jormungandr · Chapter 4 of 4
Nine Steps
The sea comes over the land · A kill · Nine paces
He counted the steps because the number is the whole tragedy.
Völuspá gives the ending in a few lines and wastes none of them. At the end, the serpent writhes in giant-fury and churns the sea. Thor comes to meet him and kills him. Then the poem does something exact: it says he goes nine paces from the serpent. Snorri, retelling it, spells out the rest: he falls dead of the venom. Neither wins. The boat was the rehearsal and this is the performance, and unlike the boat it finishes both of them — the protector of Midgard, and the thing that had been circling it since the day it was thrown out of sight.
- Venom
- A mutual kill
- Nine paces
Unlocks in-game at Mastery 4.
