Snapped two iron chains as though they were nothing, and asked for a third
Leyding and Drómi broke; the gods had to send to the dwarves of Svartálfheim for something better.
Myth · Norse
Fenrir
Norse mythology — monstrous wolf, child of Loki
Fenrir is the monstrous wolf fathered by Loki on the giantess Angrboða, reared among the gods until he grew so large that only trickery could restrain him. Bound by a silken fetter made from six impossible things, at the price of Týr's right hand, he lies on an island until Ragnarök, when he breaks loose with fire in his eyes and swallows Odin whole.
How to spot them
- ▸A wolf so vast that his lower jaw scrapes the ground and his upper touches the sky
- ▸A sword set upright in his jaws; a river of drool called Ván
- ▸Only one god was brave enough to feed him
- ▸Quiz clue: 'son of Loki and Angrboða', 'Gleipnir', 'swallows the All-father'
Stories & episodes
Bound by a silken ribbon made of six things that do not exist
Gleipnir: the sound of a cat's footfall, a woman's beard, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird.
Bit off the hand of the god who had pledged it in his jaws
Týr's right hand, given as the gods' guarantee that the binding was only a game.
Swallows Odin whole on the plain at the end of the world
Loosed at Ragnarök, jaws gaping from earth to sky.
Killed by Víðarr, who braces a great shoe on his lower jaw and tears him apart
Víðarr's shoe is made from all the scraps of leather men have ever trimmed from their shoes.
Quick-fire facts
- •His parents are Loki and the giantess Angrboða; his siblings are Jörmungandr and Hel
- •Only Týr dared to feed him while he was reared in Asgard
- •He is bound on the island Lyngvi in the lake Ámsvartnir, the cord passed through a boulder and pinned with another
- •A sword was set in his jaws to hold them open; his slaver forms the river Ván, and he is also called Vánagandr
- •He is also named Hróðvitnir; Sköll and Hati, the wolves that chase the sun and moon, are called his brood
- •He kills Odin and is killed by Odin's son Víðarr, the silent god
- •The Tullstorp runestone in Scania and the Ledberg stone in Sweden are read as showing the wolf and the devoured god
- •The English 'Fenris wolf' comes from the Old Norse genitive Fenrisúlfr
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Sources
- Snorri Sturluson — The Prose Edda (Brodeur translation) Gylfaginning gives the fullest account of the binding
- Sacred Texts Archive — The Poetic Edda (Bellows translation) Völuspá and Vafþrúðnismál for Ragnarök
- World History Encyclopedia — Fenrir