Fenrir

The Wolf the Gods Feared

The Prose Edda says that prophecies warn of danger from Loki’s children. Odin casts Jörmungandr into the sea and sends Hel to rule the dead, while Fenrir remains among the Aesir. The wolf grows larger each day. The gods know he may destroy them, yet their treatment of him also helps turn him into their enemy. First they challenge Fenrir to break a heavy chain called Læding. He snaps it easily. A second chain, Drómi, is twice as strong, but he breaks that too. Ordinary metal cannot hold him, so Odin sends for help from the dwarfs, the greatest magical craftsmen in the myths. The dwarfs create Gleipnir, a ribbon made from six impossible things: the sound of a cat’s footsteps, a woman’s beard, a mountain’s roots, a bear’s sinews, a fish’s breath and a bird’s spit.

It looks soft and light, but it is stronger than any iron chain. Snorri jokes that those ingredients are now impossible to find because they were all used up. On the island of Lyngvi, the gods invite Fenrir to test Gleipnir. He suspects a trick and agrees only if one of them places a hand inside his mouth as a promise of good faith. Everyone hesitates except Tyr. When Fenrir cannot escape and realises he has been deceived, he bites off Tyr’s hand. The gods fasten Gleipnir to a stone and wedge a sword between Fenrir’s jaws. Foam pours from his mouth and forms a river called Ván. Most of the gods laugh because the danger is contained, although Tyr cannot laugh. The scene saves Asgard for a time, but it also shows the cost of a broken promise.

At Ragnarok, earthquakes shatter the wolf’s bonds. Fenrir charges forward with his lower jaw against the earth and his upper jaw towards the sky. He swallows Odin. Vidar immediately avenges his father by stamping on Fenrir’s lower jaw with a mighty shoe and tearing or stabbing him apart, depending on the account. The story leaves a difficult question. Are the gods wisely preventing a disaster, or do they help create the hatred they fear? Fenrir has not killed Odin when they chain him, but his growth and the prophecy give them a genuine reason to worry.

⬅   Back