Fenrir’s Family Tree

About Fenrir →

Family

• Angrboda(parent),Loki(parent),Hel(sibling),Jörmungandr(sibling)— Consort

  Loki and the giantess Angrboða produced three monstrous offspring — Fenrir, Jörmungandr, and Hel — whom the gods scattered across the worlds after learning they were fated to destroy them at Ragnarök.

• Hati(child),Skoll(child)

  Sköll and Hati are the wolf-sons of Fenrir according to the Prose Edda. Sköll chases the sun and Hati the moon across the sky; at Ragnarök they will finally catch and devour them.

• Managarm(child)

  Mánagarmr is the mightiest of Fenrir's wolf-spawn, bred in the Ironwood by the old giantess who raises all the great wolves destined to darken the skies at Ragnarök.

Enemy of

• Aesir

  The Æsir are locked in perpetual conflict with Fenrir, the monstrous wolf they bound with Gleipnir. At Ragnarök Fenrir breaks free and swallows Odin, as foretold in Völuspá.

• Odin

  The Aesir bound Fenrir with the magical fetter Gleipnir after prophecies foretold he would devour Odin at Ragnarök. Odin kept Fenrir chained, knowing the wolf would one day break free and destroy him.

• Tyr

  Týr was the only god brave enough to feed Fenrir, and the only one willing to place his hand in the wolf's jaws as a pledge during the binding with Gleipnir. When Fenrir realized the gods had tricked him, he bit off Týr's right hand.

• Vidar

  Víðarr and Fenrir are fated enemies at Ragnarök — after the great wolf devours Odin, the silent god plants his iron-soled shoe on Fenrir's lower jaw and tears the beast apart, avenging his father.

  ⚠ Völuspá 54 describes Víðarr stabbing the wolf to the heart, while Gylfaginning 51 gives two variants: tearing the jaws apart or stabbing through the palate.

Slain by

• Vidar

  Víðarr avenges his father Odin by planting his thick-soled shoe on Fenrir's lower jaw and wrenching the great wolf apart at Ragnarök.

  ⚠ Völuspá 54 has Víðarr stabbing the wolf to the heart; Gylfaginning 51 describes tearing the jaws apart or stabbing through the palate.

Slew

• Odin

  Fenrir, the monstrous wolf, devours Odin during the cataclysmic battle of Ragnarök as foretold in the Völuspá.

Associated with

• Asgard

  The gods raised Fenrir in Asgard, attempting to control him, but only Týr dared approach to feed him. As Fenrir grew to monstrous size, Odin ordered him bound with Gleipnir on the island Lyngvi.

• Gleipnir

  Gleipnir is the magical silken fetter forged by the dwarves from six impossible ingredients to bind Fenrir. Despite its delicate appearance, it holds the great wolf on the island Lyngvi until Ragnarök.

• Ragnarok

  At Ragnarök, Fenrir breaks free from Gleipnir and advances with jaws gaping from earth to sky. He devours Odin, fulfilling the prophecy the gods tried to prevent by binding him.