mythological Ouroboros

When I thought about posting this, it occurred to me to mention this connection, but in the heat of the moment while I was posting, I forgot (what if tsuwm had been reading about autophagy too? what if he beat me to it, again? oh wait - he would have known the word and simply continued reading).

In addition to the Ouroboros (or perhaps as a manifestation of it) there's the Midgard Serpent of Norse mythos, who wraps all the way around the earth and holds his tail in his mouth. As I recall the tale, at Ragnarok (the Norse Armageddon) the serpent bites Thor, who then kills him, but the serpent's poison then finishes off the thunder god.