Lifþrasir

Lifþrasir, also rendered as Lífþrasir, is a figure in Norse mythology who, along with the female Lif, survives Ragnarök, the cataclysmic destruction of the world. Their names are commonly interpreted as conveying aspects of life and its preservation, with Lif meaning "life" and Lifþrasir thought to mean something like "life-preserver" or "one who preserves life," though exact readings vary among scholars.

According to the myths, Lif and Lifþrasir endure the devastation by taking refuge in a forest or wooded place while the old world perishes. After the fires subside and a new earth arises, the two survivors emerge to repopulate humanity, continuing the human line in the era that follows Ragnarök. Their story is attributed to sources within the Norse corpus, including the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, where they are cited as the last human pair and as symbols of renewal.

Scholars view Lif and Lifþrasir as representing rebirth and continuity within Norse cosmology. The core motif is that life endures catastrophe and can be renewed in a transformed world. While details about their exact dwelling place and the precise phrasing of the Ragnarök sequence vary among manuscripts and translations, the fundamental idea remains consistent: Lif and Lifþrasir survive to usher in a new phase of human existence.