Fenrir
Also known as: Fenrisulfr, Fenris Wolf
Mythological Narrative
Fenrir is the great wolf born to Loki and the giantess Angrboda. Prophecy warned of the ruin he would bring, yet the gods chose to raise the cub among themselves, and only Tyr dared to feed him. As he grew day by day, they forged two iron chains, Laeding and Dromi, and he snapped both like rotten cord. So the gods turned to the dwarfs, who made the ribbon Gleipnir, smooth as silk, from six things that do not exist: the sound of a cat's footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, and the spittle of a bird.
Fenrir grew suspicious and demanded that a god lay a hand in his mouth as a pledge before he would be bound. Tyr offered his right hand. The ribbon only tightened as the wolf struggled; the gods laughed, and Tyr lost the hand. They staked the ribbon to a boulder on an island and propped the wolf's jaws open with a sword; his slaver runs as the river called Van, 'expectation'. At Ragnarok he tears free and advances with his upper jaw against the sky and his lower against the earth, and swallows Odin whole. Odin's son Vidar then steps on the lower jaw and rends the wolf apart.
The wolves Skoll and Hati, who hunt the sun and moon, are in some sources counted among his brood.
Scholarly Commentary & Evolution
## The World-Eater
Fenrir is the most infamous child of Loki. He grew so large and terrifying that the gods tricked him into being bound by the magical ribbon **Gleipnir** (costing Tyr his hand).
### Ragnarok
He is destined to remain bound until Ragnarok, when he will break his chains and swallow Odin whole, ending the reign of the Aesir. He will eventually be slain by Odin's son Vidar.
Academic Discussion & Critique
Exchange peer-reviewed hypotheses, comparative Indo-European etymologies, and archaeological field interpretations regarding Fenrir.
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Ragnarok
The prophesied end: after three winters without summer, wolves devour the sun, giants and the dead march to war, gods and monsters slay each other, and the drowned earth rises green again.
Jormungandr
Loki's serpent child, hurled by Odin into the world sea, where it grew until it circled Midgard and bit its own tail. Thor and the serpent are fated to kill each other.
Hel
Daughter of Loki, half living flesh and half corpse-dark. Cast by Odin into Niflheim, she rules all who die of sickness and old age.
Loki
Giant-born blood brother of Odin, a shapeshifting schemer who both aids and betrays the gods, engineers Baldr's death, and lies bound beneath a venomous serpent until Ragnarok.