elves struggle for survival. In prose interspersed with powerful verse, the Edda shows the gods' tragic realization that the future holds one final cataclysmic battle, Ragnarok, when the world will be destroyed. These tales have proved to be among the most influential of all myths and legends, inspiring works such as Wagner's Ring Cycle and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Translated with an Introduction and notes by Jesse Byock. Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) was an Icelandic descendant of the poet and hero from Egil's Saga, Egill Skallgrimsson. He was the best-known writer of the saga, author of the Prose Edda, which was written as a textbook for young poets who wished to praise kings, and Heimskringla, a history of the kings of Norway, the most important prose collection in Old Norse literature.