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LSZ (repost by Aris) writes...

Norse myth:
1) Jormungandr was the Midgard/World Serpent, the monstrous brother of Fenrir and Hel, and like them, another bastard child of Loki and the Frost-Giantess Angrboda(anguish boding). Odin cast him into the sea not long after he was born, but there he grew to immense proportions until he encircled the entire world(which the Norse thought shaped like a disc with a huge ocean circling the sides), and had to hold his tail in his mouth. Jormungandr was also(this is from memory, may be wrong) the arch-monster-enemy(the way Fenrir is Odin's) of Thor, due to an event that occured before Ragnarok; Thor used Mjolnir as a fishing hook while fishing in a boat and caught Jormy, bashed him on the head with the hammer once or twice, but the Serpent got away, being the earliest recorded story of the Big One..

2) Jormungandr was huge, serpentine, extremely formidable in the water, and equipped with poisonous breath/bite.

3) Until Ragnarok, Jormungandr cannot heave his immense body unto the land. At Ragnarok, when the stars start falling from the sky and the huge earthquakes start, the land heaves and manages to lift Jormungandr onto the shore. He will then slither all his way to Vigrid, the battlefield. At Vigrid, his breath will poison the air, being responsible for the death of many. Thor will engage him in a long long battle, and not too long after Odin gets eaten, finally slay Jormungand. Thor will then walk nine steps away, and fall down dead, too heavily injured in the battle to survive. So it'll appear Jormungandr would be dead..but if Odin can survive Ragnarok, why can't Jorm?

2) How many tricksters do you need? Loki's got other aspects besides tricktser-he's also a fire-god and shapeshifter of great power and skill.

And an actual question:
3) How did Odin survive Ragnarok?

Next Norse myth thing in seperate post, unsure if that counts as seperate topic.

Greg responds...

1. Was that a question? I'm familiar with the Midgard Serpent from my D'Aulaire's NORSE GODS & GIANTS book. (One of my favorite books ever.) I figure, he's mostly dead. But I'll admit, my thoughts on Ragnarok in the Garg Universe are fairly sketchy. I have a few concrete ideas, but I don't have all the choreography nailed down.

2. Loki's cool. But he gets used A LOT. I'm not ruling him out -- and certainly not in flashback -- but I don't feel a pressing need to include him in the present. But you never know...

3. Not telling now.

Response recorded on August 01, 2000