Awesome / Norse Mythology

• Viðarr avenges Odin by jumping into Fenrir's mouth and ripping its jaws apart with his bare hands and a gigantic sandal. And he survives Ragnarok being one of only a few male gods who get a happy ending. Even better in some versions he survives completely unscathed.
• Tyr sacrificing his hand to keep Fenrir from destroying the gods, offering to put it in his mouth as insurance that the others binding him with a magical ribbon isn't a trick. It is, and he loses the hand, but Fenrir is trapped until Ragnarok.
• Fenrir killing Odin. Not because he killed the biggest, baddest god in Norse Mythology (although that certainly is awesome in its own right), but because after having been bound until the end of the world with a sword in his mouth because of a vague prophecy of his growth causing the gods problems, he finally breaks loose and as vengeance leads the charge against the gods and kills the greatest among them, proving why it was not a good idea to get on his bad side.
• At Ragnarok, Freyr fights Surtr and dies. However, Freyr is described as engaging him in a "harsh conflict" before he falls. Note that Freyr was completely unarmed and facing Surtr, who was presumably much larger than Freyr and wielded an enormous Flaming Sword powerful enough to burn nearly the entire world. And he put up a fight. The fact that it wasn't a thorough Curbstomp Battle is amazing, but furthermore, some interpretations hold that Surtr dies from the wounds Freyr inflicted on him.
• This line from Hávamall: "Cattle die, kinsmen die, we ourselves also die; but the fair fame never dies of him who has earned it".
• 90 Percent of anything where Thor is involved, such as that time when he ripped off the head of an ox and used it as bait in order to catch Jörmungandr while being stuck in a small fishing boat. And he nearly succeeded killing the thing if his partner hadn't cut off the rope in the last second.
  • When Thor faced a frost giant in a duel, he found that the giant had cheated by bringing a massive clay golem to the fight to aid him. Thor gave the golem a Death Glare so epic that the golem immediately pissed itself and dissolved into a puddle. That's right, folks-Thor was so crap-your-pants scary that he could make inanimate constructs spontaneously spawn an excretory system solely for the purposes of wetting themselves.
• Surtur wins during Ragnarok. Sure, a few gods and goddesses are known to survive and in most versions of the story the world comes back, but it's still very impressive that he managed to complete his goal and kill the gods he was paired against during the final battle.
• Loki seduces a horse to save the universe.
• Thor, Loki, and Thialfi are guests at Utgard, and its master, Utgarda-Loki. He challenges the three of them to various contests of strength. Loki is engaged in an eating contest with Logi. Loki and Logi meet in the middle of a trough, but while Loki consumed the flesh of the meat, Logi also consumed the bones and the trough itself. Thialfi is challenged to a race against Hugi, which Thialfi loses. Thor is challenged to three contests, to drink all the mead from Utgarda-Loki's horn, to lift Utgarda-Loki's cat, and to wrestle Utgarda-Loki's nurse, Elli. He fails all three contests. Or so he thinks. The next morning, as the despondent trio leave his keep, Utgarda-Loki reveals to them that he had used illusion to measure them. Logi is fire incarnate, and consumed the trough and meat by burning it. Hugi is thought, and no one can outrace thought, but Thialfi was fast enough that they feared he might. The horn of mead was actually the ocean, and Thor had consumed enough to cause the tides, and the giants had feared that another drink from Thor would have emptied the oceans entirely. The cat, which Thor couldn't lift, was actually Jormungandr, the Midgard Serpent. And Thor nearly pried it loose from the Earth. And Elli was old age, and Thor nearly fought her to a standstill. Utgarda-Loki concludes by saying that he will, from this point onward, ensure that none of the trio will ever find Utgard again, and vanishes.
• Heimdall and Loki as the last two gods standing at Ragnarok, mortally wounding each other. Loki partakes in some Evil Gloating about how he's won because his goal was to destroy the world and kill all of the gods. Heimdall replies with "I can see further than you" and explains that a handful of gods and humans survived and will repopulate the world.
  “There is no end. It is simply the end of the old times, Loki, and the beginning of the new times. Rebirth always follows death.”

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