Ragnarök: The Doom of the Powers

All-father, Lord of the Hanged, Master of the Five Hundred Doors

Hanged himself on the ash nine nights to take up the runes, and paid an eye at the well for one look further. Has known for nine ages exactly how this day ends — the wolf — and has spent every one of them gathering the dead anyway, which he regards as the only honest answer to knowing.

Wants: Have every man he ever bought standing on the field when the wolf comes, so that what is coming costs the other side something.

Lady of Fensalir, Who Knows Every Fate and Says None

Knows all that is coming and has never once said it out loud, which the hall reads as calm and is not. Went to every thing in the world and took an oath from it not to hurt her son, and did not ask the one shoot west of Valhalla because it looked too young to swear.

Wants: Miss nothing this time. Ask the small things first.

Warder of Midgard, Son of Earth

Solves in one afternoon what the All-father has been arranging for nine ages, and is right often enough that nobody has stopped him. Cannot be talked into a plan and cannot be talked out of a fight he has already walked toward.

Wants: Get to the serpent before it gets to the shore, and settle what has been outstanding between them since the boat.

Lady of Folkvang, Who Chooses First Among the Slain

Takes half the men killed in the field and the All-father takes the other half, and she has the first pick, which every hall knows and nobody in Asgard mentions in front of him. Wept gold for a husband who went out and did not come back, and has never explained where she looked for him.

Wants: Bring her half in whole and standing, and not lose one of them to somebody else's arrangement.

White God of Himinbjorg, Who Needs Less Sleep Than a Bird

Hears wool growing on a sheep's back and grass growing in the ground, and has heard the fetter working loose at Gnipahellir for eleven winters without being believed. Born of nine mothers at the world's edge, which he brings up rarely and to great effect.

Wants: Sound the horn at the right moment and not one breath before, because he only gets to be right about this once.

The One-Handed, Who Stood Surety for a Lie

Put his right hand in the wolf's mouth as a pledge of good faith while the others tied the knot, knowing the pledge was false, because somebody had to and no one else would. Has been the arbiter of every dispute in Asgard since, and everyone accepts his judgement, which he has not found to be a comfort.

Wants: Meet the hound at Gnipahellir himself and let no one else stand in for him a second time.

Lord of Alfheim, Who Gave His Sword for a Woman

Sat in the high seat he had no right to sit in, saw a girl's arms light up a whole yard in the iron-wood, and traded away the sword that fought by itself to get a servant to go and ask for her. Has never once said it was a bad trade.

Wants: Meet the fire-lord with what he has left — an antler off the wall — and not spend the day apologising for the sword.

The Silent, Whose Shoe Was Made From Every Scrap

Says nothing, and everyone has decided this means something different. Has one shoe built up over an age out of every toe-scrap and heel-scrap the northern halls have ever cut off a boot and thrown away, and he knows exactly what it is for.

Wants: Be standing close enough when the All-father goes down, and put the shoe in the wolf's lower jaw.

Lord of Muspell, Who Has Held the Sword Since the First Morning

Is not angry. Was standing at the southern edge with a bright sword before there was anything to the north of him to be angry at, and has stood there through every age since, waiting to be told he may come in. Today he has been told.

Wants: Cross the plain, put the fire into the ash from the root up, and finish the work he was made at the start to finish.

Grief-Bringer of the Iron-Wood, Mother of the Three

Bore a wolf, a serpent and a girl who was living down one side, and had all three taken out of the cradle in one morning by men who had heard a verse about what they would do. Has spent every age since being right about what they made her children into.

Wants: Walk her three onto this field herself and stand where all three of them can see her.

The Bound Wolf, Son of the Iron-Wood

Was raised in Asgard and hand-fed by one god only, and agreed to the third ribbon on the single condition that a pledge went into his mouth, which he took in good faith and bit off in bad. Has been on an island with a sword propping his jaws for an age, thinking about the faces of the ones who laughed.

Wants: Find the one-eyed man in the crush and close over him.

The Midgard Serpent, Who Has Held Its Own Tail Since It Was Thrown

Was thrown into the sea as a hatchling and grew until the only thing left to hold was itself, and has held on around the whole world for an age with its own tail in its mouth. Has met the hammer once, over the side of a boat, and was cut loose by a frightened man.

Wants: Let go, come up the shore, and put the venom over the field before the red-bearded one gets close.

Laufey's Son, Who Steers the Nail-Ship

Was the All-father's sworn brother for eight hundred years and the best company in any hall in Asgard, and put the shoot of young growth in a blind god's hand and aimed the throw. Was bound afterwards on flat stones with the guts of one of his sons while the other watched.

Wants: Bring the ship in and be there to see the faces when they understand who is steering it.

Lady of Eljudnir, Who Keeps Everyone Who Died in Bed

Was thrown down into the mist as an infant and given all nine worlds of the dead to run, and has run them without one complaint reaching Asgard. Was asked once to give a god back and named a price that was met by everyone in the world except one old woman in a cave.

Wants: Empty her house onto this field and let Asgard finally look at what it sent her.

Frost-Captain Out of the East, Shield Before Him

Has driven from the east at the head of the rime-kin in every telling of this day, always with the shield already up, and has never once been early or late. Treats the whole thing as a crossing to be made in good order and dislikes noise.

Wants: Land the eastern kin dry and in formation, and hand them over where they were promised.

Fire-Smoked, Who Launched the Dead God's Ship

Was sent for by the Aesir when the whole of Asgard could not move a boat, rode in on a wolf with vipers for reins, and shoved the ship so hard the rollers caught fire and the earth moved. The red-bearded one wanted to kill her for it on the spot and had to be talked down. She has told the story since.

Wants: Do the same job on the far side of the field and see whether anyone talks him down this time.