Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology, is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia as the Nordic folklore of the modern period. The ...

, Gleipnir (

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

"open one")Orchard (1997:58). is the binding that holds the mighty wolf Fenrir (as attested in chapter 34 of the ''

Prose Edda The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' () or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often considered to have been to some exten ...

'' book '' Gylfaginning''). Its name means "the entangled one" or "the deceiver", and has also been translated as "wolf lock" and "absurd lock".

''The making of Gleipnir''

, Gleipnir is the third iron rope created by the Norse gods to bind the demon wolf Fenrir. The Gods had attempted to bind Fenrir twice before with huge chains of metal, the iron chains of Leyding and Dromi, which Fenrir had torn apart. Therefore, they commissioned the dwarves to forge a chain that was impossible to break. After the gods failed to bind the demon wolf twice in a row, they asked Freyr's messenger Skírnir to find the strongest ropes made by the dwarves. The materials of the chains are: * The

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

of a cat's footfall * The

beard A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, beards are most commonly seen on pubescent or adult males, though women have been observed with beards ...

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

* The

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

s of mountains * The sinews of the

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

* The

breath Breathing (spiration or ventilation) is the neuroscience of rhythm, rhythmical process of moving air into (inhalation) and out of (exhalation) the lungs to facilitate gas exchange with the Milieu intérieur, internal environment, mostly to flu ...

of the

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

* The spittle of the

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s The dwarves made the chain magically from six things in the world (and these things are now missing in the world because they were taken away to be part of the chain) Even though Gleipnir is as thin as a

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

en ribbon, it is stronger than any

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

chain. It was forged by the dwarves in their underground realm of Niðavellir. Gleipnir, having bound Fenrir securely, was the cause of Týr's lost hand, for Fenrir bit it off in revenge when he was not freed. Gleipnir is said to hold until

Ragnarök In Norse mythology, (also Ragnarok; or ; ) is a foretold series of impending events, including a great battle in which numerous great Norse mythological figures will perish (including the Æsir, gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdall, a ...

, when Fenrir will finally break free and devour

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

. Völuspá stanza 53

Citations

General and cited references

* Orchard, Andy (1997). ''Dictionary of Norse Myth and Legend''. Cassell. {{Norse mythology Artifacts in Norse mythology Mythological objects