Jörmungandr, From Myth to Real Life

The story for this week will be a bit different from your usual ”Mythology Fun Fact”. Indeed, instead of covering an official myth, I’ll talk about something less official but deserves to be covered. After all, every myth has its own sense of truth. Even if it is a bit far-fetched or, sometimes, a coincidence. This time we will talk about the most famous snake in Norse mythology, Jörmungandr. In the Norse myths, the Jörmungandr, also known as the Midgard Serpent, is a snake of a titanic size that has been locked in the sea surrounding the realm of the men.

What inspired the old Norse to believe such a creature existed is unknown to us. However, we noticed something a while back that strangely resembled the World Serpent.  I am, of course, talking about the great trench that runs across the seafloor. The fact that it stretches around the globe and has somewhat the body of a snake reminds historians and other Norse myths enthusiasts of the great snake from the Norse mythology. Of course, this obviously can’t be what led the Norsemen of old to imagine Jörmungandr. Indeed since they had neither the equipment nor the need to find such a thing. It remains incredible that something like this happened, because honestly, what were the odds of such a coincidence!