Snorri
gives us an overall description of the Nordic religion and the ancient stories,
rituals and visions which were dissapearing from memory in the 13th century. He
lets an ancient Nordic king see and experience Asgard as a mirage, where Gylfi
asks three gods about occurences and accomplishments by the Æsir.
Snorri
explains how the world was created, how man was created and how society was
organised. Here is the great cosmic tree, Yggdrasil, which holds everything up
and which ties together Heaven, Earth and the Underworld into one unit. In the
centre we have the story of Baldur, the god who is killed by the advice of
deceitful Loki and this deception and death signals the end of all and the
final downfall. In the final battle gods and giants battle and the world is
destroyed in the fire of the world.