The gods cleared the jungle and desert to create mankind’s home, named Midgard because it was situated in the middle of the world.  So that men and women would not feel they had been abandoned, the gods built a stronghold for themselves in the center of Midgard. Called Asgard, this gigantic fortress could only be entered by riding over the rainbow, which was thought to be a bridge of flames.

Midgard was circular and flat.  Bulwarks were erected to protect it from the giants and trolls that reigned outside in the wild, uncharted terrain of Jotunheim and Utgard. Thus the world was structured like the rings of a tree trunk, and on every side, the might ocean lapped at its edge.

A huge ash tree, planted by the gods in the center of Asgard, supported the universe. Several springs flowed at the foot of this tree, and Odin drew all wisdom from one of them.  The gods would traverse the Milky Way to reach the mighty tree, under whose shade they would assemble. Of this tree the skalds  (bards) would sing:

I know where grows an ash,
It is called Yggdrasil,
A tall tree, speckled
With white drops;
From there comes the dew
Which falls in the valley:
It flourishes forever
Above the wells of Urd.

Ragnarok, the end times

Despite this hopeful muse, it is said, a time will come of great famine and strife, an end time called Ragnarok.  The Twilight of the Gods will begin with a great conflict, in which brothers will slay brothers and sons their fathers. Following three years straight of fimbul (winter), ravenous sky wolves will devour the sun and the moon, while mountains crash and every bond is shattered.  Unloosed, the ferocious Fenris Wolf will encircle the earth, his jaws agape. Loki, incorrigible troublemaker and schemer, will be released.  Hex will rig Naglfar, a ghastly vessel made of dead men’s nails, ragged sails, and a crew of corpses, and sail up from his daughter Hel’s realm of the dead.

From the foreboding, unknown Muspellsheim a fearsome host of riders will emerge in shiny vestments, armed with flaming swords, incinerating everything as they advance.