S8E9 - Ragnaroking Out with Loki's Terrible Children

The stories featured in Greaking Out are usually original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features a lot of biting, a planet-sized snake, kidnapping children, a human skin suit, surprisingly strong silk, and kids that are actual monsters.

Welcome back to Greaking Out and the End is Nigh.

Nigh is a word from Old English that means near or close in both a physical or figurative sense.

This season only has one more episode in it.

Yeah, that's right, but also today we're talking a little bit about the end of the world or Ragnarok, which is what the ancient Norse believed to be the battle that would lead to the destruction of the world.

Yep, you guessed it.

We're traveling north again today to talk more about Norse mythology.

And Ragnarok was a huge part of the Norse worldview.

They believed that there would be a big battle and everybody was going to die and the world was going to end.

Can you imagine living your life knowing all this stuff?

I mean, how did they know all this stuff?

Odin, also known as the All-Father, is the chief of the Aesir gods.

He sacrificed one of his eyes in order to see everything that happens in the world.

Yeah, that's right.

He could see the future.

And what he saw was,

well, pretty bleak.

In fact, one of the main things he saw was that Loki was going to be a problem.

More specifically, Loki's children were going to be a problem.

Now, you probably remember Loki from our first Norse myth in season five.

He's that super sweet, caring guy who's always looking for ways to make life easier for those around him.

Always a helper, never a burden.

This is irony.

Those are not things Loki is known for.

Yeah, thanks for clarifying that, Oracle.

Loki is one of Norse mythology's most famous tricksters, constantly getting into trouble and making life more...

interesting for the Norse gods and goddesses of the Aesir that he hung out with.

Aesir is the name of one of the groups of Norse gods.

There is also the Vanir and various groups of other magical beings, including giants and elves.

The Aesir and the Vanir are basically two different clans of gods.

Right, but these gods weren't believed to be as all-powerful as Zeus and his fellow Greek gods.

The Norse gods were divine beings, sure, but they didn't seem to have as much control over the mortal world as the Greek gods did.

They could perform superhuman feats and do fantastical things, but they weren't in charge of the natural world.

Loki wasn't actually one of the Aesir gods at all, but he was Odin's sworn blood brother, so he was named an honorary member of the clan.

Loki's real father was a giant named Forbaudi, who abandoned him as a baby, and his mother was the goddess Lauvoy.

Now, several gods took giantesses as wives, and their offspring did just fine, but it was taboo for a goddess to take a giant as a husband.

So Loki was born with a giant strike against him.

See what I did there?

Taboo is something that is not allowed in certain cultures.

There are very few things that are taboo in all cultures.

Taboos can be anything from cannibalism to asking how old someone is.

Because of Odin's loyalty, the Norse gods and goddesses sort of had to put up with Loki.

Think of Loki like an annoying little sibling that was always tagging along and you, or the other Norse gods, didn't necessarily want to spend time with him, but your parents, or Odin, made you, you get it.

Now, the last time we hung out with Loki, he was offering up the goddess Iduna to a trickster giant before being punished for his actions by the other gods and the giantess Scotty.

Tricking people, and then getting in trouble for said tricks is something that definitely ran in Loki's family.

Which brings us to our story today, the tale of Loki's truly terrible children.

Now, Loki had many offspring with different partners, but three of his children in particular were especially awful.

The wolf Fenrir, the serpent Yermangand, and the goddess of death, Hel, or Hella.

The best child, of course, was the serpent Yermangond.

Okay, the oracle is on Team Snake.

Big surprise.

Well, Fenrir, Yermangand, and Hel all shared the same mother, the Frost Giantess Angerboda.

By the way, fun fact, Angerboda's name means she who brings grief, so it doesn't sound like she was exactly the life of the party.

But anyway, at first the children lived with Angerboda in Jotunheim, but everyone in Asgard knew they were destined to cause cosmic misery eventually because of the prophecy of Ragnarok.

And, you know, because they were Loki's kids, obviously.

In Norse mythology, giants lived in Jotunheim, and the Aesir lived in Asgard.

They were separated by a river called Ifing.

The mortal world, where humans lived, was called Midgard.

