A question pertaining to the end days...

[Lulletje Rozewater]

I will ponder on the "End of Days" when I am in Hell,sucking up to Gabriel or Eve

[Loki]

An End of Days apocalyptic scenario is a religiously inspired idea in the human psyche. It is driven by a worst-case scenario to bring expression to our worst fears. I probably subscribe to such a thing as well, but in contrast with Christians throughout the centuries, do not believe this will come in my lifetime. I don't know how prevalent this idea is among heathens, but certainly Ragnarök is prominent.

For me as an atheist (and please forgive this opinion in the heathenry section), the End of Days is far into the future, when Earth has lost its capacity to support human life -- most likely through the Sun's life cycle's conclusion:

... new research suggests that Earth will be swallowed by the Sun owing to tidal interactions. Even if Earth would escape incineration in the Sun, still all its water will be boiled away and most of its atmosphere would escape into space. In fact, even during its current life in the main sequence, the Sun is gradually becoming more luminous (about 10% every 1 billion years), and its surface temperature is slowly rising. The Sun used to be fainter in the past, which is possibly the reason why life on Earth has only existed for about 1 billion years on land. The increase in solar temperatures is such that already in about a billion years, the surface of the Earth will become too hot for liquid water to exist, ending all terrestrial life.

[Rasvalg]

Ragnorok has happened many times and will happen many more. The question that you need to ask yourself is whether you shall fight on the side of humanity or if you will fight on the side of chaos and destruction of all that we believe to be right and in order with the world. The majority of the others out there will fight on the side of chaos only becuase that is all that they know. Their souls have yet to evolve into order so they are drawn towards chaos.
This is my short thought on Ragnorok and someday when I have more than two minutes I shall put the long version to paper.

[Barreldriver]

Ragnorok has happened many times and will happen many more. The question that you need to ask yourself is whether you shall fight on the side of humanity or if you will fight on the side of chaos and destruction of all that we believe to be right and in order with the world. The majority of the others out there will fight on the side of chaos only becuase that is all that they know. Their souls have yet to evolve into order so they are drawn towards chaos.
This is my short thought on Ragnorok and someday when I have more than two minutes I shall put the long version to paper.

Cool thought, I like this scenario. Seems very reasonable, I figure I'll ally with anyone who has a strong spirit and a will to fight on the side of right and order in the world, the only thing that bothers me is the concept of right and order in the world, is that not a concept specific to the individual itself? Which leads me to think more on the lines of what Lyfing said about Ragnarok within the self, that it is something that an individual experiences within their own person. Which also leads me to this, we as humans are product of millions of ancestors, each one a part of us in some way, is our soul individual to ourselves or a combination of all the souls of our ancestors in one shell/body/host? Which if the Ragnarok is occurring within the self it would be a literal battle to bring order to the millions within the self, and if that's so I've been undergoing a Ragnarok for 4 years, these last four years have been a downhill battle for myself and I am just now beginning to gain the tools for victory.

[Psychonaut]

If you're looking at the Ragnarok myth from a literal perspective, then you're really only able to consider it in relation to the Northern peoples, since Germanic cosmology is, like most other mythic cosmologies, ethnocentric and doesn't admit the existence of other groups. What would be interesting to know is how the Germanics would've viewed other races in relation to the Ragnarok story. Since they bred with Celts on a regular basis, I've no doubt that they would see themselves fighting alongside them, but what about the more distinct races? Would they have found Africans or Australians similar enough to themselves to fight alongside? Or would they have considered them to be outsiders in league with the Giants?

[Barreldriver]

If you're looking at the Ragnarok myth from a literal perspective, then you're really only able to consider it in relation to the Northern peoples, since Germanic cosmology is, like most other mythic cosmologies, ethnocentric and doesn't admit the existence of other groups. What would be interesting to know is how the Germanics would've viewed other races in relation to the Ragnarok story. Since they bred with Celts on a regular basis, I've no doubt that they would see themselves fighting alongside them, but what about the more distinct races? Would they have found Africans or Australians similar enough to themselves to fight alongside? Or would they have considered them to be outsiders in league with the Giants?

That's what I was wondering initially, I'm poor with putting my thoughts out there.