Your browser lacks required capabilities. Please upgrade it or switch to another to continue.
Loading…
During <<linkreplace "the Final Twilight" t8n>>Ragnarok<</linkreplace>>,
the Earth will be swallowed whole,
and all creation will draw its final breath.
Even the Gods themselves will die.
//[[What have I done?]]//
<<audio mainsong play>>He had spoken of his [[dreams.]]
Of great and perilous
<div class="vision">visions</div> threatening to touch his waking life.
When we heard of this,
[[we took up council together.]]Some raised doubts.
Others said we should respect prophecy.
I had kept my eyes down while they spoke.
How could they speak of my son as if he were already dead?
[[Argue with the council]]
[[Calm yourself and keep listening]]I spit at them. The Gods are not blessed this day.
Do they not know
how the Heavens mourn still?
I raise my hand to kill him, but stop myself.
I think of the patient mother awaiting her boy's return.
I cannot.
[[continue watching him]]I stood and watched the young men continue in their revelry.
Baldr himself was quite fond of mead.
Just as his father.
<div class="vision">//[[I allow the memories to float back.]]//</div>The hall fell silent as I stood.
I spoke without hesitation, and they listened.
"I will take oaths, that fire and water, iron and metal of all kinds,
the stones, earth, trees, sicknesses, beasts of the land,
birds of the sky, and serpents of the ground
should spare Baldr from harm."
[[And so it was done.]]On and on they talked in circles. I tried to gather myself, but could not.
This was my son, and I would fight <<linkreplace "Hela" t8n>>the Giantess<</linkreplace>> herself before I let him
be taken so young.
If I had to make the nine realms swear fealty to him, then I would make it so.
I had to speak.
[[Argue with the council]]I immediately set out. All were willing to take oath,
for my son was known and beloved throughout all realms.
At last, I sought out the youngest of creation.
There grows a tree-sprout alone westward of Valhalla which is called [[Mistletoe]].
...
These memories are too much. I must retire to [[the gardens.]]
To breathe.
For just a moment.
<div class="vision">//Oh, what have I done?//</div>
<div class="vision">//What have I done?//</div>
<div class="vision">//What have I done?//</div>
[[Baldr.]]The air is calm here. I rest for a moment against the <<linkreplace "the Tree" t8n>>the World Tree, Yggdrasil<</linkreplace>>.
From here, I can view Midgard.
I look down.
I can see a great hall, and within it, a young human man, tall and fair.
He stands at the head of a great table,
surrounded by a host of others looking towards him in earnest as he speaks.
He offers a toast to his clansmen. A battle has just been won -
the men are still dressed in their hides.
Raising their glasses with him in unison, they cheer, "Blessed be the Gods!"
[[strike him down]]
[[continue watching him]]I thought the small green sprout too young to ask the oath of.
I would let it enjoy its youth and innocence, away from the shackles
of fealty and politics.
But then <<linkreplace "she" t8n>>he<</linkreplace>> came.
[[It was then that I failed my son.]] After I had received oathes, it had become a diversion of Baldr's
and the others, that he should stand in the meadow,
and all the rest would shoot some at him or beat him with stones.
But whatsoever was done hurt him not at all, and that seemed to them
a very worshipful thing.
But it pleased him ill that Baldr took no hurt.
I might have guessed it to be <<linkreplace "him" t8n>>Loki<</linkreplace>>, had I not been made blind by hope.
[[One day, a woman came to me.]]She approached me with a kindly smile.
She gestered out towards the gathering of men.
"What are all of them doing out in the meadow there?"
I turned towards her.
"They shoot whatever they can find at the boy, as he takes no hurt.
Neither weapons nor trees may hurt Baldr,
for [[I have taken oaths of them.]]
I replied,
"Surely you know of the tree sprout called Mistletoe?
I thought it too young to ask the oath of."
Then straightaway, as soon as <<linkreplace "she" t8n>>he<</linkreplace>>
had come, <<linkreplace "the woman" t8n>>the bastard<</linkreplace>>
<div class="vision">turned away.</div>
[[I continued to watch them in the meadow.]]She asked,
[["Have all things taken oath to spare Baldr?"]]
<<linkreplace "Hödr" t8n>>The blind one<</linkreplace>>
would later tell me what had come to pass on that day
as he stood on the other side of the meadow.
This is the tale as he told me.
[["I had stood outside the ring of men."]]
Then, I heard footsteps approaching from behind. It was Loki.
He spake, "Why dost thou not shoot at Baldr?"
I thought him to be mocking me, but I answered him.
"Because I see not where Baldr is, and for this also, [[I am weaponless.]]
After a pause, Loki spake again.
"Do thou also after the manner of the other men,
and show Baldr honor as the others do.
