Fenrir

He may not be a werewolf, but no werewolf site can leave out the biggest and baddest of all wolves – Fenrir! One of the most famous of all the deities in Norse mythology is Fenrir (also known as Fenris), son of trickster god Loki and the giantess Angroboda.

Fenris was an absolutely massive wolf; a wolf that the gods had learned from a prophecy would one day bring about Ragnarok (the end of the world). The fear of the prophecy caused the gods to put the little pup in a cage. Only the god of war, Tyr, had the courage to feed and take care of the wolf.

But as time went on Fenrir grew into the giant wolf we know him as, and when the gods saw this they decided they needed to render him harmless. However, none of the gods had the guts to face the colossal wolf, so instead they tried to trick him. They told Fenrir that he was weak and could never break free when chained. He accepted their challenge and let them chain him. But the wolf had more power than the gods could ever imagine and he broke every chain they used on him.

The gods soon realized that something drastic needed to be done. They told the dwarves to make something that could hold Fenrir. So the dwarves created a material called Gleipnir, a substance that was very soft, but could never be broken. The Gleipnir was made from some pretty weird items – the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the footstep of a cat, the breath of fishes, the sinews of a bear, and the spit of birds.

With this the gods planned to bind the Fenrir forever, but, the wolf was sick of the chain game. To makes matters worse for the gods, when the wolf saw the weak-looking Gleipnir chain they wanted to use on him he said that there was no pride in breaking such a puny chain. Eventually, he agreed to it, thinking that otherwise his courage and strength would be doubted. But he wasn’t stupid, he suspected their trickery so he only agreed to be chained on one account, one of the gods would have to place their hand into his jaws. Tyr was the only god to agree.

Fenrir was then bound by the Gleipnir, and even though he used every bit of his strength, he could not break free.  In revenge, he bit off Tyr’s hand. The gods then chained Fenrir to a rock called Gioll in the underworld, forcing a sword in between his jaws to keep him from biting on anyone. And this is where Fenrir waited for Ragnarok, the end of all things.

As time passed the Gleipnir weakened, and when Ragnarok arrived, Fenrir broke free and attacked the gods. He killed Odin and brought about the end of the universe as it was prophesied. He was eventually killed by Odin’s son Vidar, but he was too late, Fenrir had already brought on the end.

To the ancient Norse, Fenrir represented strength and destruction.

– Moonlight

By moonlight

One of the writers for werewolves.com, as well as vampires.com.

18 comments

  1. SO, EnouGH of this shit:
    1* Fenrir, that -ir on the end of name means a woman, (her sister from other mother Glendir)and I am totally sick of that how people miss the point of ´´Angrboda will guard children of Fenrir in the iron wood´´. This means that he must FUCK SOMEONE AND WHOLE EDDA DO NOT MENTION WIFE OF FENRIR!!
    2* If you call a child ( with a crazy father,which was abducted by hordes of fats liars, which want save their bellies and asses from truth and justice, because Odin was a awful king, and his pleasure were fights and human blood )a BAD WOLF, then you´re not very well with youre mental life.

    1. Um, you are talking this too personally. Chill out. If you want to have an intelligent debate over this, then try sound intelligent, rather than sounding like a child throwing a tantrum.

    2. Just so you know Fenrir had two children one of which is Skoll who will devour the moon. the ‘ir’ at the end of his name is an English adaption as the annunciation of Fenris is too difficult for idiot English speaking foreigners to say.

      1. Don’t be a moron, damn near every mythical creature has multiple spellings and pronunciations. Fenrir is know by other names than just Fenris, there’s also Fenrisúlfr, Hróðvitnir and Vánagandr. It has nothing to do with “idiot foreigners” it has to do with words altering over time and areas…like all words do. Common sense. Don’t bother us with your ignorance and insults.

    3. I wouldn’t get too bent out of shape about gender in Norse mythology, remember Loki was Fenrisúlfr’s father but was Sleipnir’s mother

  2. i need a helping hand i want to make a rp bio of fenrir and needed a rough guess at size and age .please email me thank you

  3. Lol wow @It hurts

    Ive done a lot of research into Norse mythology (as it use to be every one of my bed time stories) and I have never found anywhere stating the ir on the end was a female term. Actually after some research I cant find any language that uses ir as a female term. Dont even try to say German because I am German and I speak it. Fenrir is Old Norse for Fen-dweller ye of little knowledge.

  4. hes to big to fit in your house o and it hurts fenrir is a wolf god the for werewolf or regular wolf would be he children

  5. guy does it really matter? if youre like me you dont give a rats ass about this shit. is it possible to just get along on one site? its A FUCKING myth people!

  6. Fact: The gods helped the prophecy and maybe realized that with huge regret one second before the end. Not only the little pup was grown up in a cage, but once adult they planned to keep him imprisoned forever. Can you blame him if, once his binds were weak enough to be brocken, he was so full of grudge and wrath that he took revenge on his persecutors?
    They should have killed him when they could or else raise him friendly.
    Lesson of the day: Never hurt who you wont kill.

  7. Umm, I’m an inspiring writer and I’m writing a book that has to do with a character being a gigantic wolf but I’m not sure whether I should disregard Fenrir in Norse Mythology and make it more modern or should I just make the character a direct descendent of Fenrir? Please, I’m working on a time limit; I’ll really appreciate if you get back to me soon.

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