So the gods were worried about the Ragnarok prophecy, but they couldn't just kill Loki's kids and be rid of them.

In Norse mythology, no god can interfere with fate.

But the gods wanted to at least make it harder for this terrible trio to cause the trouble they were supposed to do.

So, Odin ordered a band of gods to do his bidding.

Bring me the children, he demanded.

Obeying their chief's orders, a group of gods snuck into Jotunheim one night and gagged and bound the goddess Angerboda before kidnapping her three kids.

Not cool.

Yeah, not great.

And after the kidnapping, Odin had to decide what to do with the children he stole.

Loki's first child with Angerboda, Fenrir, was fated to kill Odin the Allfather in the Battle of Ragnarok and then swallow the sun itself.

Ragnarok means doom of the gods in Old Norse.

So Odin declared that the wolf Fenrir should remain in Asgard where he could keep an eye on him.

Because sometimes it's better to keep your enemies close.

Keep an eye on him.

See what

keep an eye on is a common idiom, meaning to look out for something.

But keep an eye on has double meaning here because Odin has only one eye.

Yeah, again, thanks for the explanation.

Anyway, keeping Fenrir and Asgard wasn't exactly a popular move.

Believe it or not, most people don't want a vicious wolf as their neighbor, right?

The only Asgardian who dared to get close enough to feed Fenrir was Odin's son Tyr.

Still, as the wolf grew bigger, the Asgardians began begging to tie the wolf up.

Wolves vary in size depending on where they live.

Wolves range from Labrador Retriever sized to Great Dane sized.

Yeah, Fenrir was a little bigger than that.

Often, he's described as being the same size as the gods themselves, but eventually he would go big enough to devour the sun.

So that's pretty big, right?

Well, at first the gods didn't want the wolf to know they were trying to tie him up, since he had been treated sort of like a pet pup up until this point.

A pet they were all terrified of, of course, but one that at least had some freedom to roam around.

So the gods pretended to make a bet with the creature.

A wolf, let's see if you're strong enough to break these chains.

We bet you can't, the gods teased.

Fenrir accepted the bet and almost immediately broke free of the bindings.

Fools?

Who would bet against a wolf?

Remind me why you guys get to be gods again?

He cackled.

So the gods made another chain, this one twice as strong.

But Fenrir broke free once more.

What a fun party trick, Odin said sarcastically.

Oh, this isn't alarming in any way.

Wolf 2, Gods Zero.

So that's when Odin realized that no ordinary chain would keep this wolf tied up.

So he sent a servant to seek the Dark Elves to request that they make a chain powerful enough to bind the strong and kind of sassy wolf.

In Norse mythology, the Dark Elves are supernatural beings that live in an underground world.

They built nearly all the weapons in the Norse gods' weapon collection.

Perhaps the most famous is Thor's hammer, Mjolnir.

Yeah, I think most of us have heard of Thor's hammer.

So based on the really cool stuff like Mjolnir that the elves had already made, Odin was hopeful that they'd be able to produce a chain strong enough to contain Fenrir.

Well, the elves came through, but the chain they forged looked like a thin, flimsy ribbon.

The elves assured Odin it would work exactly as he wanted it to, however.

The elves bragged that the chain was made of things that don't exist.

The sound of a cat footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, and the spit of birds.

Some of those things do, of course, exist.

For instance, birds do produce spit or saliva.

They use it to digest food or build nests.

Their saliva acts as binding for their nests to ensure they don't fall apart.

Okay, cool.

Also gross, but cool.

Anyway, the chain was called Gleipnir, and it felt as soft as silk to touch.

The gods hoped Gleipnir's delicate appearance would fool Fenrir into thinking it wouldn't work on him.

They took the chain and the wolf to a spot where no one would bother them, an island in the middle of a swampy, secluded lake.

But Fenrir wasn't just strong.

He was smart.

He was getting suspicious, as anyone would.

Why were they so insistent on this game?

And what was it with this new kind of chain anyway?

He agreed to be bound with Gleipnir, but was wary of the gods' shenanigans, so he demanded on one thing in exchange.

One of you gods must hold your hand in my mouth to prove this isn't a trick, he demanded.

Tyr, the only god brave enough to approach Fenrir at all, volunteered for the task.

