In Norse mythology, Jörmungandr (“wolf-serpent”) is symbolic of transformation and change.
 
According to legend...
 
Jörmungandr was one of three monstrous offsprings of the giantess Angerbotha and the trickster fire god, Loki. Jörmungandr’s brother was the giant wolf Fenrir, and his sister was the goddess Hel, queen of the underworld. Jörmungandr’s venom is extremely poisonous and his size is immense.
 
One day, the gods of Asgard received a prophecy that the three siblings would cause chaos in the future. Odin, the father of the gods, thus banished the three siblings while they were still young.
 
Odin cast Jörmungandr into the sea, where ever afterward his movements were responsible for fatal storms and tidal waves. Hel was banished to the dark realm of the dead below icy Niflheim, and Fenrir was bound to a rock on an island.
 
Jörmungandr eventually grew to such an enormous size that he encircled the world — which was envisioned as a flat disc by the Norse — and held his tail in his mouth.
 
At the end of days, known as Ragnarök, Fenrir will break free of his rocky prison, Hel will supply him with an army of the dead, and Jörmungandr will release his tail and rise from the seas to join the forces of chaos in the penultimate battle against the Norse gods.
 
Thor is destined to fight with Jörmungandr one last time. Thor will kill Jörmungandr with a mighty hammer blow, but Thor himself will survive only long enough to take nine paces from the dead serpent before succumbing to his poison.
 
In this way, Jörmungandr and Thor will kill each other at the end of the world.