Fenrir was the great wolf, son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, brother of Hel and Jörmungandr. He had been raised among the Aesir at first, until his growth became alarming; the gods then bound him with the magical chain Gleipnir at the cost of Týr's hand (the narrative is in Týr's entry above). He was thereafter chained on a remote island, with a sword wedged into his open jaws to keep him from biting; the saliva from his mouth formed a river called Ván ("Hope"). At Ragnarök he would break his bonds and march against the gods; he would devour Odin in the great battle (the principal moment of Odin's death-prophecy); and he would in turn be killed by Vidar, who would tear apart his jaws.
Before thisRan
Next on the wallJörmungandr
Curator’s note
What the sources say, and what later tradition added. The sources for this bay
Gylfaginning 34, 51; Lokasenna 39 (the Týr-and-Fenrir reference); Völuspá 53. The Fenrir narrative is one of the most distinctive in Norse mythology and has had an enormous modern reception, particularly through Wagner.
Kin in the sources
Each tie is quoted from the entry that states it.
Child ofLokiFenrir was the great wolf, son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, brother of Hel and Jörmungandr.
Sibling ofHelFenrir was the great wolf, son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, brother of Hel and Jörmungandr.
- Sibling ofJörmungandr
Fenrir was the great wolf, son of Loki and the giantess Angrboða, brother of Hel and Jörmungandr.
Rival ofTýrthe gods then bound him with the magical chain Gleipnir at the cost of Týr's hand
SlewOdinhe would devour Odin in the great battle
Slain byVidarhe would in turn be killed by Vidar, who would tear apart his jaws
When the sources speak
Dated witnesses for The Norse and Germanic Gods. A date marks when the evidence was written down, not when the belief began. The whole timeline
- 2nd–1st millennia BCE
- Indo-European language dispersals and regional Bronze Age cultures provide a remote comparative background, not a recoverable common canon.
- c. 500 BCE–1 CE
- Iron Age material culture, names, sanctuaries, and classical ethnography offer early but external evidence for Celtic and Germanic religions.
- 1st–4th centuries CE
- Roman inscriptions and provincial cults preserve many Celtic, Germanic, and local divine names.
- 4th–8th centuries CE
- Migration-period and early medieval conversion transform ritual institutions while heroic traditions continue.
- 8th–11th centuries CE
- Viking Age poetry, runic evidence, archaeology, and Scandinavian conversion form the core context of Norse myth.
- 9th–12th centuries CE
- Slavic, Baltic, and Finnic traditions enter chronicles and missionary accounts, often through hostile observers.
- 11th–14th centuries CE
- Irish, Welsh, and Icelandic manuscripts preserve major narrative corpora in Christian literary environments.
- 12th–16th centuries CE
- Saxo, saga compilers, Baltic chroniclers, and later antiquarians systematize or reinterpret older material.