I will direct thee where he stands."
He placed in my hands what he had held.
<div class="vision">//Forgive me, Frigga.//</div>
[["Shoot at him with this wand."]]
"And so <<linkreplace "I" t8n>>he<</linkreplace>> shot at <<linkreplace "him" t8n>>my son<</linkreplace>> with the wand wrought of Mistletoe, being guided by Loki."
The shaft flew through Baldr, and he fell dead to the earth.
Still watching from the other side of the field,
[[I witnessed him fall.]]
I screamed, but no sound escaped my lips.
Just the same, words failed all who gathered there,
and their hands likewise to lay hold of him,
except for I, who stumbled towards him and gripped him.
We looked at each other, and were all of one mind as to him
who had wrought the work. But none might take vengeance in this moment,
<div class="vision">so great a sanctuary had been in this place."</div>
[[Speak]]
[[Stare]]When we tried to speak, it befell first that weeping broke out,
so that none might express with words their grief.
But I bore in my heart that misfortune by so much the worst,
as I perceived how great harm and loss for the Gods were in the
death of Baldr the Good.
After that profound silence, the others had come to themselves. [[I was the first to speak.]]//My son.//
//What is this that has befallen you?//
[[Speak]]Holding my son's fair head in my hands, I made an oath to him.
"I will ride the road to Hel, and seek if I may find your soul,
dear one, and offer Hela a ransom if she will let you come home."
The others came slowly to my side.
My son Herómdr knelt beside me, his face cast down.
"It cannot be you who goes, Mother.
Let it be me who rides the road to Hel."
[[And so he undertook that embassy.]]Odin's steed Sleipnir was taken and led forward,
and so Hermódr mounted and galloped off.
And now he rides deep through the dark dales,
and saw not how Baldr's body was [[taken to the sea.]]
We took the body of Baldr and [[brought him to shore]].
The greatest of all ships was Baldr's, which was called Hringhorni.
Thrust out at the first push,
fire burst from the rollers, and all lands trembled.
Odin laid on the pyre that gold ring which is called Draupnir,
and then was the body of Baldr borne out on shipboard.
[[Since then, I have awaited the return of my son Herómdr from Hel.]]From the garden, I hear the first sounds of fanfare.
[[He has returned to Ásgard.]] I rush out of the gardens, eager to hear what news
he brought of Baldr.
All were crowded around the gates.
I make my way forward to greet my dutiful son.
I embrace him.
"Welcome home, proud son. I pray you've brought good tidings."
[[When I pull away, I see how his eyes water.]]I bid the crowd to be still.
"Speak, son."
Herómdr addresses us.
"After riding nine nights, I came to the river Gjöll
and rode onto the Gjöll-Bridge.
The guards there asked my name and race,
remarking that I had not the color of [[dead men.]]""I told them, 'I am appointed to ride to Hel and seek out Baldr.
Hast thou perchance seen him on Hel-way?'"
The crowd and myself listen on.
"The guards answered that they had indeed.
I thanked them and rode across the bridge.
Once I entered the hall, I sought audience with the giantess Hela."
"Far up, in a high seat, [[I saw my brother, Baldr.]]""I prayed Hela that Baldr might ride home with me.
I told her how great weeping was among the Æsir.
But she told me it must be put to the test,
whether he was so all-beloved and fair as had been said."
"The monster then spoke,
'If all things in the world, quick and dead,
weep for him, then he shall go back to Ásgard;
but he shall remain in my kingdom if any
should gainsay or [[weep not.]]'"
<div class="vision">//[[Your fault.]]//</div>
<div class="vision">//[[This is your fault.]]//</div>Thereupon after hearing of Hermódr's journey,
we decided it must be that we send
all the world messengers to pray that my son
be wept out of Hel.
Without hesitation, all men did this, and quick things,
and the earth and stones and trees, and all metals,
even as thou must have seen that these things
weep when they come out of the frost and [[into the heat.]]
Then, when the messengers went home,
having well wrought their errand,
they found in a cave,
a young giantess who called herself Thökk.
When they prayed her to weep Baldr out of Hel, she answered:
"Thökk will weep waterless tears
For Baldr's bale-fare;
Living or dead, I loved not the churl's son;
[[Let Hela hold to that she hath!]]"When the messengers returned home, helmets in hand,
I wept, for I knew [[what was to pass]] before they spoke.
//Forgive me, child of my heart.
When the great wolf Fenrir
swallows the world whole,
when the sun begins to set its last,
I will see thee again.//
<div class="vision">//[[Forgive me.]]//</div>
//The Æsir are close upon you, coward. Thou shall find no mercy in us.//<<cacheaudio "mainsong" "BaldrGame/vikingmusic.mp3">>