In Norse mythology, Jormungandr, the world serpent, is one of the three monstrous offspring of the god Loki. Jormungandr's siblings are Hel, the grim goddess of the underworld, and Fenris the wolf, who is so massive that his jaws fully opened stretch from the earth to the vault of the sky. As for Jormungandr, he lives in the sea and encircles the entire world, biting down on his own tail through the ages. A favorite of mine since I was a child, Jormungandr provides a metaphor central to structure of the Scandinavian 81. I will use his image for the homepage of the accompanying Wiki (which already enjoys a rudimentary existence), as well as the cover of the book-- if on the off-chances that this thing a.) ever gets finished, and b.) published. (At the rate I'm proceeding, it will require several lifetimes.)
Aesthetically pleasing images of Jormungandr have proved surprisingly difficult to locate online. I like these three, but none of them quite suits my purposes. The first is closest to what I envision. I don't know how old it actually is, but it strikes my eyes as closely modeled, at least, on ancient sources. (It also reminds me of Tolkien's artwork.) But the third Jormungandr is my favorite. I consider it the most skillfully rendered. I enjoy particularly how Jormungandr seems less to be biting his tail than spewing it out, as a dragon spews fire: he vomits himself into existence. I don't know whether this is the artist's inspiration or based on some mythological precedent. Either way, I love it.
The current plan is to commission an artist to create an original image of Jormungandr, based perhaps on some combination of these three. As with most of my plans, I've been negligent about implementing it.
On a related issue, I'm told I'm running a legal risk by posting images such as this online. I may receive a cease and desist order, along with a bill, if I'm not careful about what I download. Apparently this holds true whether or not my blog makes money (or "is monetized," as they say). Most of the images so far have been from Wikipedia. I feel fairly safe about these; surely Wikipedia's images, if anyones, are in the public domain. The only exceptions so far, I believe, are these images of the world serpent, which I got found with a google search.
If I do get sued, expect a series of blog posts about it.
I didn't know about Jormungandr! How cool! Maybe you should hold an art contest among all your artist friends to create one for you!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite line in this post: "he vomits himself into existence". I LOVE that concept! You are a really good writer!
These particular images of Jormungandr remind me of the Greek Oroborous. Usually when I see images of the world serpent, it's a very concrete image of a reptile, either serpentine or with four legs like a salamander, biting it's tale. It doesn't have that sense of self-consuming or continuity. That's an interesting point you make about it though, with the image that it's spewing itself out rather than eating itself. One is an image of self-perpetuation, and the other is self-destruction. Interesting how one image can mean opposite things.
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