Abstract
The Norse afterlife, with its famous destinations such as Valhöll (Vallhalla), Hel, and many others, is also almost unique in world history in that it has a finite end. At the battle of the Ragnarök, every being in the universe – living and dead, human, divine, and other – will be destroyed as the worlds boil away into the primal void. The concept of Fate is central here, and to the Norse world-view, but also raises the question as to how the Ragnarök myths originated. This final lecture considers the role of predestination and free will in Viking-Age perceptions, and also looks at what happened after a different kind of ending, with the introduction of Christianity.
