Tyr is among the most important gods in the Norse pantheon, as demonstrated by the fact that he is listed among the 12 principal Aesir gods in various Norse myths. But, while it is clear that he was an important Norse deity, we actually know very little about Tyr.
Tyr was a god of war and may also have been linked with justice. His role in the imprisonment of the great wolf Fenrir suggests that he may have been considered among the most valiant and noble of the Norse gods.
One reason that we may not know as much about Tyr as we would like could be because he was once the most important deity in the proto-Viking Age and then superseded by Odin. If this is the case, many of his attributes and legends may have been subsumed by Odin. Tyr is also sometimes described as Odin’s son, slotting him into Viking-era Norse mythology in which many of the Norse gods are sons of the All-Father.
Tyr Among the Germanic Peoples
Tyr is often identified as the god Tiwaz, a Luwian sky god that came from the Anatolian region and eventually found its way into very early Germanic mythology. He was called the “great Tiwaz” and the “father of the gods”. He also had the epithet “Tiwaz of the oaths”, suggesting that he was invoked as part of oaths. He received sacrifices of sheep, red meat, and bread.
A very important god among the Luwanians, this god seems to have been more important among the early Germanic people than Tyr was among the Vikings almost a millennia later.
Writing in the first century AD, the Roman author Tacitus says that the primary deities worshipped by the Germanic peoples were the equivalent of the Roman gods Mercury, Hercules, and Mars. These are believed to be the equivalent of Odin, Thor, and Tyr respectively. The Roman god Mars was a god of war and an agricultural guardian. Meanwhile, Mercury was a god of trade and a messenger.
But even among the early Germans, Odin seems to have been more important than Tyr, since Tacitus claims that Odin required human sacrifice, while Thor and Tyr only received animal sacrifices.
The trajectory of the transformation of the pantheon among the ancient Northmen is unclear. But in the Migration period, AD300-600, when Germanic peoples were moving into the Viking regions, they made elaborate gold bracteates featuring Odin, as identified by a runic alphabet inscription.
Tyr and the Tiwaz Rune
In the Viking Age, Tyr continued to be associated with the Tiwaz rune in the Old Norse scripts of both Older and Younger Futhark. It is mentioned in association with Tyr in both Icelandic and Norwegian rune poems.
An Old Norwegian poem says that the rune is associated with Tyr, the one-handed god, and is associated with blacksmith metalworking. The Icelandic poem also says that it is associated with a one-handed god and the leavings of the wolf and prince of temples. The wolf is a reference to Fenrir, as will be discussed below.
In Germanic runic inscriptions, three Tiwaz runes are often stacked on top of one another. It is thought that this is meant to create a symbol, known as ALU, which is an invocation of Tyr for protection.
In the Poetic Edda, the Valkyrie Sigrdrifa tells the hero Sigfried to inscribe the name of Tyr, in the form of the Tiwaz rune, on his sword to ensure victory.
This confirms that Tyr was an important god associated with war, victory, and protection.
Tyr in the Norse Family Tree
In Viking Age Norse mythology, Tyr took a new position among the other gods. He is sometimes described as the son of Odin, placing him firmly below Odin in the Norse hierarchy.
But one story from Norse mythology suggests that Tyr was a son of the giant Hymir. According to the story, Thor and Tyr traveled to the hall of Hymir to retrieve a giant cauldron, as it is the only cauldron in existence to make enough mead for all the gods. They want to take it to a big party that they are planning in the hall of Aegir, a giant that was also a god of the sea.
When they arrive at the hall of Hymir the two gods try to hide, but the wife of Hymir exposes them, saying to Hymir that his son is visiting. This must be Tyr, as Thor is always called the son of Odin. Tyr is also described as encountering his non-headed grandmother, who hates him, presumably also a giantess. It is not surprising that Tyr’s father was a giant, as many Norse gods have giant ancestors, including both Odin and Thor.
The sources also suggest that Tyr was married, as at a banquet Loki taunts Tyr by saying that his son has had his way with Tyr’s wife. But her name, and the existence of any children, are not revealed in any of the sources.
God of War
The historical evidence for Tyr as a god of war is clear thanks to his association with the Roman god Mars and association with the Tiwaz rune. This is also reinforced by a passage in the Gylfaginning, which is recorded in the Prose Edda. It says that Tyr was the bravest and most valiant of the gods and had the power of victory in battle. This power was also associated with Sigyn, a female personification of victory.
