SFWG Study Hall

Okay, I am not going to go into great detail here, but this should get you started. All you have to do is put these in a search engine to find more.

Christianity-Revelation
This is one of the more complicated “end of the world” scenarios and the meaning is usually depicted differently by different religious groups since much of this book is symbolic. It starts with the seven trumpets. Trumpets are symbolic of disaster and war, but the last trumpet signals Christ’s return. When he does he punishes mankind with seven Plagues. Revelation goes on about how the beast will trick man kind and people will think Christ is the anti-Christ and a big war will come to pass. Revelation is a lot more complicated then this, but that is the short version of it.

Ancient Egypt-Apophis
There is the belief that every night the sun god Re (usually depicted as a cat in this battle)had to fight Apophis, a serpent that personified darkness and evil. If the sun god had ever failed, the world and the gods would come to an end. And things will be just as they were in the beginning. This story was commonly depicted on tomes and some times in the book of the dead, but was very vague.

Norse Myth- Ragnarok (fate of the gods) and Loki
This myth comes from Snorri’s Eddas and is very detailed. It starts with the world being consumed in war for three years. Motivated by greed, brother will kill brother and fathers will kill their sons. Then three terrible winters will follow without summer and the sun will not shine. The wolf that chases the sun has caught it and swallowed it then a second wolf will swallow the moon and great earthquakes will result. This then will loosen the bonds of Loki and the wolf Finrir. Then the serpent Midgard will serge in the oceans making is way to land causing the ocean to rush the land releasing Naglfar. Then ship Naglfar filled with giants, would be released with Loki at the helm and Hrym as the captain.
Meanwhile Finrir will ingulf the sky in flames and Midgard will fill it with his venom. This all brings the attention of Muspell, whom awakens the gods and their counter plain. This story then goes on describing the battle the that resulted. Thor and Midgard kill each other. Finrir kills Odin, Finrir is torn apart and therefore killed by Odin’s son Vidar. Loki will battle Heimdall and both will die. When it is all said and done the children of the gods now rule and the sun’s daughter now crosses the sky as did her mother. The world will be repopulated by the last two surviving humans Lif and Lifthrasir. And life will start over anew.

Aztec-The Legend of the Five Suns
The legend of the five Suns was recorded in the Florentine Codex, was compiled by Bernardio de Sahagun around 1570 and depicts various Aztecs myths, many of which only survive in this book. It says each of the for previous suns where destroyed by various means, we are currently in the era of the fifth sun. Apparently the world will be suffer war and famine and then finally earth quakes. When the earth becomes tiered it will end.
The ending time based on the Aztec second calendar of 260 days, their other callandar consisted of 360 days plus five nameless days. This 260 day rotating calendar had nothing to do with the seasons and how it came about is unknown, but its main function seemed to be fortune telling. The two years only coincided every 52 years, this was anticipated every time as the possible end of the world and if a particular star moved from its zenith everything would be okay.

This is only a small example of end of the world myths, but this should get you started.


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