Why would I say that existence has a quality of monstrosity? Well, according to lore, it was created out of the remains of a monster. The Gods worked hard to whole-make this, setting up their assistants, the elves and dwarves, to complete the whole-making process, but this was interrupted, and sabotaged, so that existence has come to take on that quality which Loki revels in in Harbardsljod : Þat hafr eik, er af annarri skefr, of sik er hverr í slíku, "One tree has that which is shaved off another ; in such cases, it's everyone for themself." Every man for himself, for in order for me to prosper, you must suffer, and vice-versa. In order for the eagle to thrive, the fish must die. In order for the cougar to thrive, the deer must die, and vice-versa. Thus existence maintains a tragic, nightmarish quality that becomes a zero-sum game. The Gods have tried to tame this quality through the primal law of Wyrd, a gift calls for a gift, thus turning a monstrosity into a gift economy, yet it still maintains something savage about it. There is something horrific about the way things work, which our souls cannot help but protest and repulse, and yet in this way, visions of something better grow within us, and the will, from within existence itself, to overcome and surpass existence, finds its own.