The binding of Fenrir

The fenrir wolf is the son of Loki and grew up in Asgaard despite the predictions saying that the wolf would become both Odin’s and the sun’s baneman at Ragnarök. At first he was harmless but he quickly grew into a beast and became too dangerous to have loose so the Aesir decided he must be chained up. He had grown far too large and far too powerful to be ignored and only Tyr dared to feed him.

The gods had a very strong chain made which they lured the Fenrir wolf to test his strength on. Feeling confident in his powers, the wolf let the elves bind him with the heavy chain, which he immediately tore. A new chain was made that was twice as strong but even that was an easy match for the Fenrir wolf and when he took the javelin and shook his body the chain broke and the pieces were scattered over Asgaard.

After this second failure, they turned to the skilled blacksmiths Brokk and Sindre in Svartalfaheim who accepted the challenge and immediately went to work and began forging. The same skilled dwarves that once forged Thor’s hammer Mjölnir. The result was a rope as thin as a silk ribbon but stronger than the strongest chain. Namely, the rope was made of things that we cannot see and hear such as cat noise, mountain roots, bear sinews, women’s beard, fish’s breath and bird spit. If you haven’t heard of these things, it’s because the dwarves put an end to all this when they made the magic rope they called “Gleipner”.

The aesir called for the wolf and showed him the thin rope and asked him to tear it. The wolf sensed that there was something cunning in the act and that the rope was made of lies and deceit. But he didn’t like being called a coward so in exchange for one of the gods agreeing to put their hand in his mouth while the others tied him up, he agreed to be bound by the thin string. Tyr was the only one brave enough to approach the wolf and put his hand in his gap. When the Fenrir wolf realized he had been tricked, he bit Tyr’s hand in a rage before he could pull away. There, the wolf stood chained to a boulder until he broke free at Ragnarök.