The Midgard Serpent, Hel, and the wolf Fenrir, were the terrible children born to Loki and the giantess Angrboda, each destined to initiate the destruction of the gods. Odin cast the Midgard Serpent, known also as Iormungand, into the depths of the ocean that encircles the world. He tossed Hel down to Niflheim, investing her with power over the nine realms of creation, where she provides for all who died contemptibly of sickness and old age. Fenrir, however, remained with the Aesir at Asgard, cared for by Tyr, who alone had the courage to feed the great wolf.
As Fenrir grew, the gods, reflecting upon the prophecy of their destruction, became increasingly alarmed, and decided that the wolf needed to be permanently restrained. A strong chain, called Laedingr, was forged, and they challenged Fenrir to prove his strength. Unperturbed, Fenrir allowed himself to be fettered, and effortlessly broke free. The Aesir fashioned a second chain, double the strength of the first, called Dromi. They convinced Fenrir, that if he were to escape from such a powerful chain, he would acquire great fame. Fenrir, liked this idea, and as he had grown considerably since breaking free from Laedingr, he consented. The wolf struggled furiously, smashing the chain and pushing down hard upon the ground with his feet, until he finally managed to break free. Fenrir’s double display of strength, became proverbial, and it is said ‘to break free from Laedingr’, or ‘to escape from dromi’, is to overcome difficult or impossible tasks.
To the god’s dismay, it appeared that the great wolf would never be restrained, and so Odin dispatched Fray’s messenger Skirnir, to the realm of the dark elves, to the dwarfs, who forged Gleipnir, a chain as soft as silk, comprised of a cat’s footsteps, a woman’s beard, roots beneath a rock, bear sinew, fish breath, and bird spit. All six ingredients forever removed from the natural world.
The Aesir brought Fenrir to the island of Lyngvi, surrounding by a lake known as Amsvartnir, and there they challenged the wolf for a third time. The gods, themselves unable to rend the silken chain, agreed that no one other than Fenrir could break it. Fenrir grew suspicious, and refused to be bound. What fame could be gained from breaking free from such a fragile looking chain? The Aesir persuaded Fenrir saying that he would easily escape from this chain as before, and should he fail, they would set him free again. Fenrir, doubted their words, but unwilling to appear as a coward, agreed to submit himself on the condition that one of the god’s placed a hand inside the wolf’s mouth, as a pledge of good faith.
The Aesir looked at one other in defeat, as none of them dared place a hand between the wolf’s enormous jaws. Then Tyr stepped forward and courageously placed his hand inside Fenrir’s mouth. Fenrir struggled fiercely, and the more he exerted himself, the chain would contract, growing tighter than before. All the god’s laughed, except Tyr, who lost his hand, at the point afterwards known as the Wolf-Joint (the wrist).
When it became clear that Fenrir was subdued, the Aesir took hold of the chain called Gelgja, attached to Gleipnir, and bound the wolf to the rock called Gjoll, driving it deep into the earth. And with an additional stone called Thviti, sank it further still, using it as a fastener. Struggling, Fenrir tried to bite them, and so the gods wedged a sword between the wolf’s gaping jaws. Fenrir howled, and the saliva that ran down his mouth, formed the river Von. There the great wolf remained, the Aesir unwilling to desecrate their holy sanctuary with his blood, despite the prophecy that at Ragnarok Fenrir will slay Odin (Prose Edda: Gylfaginning 25, 34).
