Study › Runes & Norse › The Binding of Fenrir
The gods feared the wolf Fenrir would kill Odin, so they bound him with Gleipnir, a fetter soft as silk. Fenrir took Tyr's hand in his jaws as a pledge, and bit it off when he could not break free.
Why the gods bound Fenrir
The wolf Fenrir, child of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, was raised among the gods in Asgard, but he grew so swiftly and so vast that only brave Tyr dared bring him food. Prophecy warned that the wolf would one day be the death of Odin, so the gods resolved to bind him.
The three fetters
Twice they tried, first with the fetter Laeding and then with the stronger Dromi, and twice Fenrir let himself be bound only to burst free with ease. So Odin sent to the dwarves of Svartalfheim, who forged the fetter Gleipnir — smooth and soft as a silken ribbon, yet unbreakable, made from six impossible things: 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.
Tyr's hand
Suspicious of so slender a band, Fenrir agreed to be bound only if one of the gods would lay a hand between his jaws as a pledge of good faith. Only Tyr was willing. When the wolf strained and found that the more he struggled the tighter Gleipnir held, he bit off Tyr's right hand at the wrist.
Bound until Ragnarok
The gods fastened the fetter to a great rock and drove it deep into the earth, and when Fenrir snapped at them they wedged a sword upright in his mouth, propping the jaws apart. There he lies, a river of slaver running from his mouth, until he breaks loose at Ragnarok. Snorri tells the tale in Gylfaginning.
Read about Fenrir, Tyr and Gleipnir.
Questions
How did Tyr lose his hand?
He laid it in Fenrir's mouth as a pledge, and the wolf bit it off when the fetter held.
What fetter holds Fenrir?
Gleipnir, made by dwarves from six impossible things.