You want me to pet a puppy?

Sounds fun.

Dogs are direct descendants of gray wolves, and wolf babies are called pups.

But Fenrir was no puppy.

So the gods bound the wolf and Fenrir began to struggle immediately.

Unlike the previous two attempts, he remained stuck.

Loosen the chain a bit.

At least give me a chance to break free, he begged.

But the gods said,

no.

since the gods refused to help him fenrir simply bit down and bit tyr's hand clean off

tyr howled in pain and fenrir chuckled cruelly

but the wolf wasn't laughing for long the furious gods took a cord that hung from the chain and threaded it through a giant rock Then, they fastened that rock deep into the earth.

Next, they placed a gleaming silver sword in the wolf's jaws, face up, holding his mouth open.

The hilt, or the handle of the sword, was touching his lower gums, and the pointy end was touching his upper gums.

As Fenrir whined loud enough to be heard in Midgar, a foamy river called expectation poured out of his mouth like a faucet.

And there, in that sad state, he remained.

Fenrir wouldn't know freedom again until the Battle of Ragnarok.

And Portyr was down a hand.

He wouldn't have better luck in the future with K9 since he was destined to face off against Hell's Hound Garm during Ragnarok.

But that's a story for another time.

With Fenrir tied up, Odin turned his attention to Loki and Angerboda's middle child, Yermongand the snake, who was fated to kill Odin's son Thor in the ultimate battle.

But before we get to that, let's take a break.

I know, Oracle, you're excited about the snake thing, but we got to pay the bills.

We'll be right back.

Hey there.

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Well, there's a Webby award-winning show called Girl Tales that takes classic stories and puts a unique twist on them, giving girls the chance to save the day, use their intelligence and bravery, and show that they can be the heroes of their own stories.

If you are ready for an adventure, find girl tales wherever you get your podcasts.

Okay, we're back.

Greaking Out is Ragnar rocking around again.

We're doing some Norse mythology, and we're talking about Loki's children right now, Yermongan the Snake.

Snake venom is highly toxic saliva saliva that the animals use to immobilize or even kill their victims.

It's typically injected through a snake's fangs by biting.

But some snakes, including Yormangond, can spit venom.

Now in Norse myths, Yormangond is depicted as either a snake or a dragon or accommodation snake-dragon thing.

For the oracle's sake, we're going to be referring to it as a big snake here.

Hashtag team snake.

Well, since the snake was eventually going to kill his his son, Odin was definitely not hashtag Team Snake.

Getting rid of the creature was pretty easy, though.

At least compared to chaining Fenrir.

Odin simply hurled Yormongon toward the Midgard Sea, where the snake plunged to the bottom of the inky ocean, far away from any gods and humans he could potentially disturb.

After Odin's impressive throw, everyone was scared to fish too close to the edge of the sea.

Jormongon might snatch them.

Everyone, except Thor, that is.

Now you'd think he'd want to stay away from a giant snake prophesied to kill him, but that is not Thor's style.

One day, Thor convinced the giant Hamir to take him on his huge fishing boat out to sea.

But Thor conveniently left out the fact that this wasn't a normal fishing trip.

because he didn't want Hamir to freak out about what he planned to do.

What Thor planned to do was to slay the snake.

Once Hamir had rowed far enough across the water, Thor put an ox head on a hook and hurled the hook into the ocean below in an attempt to lure the snake.

Come out, come out, wherever you are, creature, Thor bellowed, surprising Haimir, who just thought they were on a totally chill fishing trip, you know?

Suddenly, Thor felt a huge tug on his line.

The monstrous Yormungand was heaved out of the water on the hook and found himself face to face with Thor.

This seems unnecessary.

Well, come on, it's a giant snake.

You can't just have a giant snake running around the ocean all the time.

Snakes have feelings, too.

Okay, well, this snake was feeling pretty mad about being disturbed.

Hey, I was having a really good nap, he cried.

I think we can arrange for you to take a longer, more permanent nap, Thor threatened the snake.

But before the snake could come up with a clever comeback, Thor's line suddenly snapped in half, and Yormen Gan fell back into the water with a massive splash.

