swallow his tail, which is represented by Quaithe's prophecy to Daenerys -- "to go West, you must go East, etc". Another aspect of Jormungandr's character can be seen in Daenerys' relationship to Robert Baratheon, i.e. the Storm Lord with the war hammer -- Thor. In Norse mythology, Jormungandr & Thor are archenemies, slated to kill one another at Ragnarök, and in A Song of Ice & Fire, Daenerys & Robert Baratheon are archenemies (I happen to think Dany will meet her demise at Robert's ancestral castle, Storm's End -- i.e. Stormborn dies at Storm's End -- but that's for a different post).

Hel - Melisandre
Surtr - Jon Snow
Hati - Arya Stark
Fafnir - Tyrion Lannister
Garmr - Rickon Stark
Hrym - Victarion Greyjoy

Okay so there is a list of characters and their mythological counterparts, some of the most imortant and/or interesting I made note of. The rest, well, check out the article.

Ragnarok- The song of Fire & Ice

That is really interesting and explains the overwhelming brutality of the series.

It also makes and insane kind of sense. S&F.

Awesome, my husband and I are both fans of the show but he is a book reader too so I think he will really enjoy this.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Ragnarök is not a song ... but a poem.

When the witch is reciting the poem to Odin, she is not telling him "what" is to be ... but WHAT WAS.

She is EXPLAINING to him, what he did wrong.

She is EXPLAINING to him, that because HE LEFT Asia, that his line will die. All men will die, because he took his people FROM their origin, to their new home.

Vituð þér eður ei ... means, don't you know already. And this is what she's telling him, again and again through the entire poem. Véli og Váli, are the traitors ... those who "Vélar" and those who "Válar" ... which means treason and complains.

It is past an future tense, written during a time, of civil war ... when the descendants of Odin ... or those of the "Dragon crest" lost the civil war in Iceland. Remember, that Iceland has 4 major crests ... and the Dragon is one of them ... also known as "Asians" or Asar. Their origin, is from somewhere close to China ... or from Asia.

However, I love Game of Thrones ... as recreational view.