Overview

Fenrir is the greatest of all wolves in Norse mythology, the son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, and the being destined to swallow Odin at Ragnarok. He is one of three monstrous children born to Loki and Angrboða, the others being the World Serpent Jörmungandr and the death goddess Hel. The gods brought Fenrir to Asgard and raised him there, aware of the prophecy concerning his fate, until his growth became so alarming that they resolved to bind him. The binding was accomplished through deception, cost the god Tyr his right hand, and produced the fetter Gleipnir, the most remarkable object in Norse mythology: a ribbon of impossible lightness that is the strongest thing ever made. Fenrir will remain bound on the island of Lyngvi until Ragnarok, when the chain will break and he will run with his jaws open from earth to sky, consuming everything in his path until he reaches Odin.

Sources

The primary sources for Fenrir are the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, particularly the Gylfaginning, and several poems of the Poetic Edda including the Voluspa, the Lokasenna, the Vafthrudnismal and the Hymiskviða. Snorri provides the most detailed account of Fenrir's upbringing in Asgard, the three attempts to bind him, the making of Gleipnir, and the events on the island of Lyngvi. The Voluspa describes his role at Ragnarok and his killing of Odin. The Lokasenna has Loki boasting of his parentage of Fenrir and the other monstrous children.

Birth and Upbringing in Asgard

The three children of Loki and Angrboða were brought to the attention of the gods, who understood from prophecy that great harm would come from this offspring. The gods acted against all three: Jörmungandr was thrown into the ocean that encircles Midgard, Hel was sent to rule the realm of the dead in Niflheim, and Fenrir alone was brought to Asgard to be raised among the gods. The reason given in the sources for this different treatment is that no one was willing to travel to Jötunheimr to fetch him, and it was thought better to have him under their direct observation.

Among the Aesir, only the god Tyr was willing to feed Fenrir as he grew. The wolf's growth was extraordinary and increasingly alarming. When the gods concluded that the prophecies would be fulfilled and that Fenrir would eventually cause great harm, they resolved to bind him. They did not kill him directly because the place where Fenrir was kept was sacred and they were unwilling to defile it with his blood, which required them to find a means of restraint rather than killing.

The Three Attempts to Bind Fenrir

The gods' first attempt to bind Fenrir was with a fetter called Leyding, which they presented to him as a test of strength. Fenrir examined it and agreed to the test. He broke it without difficulty on the first kick. The gods made a second fetter called Drómi, twice as strong as the first. They presented this to Fenrir as well, noting that if he broke such a strong fetter he would demonstrate great strength. Fenrir agreed, tested it, and broke it too, though with more effort than the first. The proverb recorded in the sources, to loose from Leyding or to break from Drómi, became a saying used to describe a great achievement.

For the third attempt the gods sent messengers to Svartalfheim, the realm of the dwarves, and asked them to make a fetter that could not be broken. The dwarves made Gleipnir from six things that do not exist: the sound of a cat's footstep, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird. Because these things do not exist in the world, Gleipnir has no substance that can be resisted or broken. It is described as soft and smooth as a silk ribbon, and it is the strongest thing ever made.

The Island of Lyngvi and Tyr's Hand

The gods brought Fenrir to the island of Lyngvi in the lake Ámsvartnir and suggested a game: they would test the new fetter on him as they had tested the others. Fenrir looked at Gleipnir and suspected deception. The ribbon was too light, too smooth, too unlike anything that should be strong. He agreed to the test on one condition: one of the gods must place a hand in his mouth as a pledge of good faith. If the gods kept their word and released him when he asked, he would lose nothing. If they did not, the god would lose the hand.

All the gods looked at each other. No one was willing. Tyr alone stepped forward and placed his right hand in Fenrir's mouth. The gods bound Fenrir with Gleipnir. He tested it and found he could not break it. He called for release. The gods refused, laughing. Tyr lost his right hand. Fenrir was bound with a chain called Gelgja attached to a rock called Gjöll, and a sword was wedged under his upper jaw to hold his mouth open. He will remain there until Ragnarok. His saliva drips from his jaws continuously and forms the river Ván.

Fenrir at Ragnarok

At Ragnarok the chain Gleipnir will break and Fenrir will run free. The Voluspa describes him advancing with his mouth open so wide that his upper jaw scrapes the sky and his lower jaw drags along the earth, and that he would gape even wider if there were room. He devours everything in his path. He kills Odin, swallowing the Allfather whole. Immediately afterward Odin's son Víðarr avenges his father: he places his iron-shod foot on Fenrir's lower jaw and seizes the upper jaw, tearing the wolf apart. The Prose Edda specifies that Víðarr stabs Fenrir through the palate with his sword. Fenrir is destroyed by the one god who was prepared specifically for this moment, whose iron shoe was built from the leather scraps discarded by cobblers throughout all of history.

Fenrir's Children

Two of Fenrir's offspring are named in the sources. The wolf Sköll pursues the sun across the sky and will catch it at Ragnarok. The wolf Hati Hróðvitnisson pursues the moon and will catch it at Ragnarok. The Grimnismal and the Gylfaginning both record these two wolves in the context of the cosmic hunt that will end at Ragnarok, when the sun and moon are finally consumed and their light extinguished as part of the general destruction of the old world.

The Moral Complexity of the Binding

The Prose Edda presents the binding of Fenrir with unusual attention to its ethical dimensions. Fenrir has not yet harmed anyone at the time of his binding. He is bound because prophecy says he will harm Odin in the future, not because of any act he has committed. The deception used, presenting Gleipnir as a test of strength when the gods had no intention of releasing him, was understood by Fenrir as a risk he was entitled to protect himself against by demanding the surety of Tyr's hand. The gods promised to release him and did not. The one god who behaved with full integrity, Tyr, who placed his hand knowing he would lose it and placed it anyway because someone had to, is the one who paid the price of the arrangement. The Prose Edda notes that Fenrir is called the wolf of the Aesir because of what was done to him there.

Legacy and Significance

Fenrir is one of the most significant figures in Norse eschatology, the necessary destroyer whose existence as Odin's killer is the condition for Víðarr's existence as Odin's avenger. The sequence Fenrir kills Odin, Víðarr kills Fenrir is one of the most clearly predetermined chains of events in the mythology, presented in the sources not as uncertain but as inevitable. The wolf that the gods raised among themselves, whose growth they watched with increasing alarm, whose binding required deception and cost a god his hand, is the same wolf that will swallow the Allfather at the end of the world. The Norse tradition does not present this as poetic justice but as the working out of a fate that was set before the events began.

OTHRAVAR — Musical Tribute

Experience the river Ván forming from the wolf's dripping jaws and the certainty of the end that waits on the island of Lyngvi through the ancient sounds of Norse folk music. This original composition draws from the skaldic tradition, performed with traditional instruments including tagelharpa, bukkehorn and frame drum.