ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the supreme Great Serpent, the cosmogonic, ethical and eschatalogical Trismegistus. This serpent has constantly haunted our imaginations, from Ras Shamra to the Loch Ness monster; it is one of the rare symbolic figures that can claim to solve the mystery of the world. The very notion of distance in which so many of their anxieties and dreams are grounded does not exist for the serpent, since it is the living image of the end and the beginning combined. A very elaborate myth relates how the god of thunder tries to catch the Great Serpent without succeeding, because, the giant who is witness to this combat intervenes and frees the monster. But this does not settle the duel: Midgardsormr and Thorr kill each other at the Ragnarok, in an apocalyptic setting. This is why the serpent was finally assimilated to the most malevolent creatures.
