God of War, discovering Fenrir, Loki's eldest son
God of War
Not long ago, we told you about the mythological origins of Jormungandr, one of the three sons of Loki and Angrboða. Taking the opportunity of the first real appearance in the film commercial that announces the release date ofa> God of War Ragnarok, set for next 9 November, the time has come to go to the discovery of Fenrir, the wolf scourge of the gods.Mythological origins
God of War: Loki's children separated from the gods in an illustration by Lorenz Frølich dating back to 1906 Fenrir is a fundamental character of Norse mythology, as demonstrated various written and iconographic testimonies. The eldest son of Loki and Angrboða, he is the brother of the serpent that surrounds the world Jormungandr and of Hel, ruler of the homonymous kingdom of the dead.In turn he has two sons, Sköll and Hati, the two wolves who constantly chase the Sun and the Moon and who, reaching and swallowing them, will start the Ragnarok, mentioned in one of the most famous rooms of the Edda poetic.
In the east there is an old woman, in Járnviðr / and there she feeds the lineage of Fenrir; / of all of them it will be only one / to devour the Moon in the form of a troll.
When the gods learned of some prophecies that they wanted the offspring of the god of deception as the bearer of unspeakable misfortunes, they decided to separate the three brothers. While Hel was banished to the kingdom of Nilfheimr and Jormungandr thrown into the waters surrounding Mannheimr, Fenrir was raised among the gods, perhaps to keep him under control (the debate is still open regarding this decision of Odin). The only one who had the courage to approach the wolf was Týr, who fed him adequately.
Fenrir in this way grew faster than normal, acquiring a formidable strength, the gods then decided to chain him, but to do so they had to deceive him. So, they pretended they wanted to test his strength, encircling him with a chain to see if he was able to break it. Succeeding, the gods try another, more resistant, but the latter also failed to trap him. Thus, SkÃrnir, Freyr's messenger, was sent to Svartálfaheimr, to ask a group of dwarves to build the strongest chain ever made. These, using the sound of a cat's footsteps, a woman's beard, the roots of a mountain, the tendons of a bear, the breath of a fish and the saliva of a bird, created Gleipnir, a portentous object, which had the appearance of a piece of cloth, but which, in fact, was indestructible.
God of War: Týr and Fenrir in an illustration by John Bauer, 1911 Returning from Fenrir, the gods proposed the wolf to try his strength again, but seeing the thin cloth, he realized that this rope was probably shrouded by some spell. To convince him otherwise, he demanded that someone offer to put their hand between his mighty jaws, so as to have the guarantee that it was not a deception. Of all of them, only one came forward: Týr, the only one who ever had the courage to approach him. Placing their hand inside the creature's mouth, the gods wrapped Fenrir with Gleipnir. The magic chain worked very well, but this led the wolf, inevitably, to keep his promise, taking away poor Týr's hand. While the gods tried to fix the end of the chain, Gelgja, to the ground with two boulders, Gjöll and Þviti, the wolf tried in every way to bite his captors. So, to prevent him from using his jaws, they placed a sword in the beast's mouth. The creature began to salivate without being able to swallow, which led to the creation of the River Ván (meaning "waiting").
God of War: the chaining of Fenrir by the gods according to Patten Wilson , 1908 From this moment, Loki's son is destined to remain chained until the events of Ragnarok arise, during which he will run alongside his brother Jormungandr and open his huge jaws between heaven and earth, swallowing everything he encounters on the its path. The prophecy also has it that the wolf collides with Odin, devouring him, only to be killed by one of the latter's sons, Viðarr, who will break his jaw thanks to portentous shoes, created with the scraps of skin accumulated by the men to adapt shoes to their needs, as told in the Gylfaginning.
The wolf will swallow Odin, and that will be his death. But immediately Viðarr will come and place a foot on the lower jaw of the wolf, on that foot he will have that shoe that has been put together throughout the ages: they are the triangular scraps of leather that men cut off from their shoes to the big toe or to the ankle; therefore he will have to throw away those scraps the man who intends to come to the aid of the Aesis. With the other hand he grabs the upper jaw of the wolf and breaks his mouth and this will be the death of the wolf.
Fenrir in God of War Ragnarok
God of War: Fenrir will be mammoth in Ragnarok The Fenrir wolf is probably the creature from Norse mythology that has most established itself within the mass cultural imagination. Just think of the forays into the Final Fantasy saga (so much so that he became an evocable character in Final Fantasy VI), or, more recently, in the striking appearances in extremely successful productions, such as in Thor: Ragnarok of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or in the more than Norse Assassin's Creed Valhalla (where the episode of the wolf's imprisonment recounted in the thirty-fourth chapter of the Gylfaginning, contained in Snorri Sturluson's Prosastic Edda, is fairly faithfully traced). Therefore, such a well-known character could certainly not be missing in the new all-Viking saga of God of War.Already in the 2018 video game, while not appearing, some clues concerning his existence could be glimpsed, which emerged especially from the tales of MÃmir (who mentions him by one of his other names, Hróðvitnir), where he portrays him as the fiercest of the enemies of the gods. This means that, just like his brother Jormungandr, both must have been victims of a sort of space-time journey (as MÃmir himself reported towards the snake that, one day, mysteriously appeared in the lake), which brought them into existence before. of their birth, if their bond with Loki and Angrboða has remained unchanged from the myth.
God of War: Kratos and Atreus could go in search of Fenrir to ask him to fight the gods alongside them. , Fenrir will certainly be a crucial character in Ragnarok, given his adversity towards the Norse pantheon as witnessed by MÃmir, but also judging by the immense size with which Santa Monica has decided to transpose it in videogame form. It does not seem impossible to expect an "old-fashioned" titanic clash, probably in Jotunheimr or, even more suggestively, in Járnviðr (the "iron forest" where the wolf's offspring, Sköll and Hati were raised, whose presence has already been suggested. within the world of God of War), perhaps to convince him to trust the father-son duo and join them during the "twilight of the gods". Ragnarok is getting closer and closer.
We went to the discovery of Fenrir, the new character of God of War, but we remind you that it is not our first foray into Norse mythology (other than those mentioned along the 'article, you will also find those dedicated to Thor, Freya, the Valkyries and Midgard). Also, this time around we already know where the next journey into Norse mythology will take us, but we don't want to tell you too much. Just know that we have physically reached the Icelandic coasts to bring you as complete and exhaustive content as possible.
Waiting for this "special episode", let us know in the comments what you think of this somewhat discounted announcement and what will Fenrir's role in God of War Ragnarok be for you.
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