Feared before the final deed
In Gylfaginning, Fenrir is one of Loki and Angrboða’s children, alongside the serpent and Hel. The gods raise him among themselves, but only Týr dares to feed him. His growth and prophecies of future harm prompt their plan to bind him.
That order of events matters. The central binding scene does not follow an attack in which Fenrir has already killed Odin. The gods act against a predicted future. Fenrir, meanwhile, recognizes the risk that their promises will fail. His suspicion is vindicated when the magical band holds and they refuse to release him.
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter IX, §§34–35 in Anderson
A name does not settle every wolf
The wolf kills Odin at Ragnarök, and Víðarr avenges his father. Völuspá and Snorri’s prose differ on how Víðarr kills it. Elsewhere the poems and prose name or describe other wolves associated with the sun, moon, and cosmic destruction. Those references should not all be collapsed into one animal merely because modern diagrams have limited space.
This entry uses Fenrir for the bound wolf in Snorri’s family narrative and connects it cautiously to the wolf of the final Odin episode. The graph labels follow each source’s degree of specificity. The restraint postpones danger; it does not remove the creature from the story’s future.
Sources: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation); The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Völuspá 40, 44, 53–54; Gylfaginning, chapter XVI, §§55–56
- Period / witness
- Poetic Edda witnesses chiefly thirteenth century CE; Prose Edda composed c.1220 and preserved in later copies. Mythic events are undated.
- Recording context
- Medieval Icelandic textual preservation; the principal Poetic Edda manuscript, Codex Regius, dates to c.1270. Recording and copying locations do not establish the birthplace of a story.
A recording location is not necessarily a story’s origin. Dates of texts, copies, and translations answer different questions.
Explore time & place →Read the sources
These references support the explanation above. Rights and edition notes are recorded individually.
The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) ↗
Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241); translated by Rasmus B. Anderson (1846–1936) · 1901 printing of Anderson’s translation (copyright 1879); medieval work composed in Iceland around the 1220s
Edition & rights noteThe Poetic Edda (1923 translation) ↗
Anonymous Old Norse poets; translated by Henry Adams Bellows (1885–1939) · 1923 translation; medieval poems preserved principally in manuscripts of the thirteenth century
Edition & rights note