They realized they would be unable to contain Fenrir themselves.

The gods praised Fenrir for his strength, but the ease with which he broke their chains was actually quite frightening. This time Fenrir strained for a moment, but in under a minute Dromi was broken as well. The second fetter they made, Dromi was twice as strong as the first. With a single kick the wolf broke the strongest chain the gods had ever made. They made a fetting called Leyding and tricked Fenrir into putting it on by telling him that they only wanted to test its strength.

He was not yet fully grown but was still too dangerous and violent to be allowed to remain free. The gods realized that they would not be able to keep Fenrir at Asgard. He was soon so large and ill-tempered that only Tyr was brave enough to approach Fenrir and feed him. The wolf pup soon grew far beyond normal size for an adult wolf and kept getting larger still.

Soon, however, it became obvious that controlling Fenrir would be more difficult than any of the gods had anticipated. They attempted to curb the young wolf’s more violent impulses and train him to see the gods as his friends rather than enemies. Although he was destined to be dangerous, the gods thought that they could change fate and tame him.įor a time, therefore, Fenrir was raised among the Asgardians. The Aesir had different plans for Fenrir, however. The serpent was put into the depths of the sea while Hel, the most human of the group, was made the ruler of a grim Underworld in Niflheim. The gods immediately resolved to banish Jörmungandr and Hel. Odin had received his prophecies regarding Ragnarök, so he was aware that all of Loki’s children would play a role in the world’s demise. When the gods discovered Loki’s children, they knew the brood was destined to cause trouble. Fenrir was a wolf, Jörmungandr was an enormous sea serpent, and Hel was a woman whose body was partially rotted. How and Why Fenrir Was Boundįenrir was one of the monstrous offspring of the trickster Loki and his jötunn mistress Angrboða. Even then, the wolf would be free to get revenge on the gods when the world ended. In the end, it took an invention of the dwarves, a series of tricks, and the sacrifice of a limb to confine Fenrir. Binding the great wolf, however, would not be an easy prospect. According to the most famous story of the wolf’s life, they even fostered him at Asgard in an attempt to change fate.Īs Fenrir grew more violent and enormous, however, the gods realized that he would need to be confined before he caused lasting damage. From the time he was born, Odin knew that he was destined to play a terrible role in the events of Ragnarök.ĭespite this, the gods allowed the wolf to live. Fenrir, Loki’s wolf son, was one of the Norse gods’ most powerful and ferocious enemies.

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