This is reinforced by the story of Sigfried inscribing the Tiwaz rune on his sword to invoke Tyr and ensure victory in the Poetic Edda.
God of Justice
It is the Romans again that suggest that Tyr was a god of justice. Tacitus does not just call Tyr Mars, but Mars Thingsus, which means Mars of the Thing. The Thing was a German legislative and governing body that played an important role in the German justice system. This seems to link back to the ancient association between Tiwaz and oath, since oaths are an essential part of contracts, giving evidence, and pursuing justice.
The link between Tyr and justice is also supported by the story of Loki insulting all the gods in the Lokesenna. When Loki is taunting the god Freyr, Try steps in to defend his fellow god. He says that Tyr cannot play the role of the right hand of justice, because Tyr has lost his hand to Loki’s son Fenrir.
In the Prose Edda, at the end of the section describing the incident between Tyr and Fenrir, it also says that Tyr is considered a promoter of settlements between people.
Try and Fenrir
So, we have mentioned the relationship between Tyr and Fenrir a few times now. So, what’s the story? This is one of the most well-known stories in Norse mythology, recorded in the Prose Edda, composed by the Icelandic historian and politician Snorri Sturluson in the 12th century.
According to the Norse myth, the trickster giant Loki had three children with the giantess Angrboda, a monstrous wolf called Fenrir, a serpent called Jormungandr, and a half-living and half-dead giantess called Hel. When the gods of Asgard learned about this, they feared the offspring of such a monstrous union and decided to place each child somewhere in the world where they could do the least harm.
They threw Jormungandr into the waters surrounding Midgard. There he grew to such an enormous size that he could encircle the world and hold his own tail in his mouth. Hel was sent to Niflheim to rule over the underworld there, banished from the world of the living.
It seems that Fenrir lived in Asgard with the gods for a while while they observed him, and Tyr was one of the people responsible for his upbringing. By the time the gods decided that he was too dangerous to be left free and must be imprisoned, he was already so strong that the gods could not overpower him. Instead, he would have to be tricked.
In the story from Norse mythology, the gods decided that they would chain him up on a deserted island, but they had no way to force the shackles onto the beast. So, instead, the gods made a strong set of chains and challenged Fenrir to put the chains on himself and then break them as a demonstration of his strength. An arrogant being, Fenrir agreed but broke the chains easily. The gods then made a second, stronger set of shackles and tried the same trick. But again, Fenrir was able to easily break them.
Realizing that they needed help, the gods approached the dwarves, the master craftsmen of the Norse cosmos, and asked them to make unbreakable chains. They made Gleipnir, a binding that looked like ribbon. But the binding was impossible to break because it was made from impossible things, specifically: 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 spit of a bird.
Fenrir was naturally suspicious when the gods turned up with this new, seemingly ridiculously easy challenge. So, Fenrir would only agree to don the shackles to show off his strength if one of the gods put his arm in his mouth, as a sign of good faith. If the gods betrayed him, he would be able to bite off the arm.
Since all the gods knew that they were indeed tricking the wolf, no one wanted to agree. In the end, only Tyr was brave enough to make the sacrifice. When Fenrir donned the new chains, he was unable to break free and promptly bit off Tyr’s hand. But the work of the gods was done, and Fenrir will remain bound until Ragnarok. Tyr became known as the god with one arm, just as Odin was the god with one eye.
Try and Ragnarok
And how will Tyr’s story end? Norse mythology contains a prophecy called Ragnarok. It is set in motion by Loki killing Balder, another son of Odin, and then being imprisoned by the gods, just like his children. At the end of days, a series of catastrophic events, including earthquakes and wars, will allow Loki and his children to break their chains and they will lead an army of giants against the gods.
Many gods will fight to the death with the ancient enemies. Odin will be devoured whole by Fenrir. Thor will fight to the death with Jormungandr, the two killing one another. And Tyr? He will fight to the death with Garm, the guard dog of Hel. The two will also kill one another.
In the end, the battle between these supernatural beings will cause so much destruction that the entire world will be destroyed and sink back into the waters of chaos from which it emerged.
Interestingly, Fenrir kills Odin, a beast intimately connected with Try, and Tyr is destroyed by another wolf-like creature. Perhaps this also reflects an ancient connection between the two Norse gods of war.
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