Jormungandr: the World Serpent of Midgard

Jormungandr, the World Serpent and the Midgard Serpent, was a male Jötunn serpent so enormous that he encircled all of Midgard within the Lake of Nine. Sworn enemy of Thor and fated to fight him at Ragnarök, he became an ally of Kratos and Atreus after they roused him from his slumber. He was one of the last giants left in Midgard and one of the few beings who still spoke the ancient tongue of the Jötnar. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

A serpent in the Lake of Nine#

By Freya's account, the Serpent appeared one day in the Lake of Nine without explanation. At some point he had fought Thor in a clash felt across all the Nine Realms, ending in a stalemate, and afterward remained in the lake, growing so vast that he could encircle all of Midgard and grasp his own tail. When Thor and the Aesir hunted the Jötnar, the survivors fled to their homeland, leaving Jormungandr and the guardian Faye as the last giants in Midgard. He passed the long years sleeping and guarding the temple of Tyr, and a horn upon the bridge could be sounded to summon him. (God of War (2018))

He first met Kratos and Atreus when he rose from the lake, lowering its waters, and spoke a few words to them, though they could not yet understand him, before sinking back into slumber. (God of War (2018))

Ally to Kratos and Atreus#

After Kratos and Atreus recovered the head of Mimir, the only being who still spoke the Serpent's language, they summoned Jormungandr to ask the way to Jötunheim. The first thing he saw on waking was a great statue of Thor, which he tore apart and swallowed in his loathing. Recognizing Mimir, he grew briefly enraged when Mimir misspoke and named the pair friends of Odin, then calmed when the mistake was corrected, and agreed to realign the travel bridge to set them on their way. (God of War (2018))

Later, realizing the statue he had eaten might hold one of Mimir's lost eyes, the Serpent reluctantly allowed the three into his mouth to search, only to come under attack by Baldur and expel them beside the corpse of the frost giant Thamur. When Freya reanimated that corpse, Atreus called out to the Serpent in the ancient tongue, and Jormungandr came at once, attacking Thamur's corpse so that Kratos could defeat Baldur. He retreated afterward, and Kratos and Mimir judged it best to leave him to recover. (God of War (2018))

The truth of his origin#

In truth Jormungandr had once been a giant who, like his kin, had locked his soul away in a marble inscribed with his name. Long after, in Ironwood, Atreus and Angrboda revived a large but ordinary snake whose own soul had been stolen, giving it the soul of that giant. The snake left them at once, and only later, when Angrboda reported that it was growing far beyond any natural rate, did Atreus realize it was Jormungandr himself, and understood at last why the Serpent had once told him to seek out Ironwood. (God of War Ragnarök)

During Ragnarök this younger Jormungandr fought Thor in the skies above Asgard. The battle struck Yggdrasil so violently that the Serpent was hurled backward through time, sent to the moment he had first appeared in the Lake of Nine long before. Afterward, when Freya wondered why the Serpent still seemed present in the lake, Mimir understood that the legend of his journey through time was true: the serpent they had always known was the elder version, grown from the youth cast back through the ages. Kratos recalled that Jormungandr had found Atreus familiar at their first meeting, and so deduced that the boy must have met him in Jötunheim, before he had ever known it. (God of War Ragnarök)

Strength, venom, and loneliness#

Jormungandr was among the most powerful beings in all the realms, his strength enough to equal the might of Thor, with whom he was destined to slay and be slain come the final battle. His clash with Thor had violently shaken Yggdrasil itself, and he could overpower the reanimated corpse of the colossal Thamur with ease. He carried a deadly venom called Eitr, which he once imbued into Kratos' Leviathan Axe, and the talk of the Aesir suggested it was this poison that kept a wound dealt to Thor from ever healing. (God of War (2018); God of War Ragnarök)

For all his power, the Serpent was deeply lonely, being the last living giant in Midgard after Faye's death and one of the very few who still spoke his tongue. Yet he enjoyed conversation when he could find it, and Mimir called him a sparkling conversationalist. He bore an unyielding hatred for Thor and Odin for the near-extinction of the giants, though he held no grudge against Mimir. (God of War (2018))