Fenrir

Giant wolf. Fenrir was the offspring of Loki and the giantess Angerboda. Fenrir was also called Fenris. Snorri Sturluson also gave Fenrir another name, Vanargand.

Fenrir grew so rapidly and in such gigantic proportions that the gods feared it. The gods pretended to play a game of binding the wolf, to see if it could free itself. Fenrir agreed to play the game if someone would place his or her hand in Fenrir's giant mouth. Only the war-god Tyr was fearless enough to place his hand in its mouth.

The gods found that nothing could bind the wolf, until they received a magical silk ribbon called Gleipnir, created by dwarfs. This ribbon was made of noise of a cat, beard of a woman, breath of a fish and spittle of a bird. When Fenrir could not escape, he realised he had been tricked by the gods, when they refused to release him. In revenge, Fenrir bit off Tyr's hand. Thereafter, Tyr was known as the One-handed God. See Monsters Bound in Ragnarök.

When Ragnarök (Ragnarok) arrived, Fenrir broke free from his fetters and joined the other giants and monsters in a war against the gods. Fenrir fought against Odin until the wolf killed and devoured Odin. Vidar avenged his father's death by ripping Fenrir's jaw apart with his bare hands.

According to the Voluspa, Fenrir was the parent of another giant wolf, Moongarm, the wolf that would swallow the moon at Ragnarok. The mother of Moongram was one of the trollwives living in Ironwood, known generally as the Iarnvidiur.