SnootyDeath

The universe we know is like unto one large tree – Yggdrasil. The worlds – Asgard, Jotunheim, Alfheim, and Midgard – are branches on its trunk; each leaf is a life, vibrant and beautiful. Yet this is not a calm, peaceful tree, stunning as it is. There is a demon gnawing at its roots.

As with any tree in nature, Yggdrasil’s future is known. Life is a cycle: growth in spring, vibrancy in summer, a slow aging in fall, and death in winter. Our worlds, our lives, experience this cycle regularly – but the tree itself is not “above”. It is neither removed from nor immune to the ravages of the cycle. And after many winters, there comes one final cold that never leads to another spring.

Just as we know that winter on this realm will inevitably arrive, so too do we already know the manner in which Yggdrasil will meet its end. Now, we are still in summer, but fall approaches; the fall of the Gods. There will be a great war, a Ragnarok, which will see the supposed protectors of the realms laid low; yet the final winter arrives after, and it arrives with fire and fang. Even now, Nidhogg the dread wyrm is gnawing at the roots of the great tree, and the damned dead who fell from the branches into his waiting maw. It is he who, after the war and the Twilight of the Gods, will take wing to raze everything that remains to the earth.

Yggdrasil still pulses with life – this finale doesn’t have to be the end. The World Tree could make it to yet another spring, if only it was protected and cultivated. Yet the gods do nothing. They care not for the tree itself – only their own imminent end. They are so focused on preventing the fall that they do not prepare for the final Winter; if they themselves are dead, they care not if the tree survives Nidhogg’s rampage to find another spring.

King of the Gods, he who is gifted with the greatest magic, Odin One-Eye, should be first and foremost to protect the tree – and every life that grows from it. Yet he is so occupied with his own demise that he forsakes his duty for all his subjects. Odin knows that during the war, the great wolf Fenrir will take his life – and all his Wisdom, his Magic, his energies are directed towards avoiding that fate and that fate alone, not caring what means he uses or harm he causes along the way. Yet in this matter, the king is truly blind; for even if he were to survive Fenrir, he would not survive Nidhogg. The gods seek to save themselves from Ragnarok, but their efforts to do so cause them to scurry like rats before the wolf, when beneath it all lurks a true dragon: one who will feast not only on the blood of the king of gods, but on every remaining leaf on the tree.

As a Valkyrie, I have lived lifetimes among you. Chosen by Odin to swell the ranks of his army, I have been on your battlefields. I have perched beneath waving banners during the most intense conflicts of your lives. I have been at your side in death. I have seen the worst your realm has to offer… and I have seen your best.

I swear to you on my name Eireyn, Healing Ruler of the Valkyries – on all names I have ever been known by from your peoples – I will not abandon you.

While Odin concerns himself with the wolf, I prepare for the dragon. He is unfit to govern – unfit to protect from the horrors that Nidhogg will bring after the great war. He has abandoned his subjects to the whims of Fate while he seeks to spurn his own… and on these grounds I break from him.

Valkyrie I remain – champion and companion to the suffering and the slain; but I answer to the king of gods no more. These realms deserve a protector… a balm for their wounds and a shield against harm. You, my dear Einherjar, must in turn be my sword. Together, we shall overthrow the frantic One-Eyed God, rally the lesser gods, remind them of their duty, and weather the dragon together. It is I, not Odin, who will see us through the long winter and into spring.

Together, my army and I will oppose him, overthrow him – I will become a Ragnarok he never saw coming.

Yggdrasil still pulses with life – this finale doesn’t have to be the end. The World Tree could make it to yet another spring, if only it was protected and cultivated. Yet the gods do nothing. They care not for the tree itself – only their own imminent end. They are so focused on preventing the fall that they do not prepare for the final Winter; if they themselves are dead, they care not if the tree survives Nidhogg’s rampage to find another spring.

King of the Gods, he who is gifted with the greatest magic, Odin One-Eye, should be first and foremost to protect the tree – and every life that grows from it. Yet he is so occupied with his own demise that he forsakes his duty for all his subjects. Odin knows that during the war, the great wolf Fenrir will take his life – and all his Wisdom, his Magic, his energies are directed towards avoiding that fate and that fate alone, not caring what means he uses or harm he causes along the way. Yet in this matter, the king is truly blind; for even if he were to survive Fenrir, he would not survive Nidhogg. The gods seek to save themselves from Ragnarok, but their efforts to do so cause them to scurry like rats before the wolf, when beneath it all lurks a true dragon: one who will feast not only on the blood of the king of gods, but on every remaining leaf on the tree.

As a Valkyrie, I have lived lifetimes among you. Chosen by Odin to swell the ranks of his army, I have been on your battlefields. I have perched beneath waving banners during the most intense conflicts of your lives. I have been at your side in death. I have seen the worst your realm has to offer… and I have seen your best.

I swear to you on my name Eireyn, Healing Ruler of the Valkyries – on all names I have ever been known by from your peoples – I will not abandon you.