A terrified Hymir, upon getting his first look at the horrifying snake, had cut the line.

Thor raged for a little while, but there was nothing he could do.

Yo, what is it going?

He was right there.

I had him right there.

The snake had sunk back into the ocean's depths and wasn't likely to fall for the hook trick again.

So the god left Yorman Gandh alone.

For a while at least.

But here's the thing.

The snake began growing bigger and bigger deep below the surface until he eventually grew so big and long that his body circled all of Midgard.

He was so long, his own tail reached his jaws.

He could, and did on occasion, bite his his own tail in frustration.

A planet-sized snake?

That's the dream.

Yeah, that might be your dream, Oracle, but I think that's just you.

Well, just as they would with Fenrir, Thor and the other gods would eventually have to deal with Yormangand again during Ragnarok.

So, a problem for tomorrow.

Procrastination.

is the action of delaying or postponing something, whether it is a trip to the grocery store or dealing with a world-sized snake.

Okay, two kids down, one to go.

Enter Hell, or sometimes Hella, Loki's only daughter.

Odin decided to banish Loki's third child, Byanger Boda, somewhere even further away than Asgard or Midgard.

He sent Hel to the depths of Nifelheim.

Now, Nifelheim was the cold, dark, misty world of the dead.

Everything was gray and damp and, well, pretty miserable.

In Norse mythology, Niffelheim was said to be the last of the nine worlds, a place where evil men ended up after they died.

So, essentially, Odin doomed hell to become the mistress of the underworld, half alive and half dead.

In Norse mythology, if someone dies honorably, which to the Norse gods usually meant in battle, they went to Valhalla or some other similar place.

In Old Norse, Valhalla meant the hall of the fallen.

Yeah, Valhalla was where Odin allowed the honored dead that he deemed worthy of spending the afterlife with him.

Hell received the others who didn't die in battle, the ones who grew old or who got sick with disease and all the monsters and animals and giants and dwarves.

Let me paint a picture for you of how truly scary Hell appeared to those who stood before her.

Half of her was flesh-colored and normal-ish-looking, looking, but the other half was greenish-black and looked kind of,

well,

dead, kind of zombie-like.

Her expression was always the same.

Grim.

According to some sources, Hell draped herself in pieces of human flesh.

So, I imagine she smelled as bad as she looked.

And even though she was pretty much a 24-7 downer to be around, Hel actually kind of liked her job.

Or, I guess, took it seriously is maybe the better way to phrase it.

Once anyone entered Hell's horrifying lair, she never wanted to let them leave and felt it was her duty to keep them trapped with her.

So, when Odin's son Balder would eventually end up before her, Hell wasn't going to let him go without a fight.

And that fight would eventually become, yeah, you guessed it.

Ragnarok.

But way before all that bad stuff went down, Odin got a chance to celebrate.

He had succeeded in his mission to capture and banish all three of Loki and Angerboda's children.

Fenrir the wolf was whimpering all alone with a sword in his mouth, chained to a rock in the middle of nowhere.

Jormongun the snake encircled all of Midgard under the water, thrashing about and biting his own tail.

And Hel was trapped in Nifelheim, serving as sort of an unwelcoming committee to all those unlucky enough to arrive in the underworld.

Odin and his sons were free from this trio for now.

But as Norse myths always like to remind us, Ragnarok is coming.

As for Loki, well, he realized that he had put the gods through a lot previously and of course was extremely chill about all this.

That is a lie.

Well, I wasn't lying.

It was sarcasm.

I was just kind of kidding like I did before.

Never mind.

Anyway, yes, the trickster god was furious about the banishment of his three children.

If Odin could harm his family, then he could harm Odin's family.

So

any relatives of Odin, consider yourselves warned.

An angry Loki is a dangerous Loki.

But that, as we say, is a story for another day.

And on that ominous note, thanks for listening to today's episode.

We'll come back to Scandinavia again.

But for now, it's time to move on.

Stay tuned next week for our journey back to Greece.

This episode of National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written by Kay Boatner, a Nat GeoKids magazine editor, and hosted by Kenny Curtis.

With Tori Kerr as the oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Emily Everhart is our producer, and Becky Baines is our executive producer.