Courage and a broken promise
Snorri describes Týr as brave and associates him with success in battle. His most memorable act, however, is the offer of his hand as a pledge. Fenrir will not accept the gods’ slender restraint without a guarantee that they will release him. Týr alone supplies it, and loses his hand when the promise is broken.
The episode makes courage morally complicated. The hand is offered on behalf of a group whose undertaking is deceptive. Týr’s willingness to pay the cost does not turn that promise into an honest one. A general label such as “god of justice” should not be used to erase the actual predicament the story sets up.
Source: The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Gylfaginning, chapter VIII, §25; chapter IX, §35 in Anderson
Different relationships in different passages
Hymiskviða has Týr call Hymir his father and accompany Thor on the cauldron expedition. That relationship is useful evidence against treating every familiar modern divine family tree as fixed. Gylfaginning’s fishing episode omits Týr altogether and gives Thor a different immediate reason for visiting Hymir.
At Ragnarök, Snorri pairs Týr with the hound Garmr; each kills the other. The poem Völuspá does not describe that duel in its corresponding battle sequence. These omissions and additions belong on a source-specific graph, alongside the more conspicuous contradictions about parentage or weapons.
Sources: The Poetic Edda (1923 translation); The Younger Edda / Prose Edda (1901 printing) · Hymiskviða 4–7; Gylfaginning, chapter XIV, §49; chapter XVI, §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