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EEGENEEATION OF THE GODS. 151
CHAPTEK XIV.
OF THE DESTEUCTION_ AND EEGENEBATION OV THE GODS
AND THE WOELD.
•
The disappearance of the. Golden Age, Baldur's
Death, and the confinement of Loki, are represented
as events long passed away : the glance toward the
Future meets at once with Eagnarokk*i—the Twi-
light of the Gods.
The great antagonism which pervades the "Worldlife
shall be removed' in a final struggle, in which
the contending powers mutually destroy each other.
This is a fundamental idea of the Asa faith. And
that that great World-struggle was vividly im-
pressed upon the spirit of the heathen Northmen, is
attested by the strong colors in which the Yala,
speaking in the Yoluspa, paints it ; and still more
is it attested by the oft-repeated assertion, that every
hero who falls on the field of battle is called by Odin
to the ranks of the Einherjar, to fight with them in
the decisive battle against the Powers of Darkness.
Eagnarokk is an outbreak of all the chaotic pow-
ers, a confiict between them and the established
order of "Creation. Fire, Water, Darkness and
Death work together to destroy the World. The
* Eegin, Divine power, the Gods (Chap. 11), and rokkr, dark-
ness, twilight.